Hi, I have a 1996 Accord 2.2L 5spd. I bought it in August of 2011 with 219xxx miles. Since then, I have put on roughly 4000 miles and maintained the car regularly. I replaced the spark plugs and air filter when I bought it. Since then, I have put on new tires and replaced the CV's. However, over the past week, the car has been randomly shutting off on me. When it shuts off, if I am in motion, I put it in gear and sometimes it will come on when I let the clutch out, but not all the time. If I am at rest, cranking the engine won't always turn it over. I have been stranded a couple of times by it and one guy randomly off the street told me it was my throttle cable. He tightened it with a pair of adjustable pliers, but the problem persisted a day later. I would say it happens once a day. I normally drive about 25 miles per day. It has happened at idle mostly. What do you think the problem is and how can I fix it?

 

Have your battery tested, A bad battery can cause the problems you described. I only think battery because if it was a fuel issue then it would turn over and not start, The way you say it cranks but won't turn it over.

If you mean it cranks and cranks and won't start then I would suspect main relay up on the driverside kick panel.

One other thing that I hope it isn't but there is always the chance is the fuel pump.
Hope this helps.

 

It might be a flaky ignition switch (not uncommon). Can you make it happen by wiggling the key?

I very much doubt it's the throttle cable, and that guy may have messed things up by bending anything there. Not that it would be anything to prevent starting, but if you now begin having a surging idle, you can blame that on the throttle cable "adjustment".

 

Thanks for trying to help but that is totally bad information.

A bad battery cannot cause the problem that the OP is having.

A car runs off its alternator while it is running and not the battery.

When a car is running you can remove the battery and the car will continue to run just fine.

 

a bad battery can sometimes make a car act like a bad alternator, anther thing i the car has over 200,000 miles it may not have been changed in a while

 

please stop - you are wrong, A bad battery will not ever ever ever make a car stop running, period, end of sentence.

 

Ok then what do you think is this guys problem?

We are trying to help him and you are just proving me wrong. I looked and a bad alternator is the only thing electrical that will shut the car off.

But that's besides the point. If it was my car I would lean towards main relay

 

Dude, dont argue with crispin. Especially not over something as obvious as a car running without a battery.

 

I would start at what Jim recommended and check ignition switch, a fairly common problem for the OP's generation.

It is possible that the main relay is the cause, however it is pretty rare for the main relay to fail while the car is already running, typically it causes a no start issue not a stop running issue.

What we need at this time is more info from the OP.

When the problem happens does the car stall and the check engine light comes on - if so possible main relay issue

or when the car stalls does the whole dash and radio go off - ignition switch possible issue.

Also OP, it is very wrong to adjust the throttle cable and that needs to be addressed as well. --- never mind as I just read that you have a 5 speed.

 

ya I'm sorry for arguing, I thought I knew and didn't but now I do.

A little more info would be nice!