My son's 96 Accord died on me the other day after hitting a bump in a parking lot. I had spark, and compression. So it must be fuel, I tried whacking the tank a couple times and it would start for a second on the prime shot then die. I waited about 5 min then it restarted. It had an aftermarket main relay in it that wasn't that old. But it died on me a few more times. So I bought a used Mitsuba one for 15 bucks on eBay. Installed it, and it's been fine ever since. Thanks for all your hard work Ericthecarguy !
I recently had a fuel pump die right on the moment when I stopped in the garage, after a lengthy drive in the freezing rain, at night. I thanked it for choosing a convenient time to die.
some years ago I had a 1996 Honda Accord , it developed an intermittent mis-fire , then one day the check engine came on , and she drifted to a halt , I tried to start her up to no avail , I phoned road side assist , the guy who came out said , " I bet you it's the ignition coil " , he was 100% correct
commodore665 I have a 95 accord that has an intermittent start problem and had also drifted to a halt after a check engine. Sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't. Fortunately I have another car as well. Anyway, I wonder if I'm having an ignition coil problem since the last problem I had was a leaky distributor.
commodore665 I happen to have a 96 accord also with a CEL for intermittent/cylinder 3 and 4 misfires but only seems to affect the car at low idle when cold (winter). I've thought it was something with the ignition system but didn't want to start guessing with a bunch of new parts. I'm willing to bet now it is the ignition coil too and that's where I'll probably start.
Break down it's alright... IT'S ALRIGHT... it's alright.~Tom Petty Broke down in my tractor trailer on I-80 in Joliet, IL on the bridge while it was under construction. Traffic was backed up for miles & miles! Traffic copters hovering. Made the news! People were not happy with me at all. They were throwing bottles n junk at me. That was a nightmare.
If it wasn't for the flying debris id have been waving at the helicopters. But yeah I can see it not being a fun time for you or the people behind the truck.
I read through most of the comments on the first page, and one thing that is pretty consistent throughout - cars from the early 90's. I am in the same boat with a 1990 Jeep, so it doesn't matter where it was made. The one thing I wish we all had was a full list of part lifetimes so we could head off all the breakdowns - I've had my share. I would guess most of us that have a car from the early 90's don't really realize how old our cars actually are.
Eric, I have watched your videos for years, and indeed have come to you seeking info on a specific repair on more than one occasion. I have learned so much watching you over the years and I continue to enjoy just watching for fun. Thank you for providing awesome high quality enjoyable content. I had the relay issue with my 90 b21a1 prelude, re soldered the cracked solder joints and it worked like a champ.
In 13 years of ownership my 1990 VW Caddy pick up has only let me down once, a coolant pipe (from the agents) I had replaced 2 days before decided it had had enough and split- could've maybe made it home but called my Dad to tow me back. New pipe on the next day and it's been there for the last 10 years! Thanks for the vid Eric!
I started watching you some years back when I was having battery problems. You taught me how to do a parasitic amp draw test and other tests showed me that I did in fact have a defective battery from the parts store. They told me they had a bad run of batteries and gave me a new one. No problems after that. But thanks to you I didn't have to pay some one to do this test for me and saved me money. Thanks!!!!!
I have a 1997 Accord . I was driving making a turn and it died . I tried to start it and could tell it was the timing belt that had broke. I towed it home put on a new belt and water pump ,it fired right up I drove it for about 20 minutes and the transmission went out.
Accident story. Was on my way to game 6 of 1993 World Series. Got into a five car pile up on the freeway. I was so pissed off I didn't want to bother with the game. The policeman on scene convinced me to get the tow truck driver to drop me off at the game. We showed up in the fifth inning. in the bottom of the ninth Joe Carter hit a three run homer to win the World Series for Toronto. It was amazing! Days later I went back to thank the policeman for talking me into going to the game. It was a red Integra.
My dads 99 Chrysler lhs got stuck in a Home Depot parking lot with seized shift linkage, my father in aware tried to force it which bent the frame of the gear selector out of spec. So now no shifter by pass to release the gear selector and no gears equals no start lol. What I had to do was disassemble the shifter bypass the shift lock with a screw driver, remove he linkage from a tranny and tie a rope to the transmission gear selector. So by pulling on the string I was able to get the car into drive and take it home. Talk about a nightmare
Yes!!! I finally get a birthday wish. You don't know how long I have been waiting to see a ETCG1 episode wishing me a happy birthday! Just made my day. Thank you, Eric! Love the videos!
pretty common to be on the side of the road for me, however a solid 80% I can get her home without a tow truck and without a ride, I keep all of the common problem causing parts and tools to replace them with me at all times, when you daily drive a 40 year old pickup, you gotta be prepared for the problems that come with it
I've only had 2 breakdowns in the 10 years that I've been driving. 1st one I blew the head gasket on my Punto as the heater matrix had a hole in it and I managed to overheat the engine through lack of coolant. I had that fixed and then gave it to my sister, who blew it up because it ran out of oil. 2nd one, my exhaust fell off my A5 - 45 minutes wait for a truck to pick me up as the exhaust was dragging on the road and it was a few too many miles to the garage to drive it there. Once there, the guys put it on a lift and replaced a rusty bracket - free of charge, only cost me a thank you and a handshake. I get breakdown cover with my bank for £10 a month with other benefits included, but I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. I can't afford to run 2 cars, unfortunately.
My most recent breakdown is what brought me to your channel. My 1985 LTD overheated on a road trip. The original 3.8 cracked it's block, so I decided the best repair for it was a 302.
It was probably about ten years, or close, since I first stumbled onto the EtCG channel...after my own breakdown. That said, I haven't had one since (as he dares the Fates). Quarterly and annual maintenance have more or less taken care of me. I felt like a good student in class listening to your habits and suggestions - have spare parts, have spare cars, do easy/likely things first. My take-away is that far too many preventable things get dubbed "accidents" or eventualities...but it isn't entirely luck that you haven't broken down in years, it is a series of good habits. Those habits are learnable and achievable by everyone, I have inherited the majority of mine from you... so as always - Thank you! Glad it was an easy fix :).
Hey Eric. Thank you for all your videos. You saved me a ton of money when money was tight and I was able to get back on the road a whole lot faster than the local repair shops could get me in. I have a love/hate relationship with a2008 suburban. Lots of problems especially with the fuel management system on it. It's been fun wrenching under the hood. Thanks for the information.
I experienced the same loss of power in a 98 Metro a while back and I initially thought it was the ignition coil. In my situation it actually turned out that the wire leading from the ignition to the ignition coil had a short due to corrosion. I almost lost hope, but luckily I managed to find the source of the short easily.
I helped a guy in a chevy 1500 who thought he lost his trans. It lost all gears. I said hey, pull the trans fuse, he pulled one of them and gained 2nd and reverse. He was able to get home. I was proud.
tie rod ends are the bane of my existence. Twice i had replaced them on the side of the road. I try to keep spares in my trucks. I broke one while snow plowing and hopped out of my truck and had it replaced in 10 min. Another time i used a piece of rope and tied the joint together to get me home.
I am glad you posted this. I really want to discuss how one should handle driving a 200K+ Honda without having to worry that it will leave you stranded. I know list of parts which could die but my experience tells me that replacement part never ever lasts the same as the original part that my Honda came with even if I purchased OEM or equivalent part. So even though proactive replacement might sound like a good idea, it does not make much sense because part which came with the car might last 100K, 200K, 300K but the replacement might die in 10K or 20K or 30K. If it is your daily driver, some of the components might give little bit of warning before stranding you on the road but as you just discovered some could give up out of nowhere and won't even allow you to limp home.
No matter how well you take care of your car and try to keep it running well; it happens to us all eventually. I lost a coil on my Pontiac and hour away from home on my way to work at a brand new job. I hated to do it, but I paid for the tow to a local garage and ended up paying a little over $200 to have them replace the coil.
Holy crap! I was checking out my list of liked videos and my very first like was Eric's video on diagnosing starter problems. Just wanted to thank you Eric for making videos for so long. I have learned a lot and saved a lot of money by watching your videos.
Years ago I got into the habit of replacing parts BEFORE they broke down, especially ignition parts. And kept them in storage. Having the knowledge of common failures makes it easier to know (or suspect) what the problem is and what needs replacement. More than once I have called my wife or one of the kids to go pickup a part (which was labeled) and my tools to bring to me. Ignition modules inside the distributor cap are the most common problems. I miss the days of replacing an ignition module from inside an HEI distributor in a Walmart parking lot. NOT! JD
My 83 f-150 decided to dump a few mechanical clutch parts on the off ramp of the freeway when I was in high school. I just so happened to be taking a beautiful girl on a date and I was really nervous. And now embarrassed. I was able to coast to a stop light and I got out to push and she got out too despite my pleas for her to steer while I pushed. We both pushed the truck into a near by parking lot, called my Dad and he pulled us back to town with a tow strap we had to buy from a homeless man at the truck stop. That day sucked. But that was my first reason to wrench on a vehicle and was just the beginning of my venture in to vehicle self repair. Things didn't work out with the girl though.
I started workong on my own car when i purchased a 92 accord. found your channel and am now at a point that im building an F22b DOHC swap in my 96 accord. nothing crazy but your info and videos helped tremendously so thanks Eric!
Glad I came across your integra videos. I have a 94 integra ls myself. She's had a few issues but none have ever left me on the side of the road. Clutch went out, rpm match till I got home. Severe misfiring under acceleration, new distributor. Starter went out, push! Lol. Cv axle going bad, she made it to autozone and then home. Clutch slave cylinder died, more rpm matching.
One of plenty of stories: first car as a teenager was a '69 Pontiac. Like most teen boys, ran over enough stuff, that when it counted... I changed a busted tire in ten minutes [trunk up to trunk down]! Motivated by a driving rain storm and assisted by those ever-safe bumper jacks and a 4-way lug wrench!
I sold my winter car about 3 months ago and I went the day before delivery to start it up and make sure it was all good. it wouldn't start :( But, like you Eric, I had a bunch of spare parts for it and threw in an ignition coil and a crank sensor and it was good to go :) by the way, love the channel been watching for years, keep it up!
I've also experienced coil breakdown on my old 02 Ford focus. Pretty common on that model to. When it happened it went down on 3 cylinders. Great video Eric. :-)
The ignitor in a brand new distributor I installed in a 91 Accord quit right as I pulled out of the parking lot after installing it. Engine could turn over but wouldn't start and I could smell unburnt fuel (perks of an exhaust leak right at the flex pipe). While still on the side of the road, I threw the old distributor back on, but kept the new cap, and it fired right back up. Took it home, measured and found that the new ignition coil measured and meggered better than the old one and decided to swap the ignitor from the old distributor into the new one just so that it's a mostly new part. No kidding about the distributor parts being notoriously prone to failure.
After a few breakdowns...I learned to have spare parts with my car essential parts such as wires,main relay, starter, even a alternator and belts and of course tools. Not new parts but salvage parts are worth purchasing to get you out of a jam.
Awesome thanks for the info and which were the likely culprits. My 93 Toyota 4x4 truck was running rough, misfiring, backfiring, etc. Used the troubleshooting guide in the FSM and ended up replacing the ECU and now it runs fine. I went that route because I wanted to learn about the system e.g., EGR, IAC, TPS, MAF, etc. But great, ignition coil, main relay, ignitor!
I know the feeling, Eric. Back in March, i was on my way home on the freeway when my car just lost power. I had an idea of what it was, but was hoping it wae'nt. Sadly, it was. The timing belt on my 04 Neon R/T broke about 2000 miles early. I had been saving up and getting ready to do the belt and water pump, but the belt decided to commit suicide. Wound up with bent valves. Not fun sitting on the side of a freeway at night waiting for a tow truck. Especially when traffic is cruising by at 80+ mph. Got the head rebuilt, new timing belt, tensioner, and waterpump. It broke down at 198,000 miles, and i was planning to do the job at 200,000 miles. Today, it runs better than it did before.
I've only had one break down. It was with my '99 Corolla CE, had about 285k on the odo when it died. Traveled about two hours north, went over a hill, filled up the tank, and went back over the hill. I started hearing a tapping noise and initially thought it was the A/C because the blower motor had some stuff lodged in it. Turn off the A/C and the tapping is still there. Intermittent. Pulled off to check the oil, looking fine. Thought maybe it was the infamous 1ZZ-FE tapping issue, and kept going, albeit cautiously. Got onto the freeway and the sound turned to a full on knock and the engine sounded like a machine gun going off. Started losing power as well, but managed to get to safety and awaited a tow. Got it to my parents' house (stepdad is a mechanic), started diagnosing, and when we pulled off the valve cover and started the car (to see if it was anything in the valves), it started spewing what looked like chocolate milk, and, well, that was the last of that car. Taken out by a head gasket failure. Thankfully my friend was with me when it broke down and he had AAA to get it towed off the freeway.
One breakdown I had I was driving a 73 Pontiac Catalina. I was parked just right in during a moderate snowfall. With the car still running a points ignition, water made it's way in to a inspection cover on the distributor cap. Had to call my stepdad to help get the car started. Once we did, got the car home as quick as we could. With a quick stop for a new cap. Threw it on that night. Didn't have any more problems with the car. Until it was parked, then sold to be used as a demo car. The original reason the car was bought.
I've had a few breakdowns in my 1993 Dakota, some of which resulted from poor quality replacement parts. I try to take very good care of it, but because of its age and mileage (about 220,000) I can usually expect to require a tow about once per year. I have to say, though, that it often chooses convenient times and places to break.
I had a 1990 Honda Accord that had it's transmission/torque converter fail on me going 60mph at 4am on Thanksgiving one year. Paying for roadside assistance is so worth it in those moments, got her towed home and replaced all that good stuff and got her working again. That same car also had the blinking S light problem that wouldn't allow it to start, which was always very convenient, pretty sure there's an ETC video on how to fix that.
Hi! I always find your videos informative and entertaining. And watch episode after episode for the information I get. Just a few days ago, the car I was driving died on me while on a busy street. It was early in the evening but it already dark. My first thought was the timing belt. But after checking, it was fine. Checked the fan belts and they where also fine. To make the story short, the alternator seized.
Last year I was driving up two hours to school in 97 Acura CL (basically an Accord) car died in the middle of nowhere Maryland. Had some tools in my trunk so I checked for fuel at the rail by cracking the banjo bolt and priming the pump. Wanted to tow it to the nearest Autozone that had the full distributor in stock because I really just wanted to get on the road. My passenger at the time was reluctant to do that so we got it towed to a nearby shop. Guy diagnosed it, boom bad ignition coils. Replaced the whole distributor because the car had 274k miles on it and that may have been the OEM distributor. Fun day turned a 2 hour drive into 9 hours.
When my Cavalier let me down the Crank Sensor went out. However when they do fail you let the car sit for 10 min and it starts back up then will die in another few miles, then over and over till you get it home and replace the sensor.
I have a 04 A4 with a thrown connecting rod, happened on the way to work. Hopefully there isn't too much damage, the blocks still intact. WEaiting for the temperature to get back above 0 before i pull the oil pan off to have a look :/
Was half-expecting it to be the main relay - my '91 Honda Beat suffered that issue & refused to start when hot (but thankfully never stranded me, at least.)
I had a little Honda Civic from the 1980's that intermittently failed, but if I left it alone it would fire right up the next day. A little frustrating because once it started working all evidence was gone. I ended up selling the car before I found out what it was, which makes me wonder even today what it was. I'll never know, though the main relay had to be high on the list.
At least it seems like it was something easy to fix, and didn't involve tearing out half the engine. Those are the better kind of breakdown problems to have in an older car.
Blew the end off my starter on our old Bronco II a few years ago. Seriously.... Had to get it towed to a shop as I didn't have access to my tools or anything. The mechanic brought me out and said "Easy to diagnose- The end of your starter housing isn't quite where it belongs." Never saw anything like that LOL. Just glad it happened in a parking lot. (Got hosed on the repair bill. Full list price for a reman starter is obscene)
you da man Eric . schooling is important but nothing beats experience. I agree with everything you said about what the common failures are. kinda nice havin extra cars around. my wife use to complain why we have extra cars until she had a problem. it's a nice feeling to know your still have transportation after a breakdown..cheers mate
My GSR has only broken down on the road 2 times in 16 years, first time because of a crappy alarm starter kill wiring job (done by Circuit City back in 2001), and the second because of that pesky distributor. Lucky for me it was an easy fix, unlucky for me was that I had already spent bucks on a fuel pump, battery and new plug wires (all of which had previously tested bad anyway). And I also didn't have a spare car to use. Not so much a big deal nowadays since I cycle so much and now have an e-bike that I just about use more than the car now. and it was almost the same circumstances, coming out of Target parking lot, stopped at traffic light, started to go and BAM just died. I also have repaired/resoldered my main relay, so hopefully no issues from those in the future!
Patrick94GSR - After their "stellar customer service" several times over several visits, they'd earned my wrath, too! From then on, they were known as "Shirk-Ass Sh*tty". Don't let the door hit you on the way to bankruptcy, Circuit City!
My accord has only let me down once, and it was because I had replaced the alternator the day before and hadn't realized it was just a glorified paper weight. Lesson learned, always make sure new alternators are actually charging.
The first car I ever owned, a 1987 Accord LXi hatchback, purchased used in 1991, completely stranded me on 3 separate occasions with 2 other significant failures. The first time, a failed igniter. The second time, an exploded water pump roller bearing - blew up on a very hot summer day in Las Vegas while sitting in the fast food drive-thru - threw shrapnel (roller bearings) everywhere accompanied by a terrifying noise. The third time, one of the clutch disk springs fragmented and a piece of the spring got jammed between the disc and pressure plate. The 2 honorable mentions? The A/C compressor clutch coil failed on a 110 degree summer day leaving me with no A/C. The plastic top cap of the radiator cracked open on the way home from a trip to So Cal. Lost a lot of coolant and engine started to overheat less than 5 miles from home. Funny enough, I still have only fond memories of that car all these years later. It was so fun to drive. Surprisingly decent amount of power and yet still good fuel economy (28 city/32+ hwy). In hindsight, pretty sure that car was heavily abused before I got it (which explains the low sales price) and suffered from a serious lack of maintenance on my part - being a starving college student at the time.
My 97 accord, seen many a days, 276,000 miles had an issue with the crankshaft pulley falling off. Always knew it was happening as soon as I lost power steering. Quite stressful when work is 70 miles away from home and that's main transportation.
Just had one of the sparkplugs of my 2005 F150 blow out, I have had it happen before and always just repaired, now I'm going to preventively put inserts in all of the sparkplugholes I haven't gotten too. But you know how it is when you are a mechanic. I'll get to it...
I ran into the exact same issue on my 1995 Civic EX. At the time, I was generally ignorant about cars, and sought the help of my father, who hasn't worked on cars in over fifteen years. He tried to diagnose it with a distributor rotor problem. Luckily the neighbor across the street saw us having issues, and came to our rescue. He used to race hondas, and without him, neither my father nor I would have ever guessed that it was the ignition coil. Bought a new one at auto zone, turned her over, and she started right up.
A few years ago I tried to daily drive an 86 BMW e30 4cyl, it had all kinds of problems all of the time. I did my homework on forums for what to expect and kept the trunk full of parts. One day after work I go to drive home and the car doesn't start. It's pouring down rain. I think about it, and then change out the fuel pressure regulator. Starts right up, gets me home.
I drive a 1987 Dodge Ram D 150. on my way to work the other day. started to smell antifreeze and then a bunch of steam started coming out of the engine. turns out the heater hose from the water pump back to the firewall had split that starred it and dumped a good bit of coolant onto the driver side exhaust manifold.
I haven't had a car strand me on the road yet. However, when I was young and didn't know jack about cars, I did make a 540 mile round trip to the beach and back in a 3.1 Z24 Cavalier that had a crack between cylinders 1 and 3. I didn't know it at the time, but it was idling funny cold and at the end of my trip was pushing coolant out the overflow. Got it diagnosed when I got home....had to get a new(ie used) bottom end for it. Needless to say I've come along way in the past 20 years in my mechanical ability. =)
Yeah man - Ignition switch went on my 92 Accord and I came right to your channel for the fix! I did ignore your recommendation for Factory Honda replacement though - I just couldn't beat Amazon prime 2 day for cheap...Watched the fix for ignition coil the other day too so I'm now even more prepared! Thanks! :)
Only time my Integra GSR broke down was when it snapped a connecting rod lol. Of course the rods were stock and it was turbocharged so it was bound to happen one day. She's still waiting on me to finish building her a new engine so she can grace the roads once more lol. Glad you got your GSR back on the road Eric!
worst ever was knowing my Crx was loosing compression... get a head gasket kit, head home to do said work... and the car just started bogging down on the freeway. loosing power. so I downshift lower and lower as the car just continues to loose power... got to 1st and it died. rolled on the shoulder and pretty much knew my car had figured out what was going on and gave up on me. now I'm in phoenix and this was July. lucky I had a friend close and we towed the Crx the final 5 miles and I did said head gasket... only thing was my rims got stolen while it was immobile for one day... so I ended up selling it. 😒 but that was like 9 years ago. still love my Honda's! have an 04 civic lx, and an 89 crx si with a d16y7 running obd2. 362k on the trans and shell. 120k in motor. they both run great. even though my daily (04) 210k is about to shit out its 2nd transmission. 😔 first one went out at 195k. so soon enough I will be in the boat again where my car leaves me stranded. but I know what's wrong! lol
JOEL LEE mine has been the main bearing in the transmission. at 195k and now again at 195ish on the used trans. I'm just going to save up for a k24a2 swap and make my 04, not slow anymore! lol
Had the coil go out on a 93 integra once. I believe it was due to me having bad spark plug wires. Was on a car I had just bought. You could feel soft spots and bulging spots on the wires. My thought was maybe high resistance in the wires caused the coil to overheat and burn out? Either way new coil and wires and it was up and running again.
Hi Eric, Good to see a repair video again. The faremont project is interesting but as you say slow to build. In hindsight, perhaps it would be better if you had a team of mechanics working on this project... people get bored too quickly otherwise. Looking forward to the day the farmont is finnished, and you can take it out on the road.
My Miata had a no start/no power windows/no wipers/no blower motor last week. Turns out the wiring harness at the ignition switch got too hot and slightly melted the connector and created a short. Replaced the harness and she starts again but I fear the issue isn't fixed, since it seemed like some of those wires were pulling too much current. Might be a short or bad ground in the blower motor. I guess I'll find out soon one way or the other.
It's funny you say some of us probably found your channel after a breakdown. Back when I had my EG it developed a leaking caliper. Luckily I carry my tools with me (mostly because I was too lazy to take them up to my apartment.) But it occurred when I was driving to the airport to pick someone up. I had to stop 3 times and bleed the caliper on the side of the road when too much air got in lol.
After replacing my wires, plugs and cap and rotor, after I purchased my accord a month ago, It started misfiring a day ago, then now It wont start. I checked the main relay and it is doing its job, and there is fuel getting to the fuel rail. The codes I got were p0304 and p1399.
I've only had breakdowns in the driveway. Most of the time it was an old hose starting to leak badly and occasionally an old gasket in the coolant system. The parts are 37 years old anyway so it's expected. I've never had a catastrophic failure and been left stranded, guess I'm just lucky.
2002 Ford Ranger 4.0L left me at a rest area 300 miles from home on a Saturday afternoon. I had a scan tool OBDI ll and my phone with the scan app. Crank no start, a little bit of fire but no run. It was the MAF sensor AGAIN. Got a tow, first time in my life for that. While waiting for the truck to arrive I called around. The closest town was 6 miles away and they had TWO auto parts places. Tow guy waited while I popped the MAF in and she fired right up. Of course I had to buy a anti tamper Torx bit set to get the screws out... 3 hours later I was back on the road of my 1000 mile journey
Mine was an odd one. 99 neon now with 240k. Fuel pump fuse would blow every now and then Then it would blow, pop in another and that would blow right away. After ignoring my "diagnosis"(you tube) and a new fuel pump ($300) found my "diagnosis" was correct all along. The O2 wires inside the harness that comes round the vavle cover were chaffed and shorting on the vavle cover. $5 in parts and an hour of time back on the road.
I've got a good one... I was driving my rather well used 98 neon and blew a trans cooler line... towed it to my mother's house because she lived closer to the breakdown than my own house... and borrowed her truck to take the hour trip to my destination for the weekend... when I got back, my mom needed her truck to go to work so I used one of the fleet trucks to go get a new trans cooler line... got 3 blocks away from her house and the transmission went out on the fleet truck at a stop light (fleet truck was a ram)... I was having bad luck with Chrysler products that week apparently lol
I drove my '90 Legacy to Toronto for a job interview and hoped to see some sights. The alternator died when I was in the suburbs, so I had it towed to a Canadian Tire. I did the interview, replaced the alternator in my suit and drove straight back to the U.S.
My daughter had a 93 Del Sol with a vtec. It kept dying. Had fuel and compression, no ignition. I replaced the coil and the igniter looked brand new so I did not replace it. The engine ran for awhile then dyed. This car has been in several Honda Dealerships for this same problem and comes out of the shop for a few days and has the same problem. So I searched the internet for Honda ignition problems. I eventually ran across someone who had a similar problem. He noticed a discolored spot, very small, on the case of his igniter and replaced it. I looked at the igniter on this engine and it had the same spot, I replace it and it became a reliable engine again. That was my only experience with a vtec ignition problem.
Oh hell yeah, I love having a second car especially if the primary is not working. The old explorer that refuses to die is my secondary and my mule to haul junks and crap. Love the video!
About 3 years ago, My 2001 Taurus had an odd failure on me. I was sitting at a traffic light, and just when the light turned green, the engine stalled. It felt like my rear bumper got lightly tapped by the vehicle behind, but when I looked in the mirror, the vehicle behind was still a good distance away. I then noticed the tachometer on zero, and tried to restart the car, and it didn't go. I just threw my hands in the air to signal to this other driver that my car wasn't working. He was nice enough to help me push it off to the median so I was no longer blocking traffic. I called my dad and he towed the car into a parking lot with his pickup. I rode home with him and grabbed a little code reader I have, and with some guidance from a friend, opened up live data and cranked it over. No RPM signal. I was still not very familiar with any kind of diag on modern cars so I reached out to a friend who told me to suspect the crankshaft position sensor. I found that the entire tip of the sensor had broken clean off. It must have developed a crack in the plastic and rusted inside. my dad and I ran over to the junkyard and popped one off a low mileage car out there, paid 10 bucks for it, and installed the sensor on my car in the parking lot. It worked perfectly and still runs to this day after I sold the car to my sister.
I had a Geo prizm, called it the Bugatti. I bought it from my Bros girlfriend, she thought it wouldn't take me far, "it heats up a after about an hour it driving" something like that. I only "broke down" once, it was the ignition coil. If I'd known at the time, I would've saved $150 to tow it. When I was at home browsing UA-cam I believe it was a Scotty kilner video that showed me. $32 at O'Reilly's, got home and in 5 minutes, my car started right up. That was back in 2013. That car took me everywhere, some asshole tried calling it a bucket, I said "I bought this with my money, and it takes me everywhere, where's your car? ". Anyway, take care and love your car.
AS most old cars do, my mustang loves to break down on me in the middle of the road. The wire going to the ignition coil loves to fall out. Thats happened at least twice now. Once at a stoplight and once in the carpool lane of a busy freeway. I was able to limp it over to the shoulder on an onramp where it promptly died. I've also had a hose camp disappear off of the fuel line once and sprayed gas all over the engine compartment. I have no clue why it didnt catch fire. Fun times
Love your channels Eric the Car Guy!! Your definately my go to mechanic, ALWAYS! You're awesome. I also own an Integra GSR but mines a 96 4dr :) I love to get a s2000 next though.
my worst breakdown I had, was with a 1996 turbo diesel Vauxhall Astra, I was driving to a car meet when one of the driveshafts started clicking, not while going around corners, but while going straight. I managed to get to the car meet, and it wasn't until on the way home that the CV joint let go. since the car is front wheel drive, the steering wheel was shaking around all over the place, fortunately it was still connected but partially gone so was able to pull up in a layby and had to wait 4 hours for the tow truck.
I have a 1998 Accord. Fuel pump is common to go bad for these models so I already knew before it went out that the fuel pump is bad. Car bogged then died while driving. Replaced it days later and that's it. Runs great now
Shit be breakin!! I have a 96 Ford Ranger, a 98 Chevy Tahoe, and a 98 Dodge camper van. One of them always seems to be in need of attention, but I have 2 others to keep me going. It drives my wife friggin crazy. She has a new Mazda van, and the one time it broke a rear shock mount, and she had to borrow one of my units, I was of course the first to remind her of the value of my fleet of spares!!
In my younger days my friend was doing a burnout in his RSX, the bar connecting the two joints on the drivers side cv axle twisted and broke in half. We replaced a CV axle on the side of the road, fun times.
Timing belt snapped on my 2000 Kia Sportage, luckily it wasn't an interference engine. That and I was lucky I didn't hydro lock the engine since I tried starting it a lot of times.
The dramatic reenactment was riveting.
alphabobcat lol. It was indeed a nice touch.
Should have had a graphic over it, been in black & white, with a shaky cam like they do on the cheezy news shows. ;)
Award winning.
alphabobcat oscar winning performance
Oscar nomination is a gimme....
My son's 96 Accord died on me the other day after hitting a bump in a parking lot. I had spark, and compression. So it must be fuel, I tried whacking the tank a couple times and it would start for a second on the prime shot then die. I waited about 5 min then it restarted. It had an aftermarket main relay in it that wasn't that old. But it died on me a few more times. So I bought a used Mitsuba one for 15 bucks on eBay. Installed it, and it's been fine ever since. Thanks for all your hard work Ericthecarguy !
I recently had a fuel pump die right on the moment when I stopped in the garage, after a lengthy drive in the freezing rain, at night. I thanked it for choosing a convenient time to die.
+adventureoflinkmk2 Correct!!
Godfrey Poon fuel pumps generally don't die while running. They will usually die as you park it. Sometimes you can beat them to life to get you home.
do you look after your car?
My dad was driving down the road in his truck when the fuel pump died. and yes, full tank of gas
I done the opposite, I ran out of petrol and rolled 200 yards into a petrol station.
I'm really impressed with how high your hood opens...
Once Upon a Dashcam ...that's that JDM 2nd notch...classic...
I'm slightly jealous, but not jealous enough to go JDM lol.
That's what SHE said!!!!!
XX
Mercedes has this too
some years ago I had a 1996 Honda Accord , it developed an intermittent mis-fire , then one day the check engine came on , and she drifted to a halt , I tried to start her up to no avail , I phoned road side assist , the guy who came out said , " I bet you it's the ignition coil " , he was 100% correct
commodore665 do they still sell Honda accord in sa
commodore665 I have a 95 accord that has an intermittent start problem and had also drifted to a halt after a check engine. Sometimes it starts, sometimes it doesn't.
Fortunately I have another car as well. Anyway, I wonder if I'm having an ignition coil problem since the last problem I had was a leaky distributor.
commodore665 I happen to have a 96 accord also with a CEL for intermittent/cylinder 3 and 4 misfires but only seems to affect the car at low idle when cold (winter). I've thought it was something with the ignition system but didn't want to start guessing with a bunch of new parts. I'm willing to bet now it is the ignition coil too and that's where I'll probably start.
Break down it's alright... IT'S ALRIGHT... it's alright.~Tom Petty
Broke down in my tractor trailer on I-80 in Joliet, IL on the bridge while it was under construction. Traffic was backed up for miles & miles! Traffic copters hovering. Made the news! People were not happy with me at all. They were throwing bottles n junk at me. That was a nightmare.
If it wasn't for the flying debris id have been waving at the helicopters. But yeah I can see it not being a fun time for you or the people behind the truck.
Tistricky8 I live over there, the bridge is cursed six ways to Sunday, no doubt about it!!!
I’ve never understood that. Like yeah, that’s exactly what you wanted. To breakdown on the middle of a busy bridge, just to inconvenience them 😐
I read through most of the comments on the first page, and one thing that is pretty consistent throughout - cars from the early 90's. I am in the same boat with a 1990 Jeep, so it doesn't matter where it was made. The one thing I wish we all had was a full list of part lifetimes so we could head off all the breakdowns - I've had my share. I would guess most of us that have a car from the early 90's don't really realize how old our cars actually are.
Eric, I have watched your videos for years, and indeed have come to you seeking info on a specific repair on more than one occasion. I have learned so much watching you over the years and I continue to enjoy just watching for fun. Thank you for providing awesome high quality enjoyable content. I had the relay issue with my 90 b21a1 prelude, re soldered the cracked solder joints and it worked like a champ.
I'm happy to help. Thanks very much for the comment.
Thank goodness for wives
NOW you tell me...
It's simple. Fuel, compression, and spark. Everything else is extra.
Timing is extra?
Yes. Timing is extra. :)
well technically if the (mechanical) timing is off, then you would have low compression. lol
T Swag Yeah brakes are extra😂
very true, for lawnmower engines.
That is why I try to keep at least 2 vehicles it sux when you got to go to work or somewhere else and you don't have aback up.
In 13 years of ownership my 1990 VW Caddy pick up has only let me down once, a coolant pipe (from the agents) I had replaced 2 days before decided it had had enough and split- could've maybe made it home but called my Dad to tow me back. New pipe on the next day and it's been there for the last 10 years! Thanks for the vid Eric!
I started watching you some years back when I was having battery problems. You taught me how to do a parasitic amp draw test and other tests showed me that I did in fact have a defective battery from the parts store. They told me they had a bad run of batteries and gave me a new one. No problems after that. But thanks to you I didn't have to pay some one to do this test for me and saved me money. Thanks!!!!!
I never get tired of hearing how my work helps people. Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate it.
I have a 1997 Accord . I was driving making a turn and it died . I tried to start it and could tell it was the timing belt that had broke. I towed it home put on a new belt and water pump ,it fired right up I drove it for about 20 minutes and the transmission went out.
Are you kidding 😂😂
Accident story. Was on my way to game 6 of 1993 World Series. Got into a five car pile up on the freeway. I was so pissed off I didn't want to bother with the game. The policeman on scene convinced me to get the tow truck driver to drop me off at the game. We showed up in the fifth inning. in the bottom of the ninth Joe Carter hit a three run homer to win the World Series for Toronto. It was amazing! Days later I went back to thank the policeman for talking me into going to the game. It was a red Integra.
My dads 99 Chrysler lhs got stuck in a Home Depot parking lot with seized shift linkage, my father in aware tried to force it which bent the frame of the gear selector out of spec. So now no shifter by pass to release the gear selector and no gears equals no start lol. What I had to do was disassemble the shifter bypass the shift lock with a screw driver, remove he linkage from a tranny and tie a rope to the transmission gear selector. So by pulling on the string I was able to get the car into drive and take it home. Talk about a nightmare
Yes!!! I finally get a birthday wish. You don't know how long I have been waiting to see a ETCG1 episode wishing me a happy birthday! Just made my day. Thank you, Eric! Love the videos!
pretty common to be on the side of the road for me, however a solid 80% I can get her home without a tow truck and without a ride, I keep all of the common problem causing parts and tools to replace them with me at all times, when you daily drive a 40 year old pickup, you gotta be prepared for the problems that come with it
I've only had 2 breakdowns in the 10 years that I've been driving.
1st one I blew the head gasket on my Punto as the heater matrix had a hole in it and I managed to overheat the engine through lack of coolant. I had that fixed and then gave it to my sister, who blew it up because it ran out of oil.
2nd one, my exhaust fell off my A5 - 45 minutes wait for a truck to pick me up as the exhaust was dragging on the road and it was a few too many miles to the garage to drive it there. Once there, the guys put it on a lift and replaced a rusty bracket - free of charge, only cost me a thank you and a handshake.
I get breakdown cover with my bank for £10 a month with other benefits included, but I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. I can't afford to run 2 cars, unfortunately.
Five years subscribed to you Eric, and for the first time, it IS my birthday! Thanks!
Happy birthday!
My most recent breakdown is what brought me to your channel. My 1985 LTD overheated on a road trip. The original 3.8 cracked it's block, so I decided the best repair for it was a 302.
Your humbleness and information are much appreciated. And yes, having a spare actually can save money!
LoL great reenactment. If it wasn't for my radiator crapping the bed about 5 years back I'd never know of this channel. Thanks again man!
It was probably about ten years, or close, since I first stumbled onto the EtCG channel...after my own breakdown. That said, I haven't had one since (as he dares the Fates). Quarterly and annual maintenance have more or less taken care of me.
I felt like a good student in class listening to your habits and suggestions - have spare parts, have spare cars, do easy/likely things first.
My take-away is that far too many preventable things get dubbed "accidents" or eventualities...but it isn't entirely luck that you haven't broken down in years, it is a series of good habits. Those habits are learnable and achievable by everyone, I have inherited the majority of mine from you... so as always - Thank you! Glad it was an easy fix :).
Hey Eric. Thank you for all your videos. You saved me a ton of money when money was tight and I was able to get back on the road a whole lot faster than the local repair shops could get me in. I have a love/hate relationship with a2008 suburban. Lots of problems especially with the fuel management system on it. It's been fun wrenching under the hood. Thanks for the information.
Keyword "REGISTERED"!!
Lol, yeah you got to say that because some people think registered is taking a plate from anywhere.
I experienced the same loss of power in a 98 Metro a while back and I initially thought it was the ignition coil. In my situation it actually turned out that the wire leading from the ignition to the ignition coil had a short due to corrosion. I almost lost hope, but luckily I managed to find the source of the short easily.
I helped a guy in a chevy 1500 who thought he lost his trans. It lost all gears. I said hey, pull the trans fuse, he pulled one of them and gained 2nd and reverse. He was able to get home. I was proud.
tie rod ends are the bane of my existence. Twice i had replaced them on the side of the road. I try to keep spares in my trucks. I broke one while snow plowing and hopped out of my truck and had it replaced in 10 min. Another time i used a piece of rope and tied the joint together to get me home.
JCLawn51 rope?! 0.o
parteibonza it got me home lol just had to keep the tie rod in it's socket.
I am glad you posted this. I really want to discuss how one should handle driving a 200K+ Honda without having to worry that it will leave you stranded. I know list of parts which could die but my experience tells me that replacement part never ever lasts the same as the original part that my Honda came with even if I purchased OEM or equivalent part. So even though proactive replacement might sound like a good idea, it does not make much sense because part which came with the car might last 100K, 200K, 300K but the replacement might die in 10K or 20K or 30K. If it is your daily driver, some of the components might give little bit of warning before stranding you on the road but as you just discovered some could give up out of nowhere and won't even allow you to limp home.
No matter how well you take care of your car and try to keep it running well; it happens to us all eventually. I lost a coil on my Pontiac and hour away from home on my way to work at a brand new job. I hated to do it, but I paid for the tow to a local garage and ended up paying a little over $200 to have them replace the coil.
Holy crap! I was checking out my list of liked videos and my very first like was Eric's video on diagnosing starter problems. Just wanted to thank you Eric for making videos for so long. I have learned a lot and saved a lot of money by watching your videos.
I'm happy to help. Thanks for your comment.
ETCG1 No problem. I just wanted to show my appreciation. Stay dirty my friend!!!
Years ago I got into the habit of replacing parts BEFORE they broke down, especially ignition parts. And kept them in storage. Having the knowledge of common failures makes it easier to know (or suspect) what the problem is and what needs replacement. More than once I have called my wife or one of the kids to go pickup a part (which was labeled) and my tools to bring to me. Ignition modules inside the distributor cap are the most common problems. I miss the days of replacing an ignition module from inside an HEI distributor in a Walmart parking lot. NOT!
JD
My 83 f-150 decided to dump a few mechanical clutch parts on the off ramp of the freeway when I was in high school. I just so happened to be taking a beautiful girl on a date and I was really nervous. And now embarrassed. I was able to coast to a stop light and I got out to push and she got out too despite my pleas for her to steer while I pushed. We both pushed the truck into a near by parking lot, called my Dad and he pulled us back to town with a tow strap we had to buy from a homeless man at the truck stop. That day sucked. But that was my first reason to wrench on a vehicle and was just the beginning of my venture in to vehicle self repair. Things didn't work out with the girl though.
I started workong on my own car when i purchased a 92 accord. found your channel and am now at a point that im building an F22b DOHC swap in my 96 accord. nothing crazy but your info and videos helped tremendously so thanks Eric!
I'm happy to help. Thanks for the comment.
Glad I came across your integra videos. I have a 94 integra ls myself. She's had a few issues but none have ever left me on the side of the road. Clutch went out, rpm match till I got home. Severe misfiring under acceleration, new distributor. Starter went out, push! Lol. Cv axle going bad, she made it to autozone and then home. Clutch slave cylinder died, more rpm matching.
One of plenty of stories: first car as a teenager was a '69 Pontiac. Like most teen boys, ran over enough stuff, that when it counted... I changed a busted tire in ten minutes [trunk up to trunk down]! Motivated by a driving rain storm and assisted by those ever-safe bumper jacks and a 4-way lug wrench!
I sold my winter car about 3 months ago and I went the day before delivery to start it up and make sure it was all good. it wouldn't start :( But, like you Eric, I had a bunch of spare parts for it and threw in an ignition coil and a crank sensor and it was good to go :)
by the way, love the channel been watching for years, keep it up!
I've also experienced coil breakdown on my old 02 Ford focus. Pretty common on that model to. When it happened it went down on 3 cylinders. Great video Eric. :-)
The ignitor in a brand new distributor I installed in a 91 Accord quit right as I pulled out of the parking lot after installing it. Engine could turn over but wouldn't start and I could smell unburnt fuel (perks of an exhaust leak right at the flex pipe). While still on the side of the road, I threw the old distributor back on, but kept the new cap, and it fired right back up.
Took it home, measured and found that the new ignition coil measured and meggered better than the old one and decided to swap the ignitor from the old distributor into the new one just so that it's a mostly new part.
No kidding about the distributor parts being notoriously prone to failure.
After a few breakdowns...I learned to have spare parts with my car essential parts such as wires,main relay, starter, even a alternator and belts and of course tools. Not new parts but salvage parts are worth purchasing to get you out of a jam.
Awesome thanks for the info and which were the likely culprits. My 93 Toyota 4x4 truck was running rough, misfiring, backfiring, etc. Used the troubleshooting guide in the FSM and ended up replacing the ECU and now it runs fine. I went that route because I wanted to learn about the system e.g., EGR, IAC, TPS, MAF, etc. But great, ignition coil, main relay, ignitor!
I know the feeling, Eric. Back in March, i was on my way home on the freeway when my car just lost power. I had an idea of what it was, but was hoping it wae'nt. Sadly, it was. The timing belt on my 04 Neon R/T broke about 2000 miles early. I had been saving up and getting ready to do the belt and water pump, but the belt decided to commit suicide. Wound up with bent valves. Not fun sitting on the side of a freeway at night waiting for a tow truck. Especially when traffic is cruising by at 80+ mph. Got the head rebuilt, new timing belt, tensioner, and waterpump. It broke down at 198,000 miles, and i was planning to do the job at 200,000 miles. Today, it runs better than it did before.
Nothing beats knowledge and experience. Its nice to hear that it was an easy fix. Keep up the awesome videos!
I've only had one break down. It was with my '99 Corolla CE, had about 285k on the odo when it died.
Traveled about two hours north, went over a hill, filled up the tank, and went back over the hill. I started hearing a tapping noise and initially thought it was the A/C because the blower motor had some stuff lodged in it. Turn off the A/C and the tapping is still there. Intermittent.
Pulled off to check the oil, looking fine. Thought maybe it was the infamous 1ZZ-FE tapping issue, and kept going, albeit cautiously. Got onto the freeway and the sound turned to a full on knock and the engine sounded like a machine gun going off. Started losing power as well, but managed to get to safety and awaited a tow.
Got it to my parents' house (stepdad is a mechanic), started diagnosing, and when we pulled off the valve cover and started the car (to see if it was anything in the valves), it started spewing what looked like chocolate milk, and, well, that was the last of that car. Taken out by a head gasket failure.
Thankfully my friend was with me when it broke down and he had AAA to get it towed off the freeway.
Had a few breakdowns over the years. Timing belts, fuel pump, and an ecm. On the mustang an msd coil went out.
One breakdown I had I was driving a 73 Pontiac Catalina. I was parked just right in during a moderate snowfall. With the car still running a points ignition, water made it's way in to a inspection cover on the distributor cap. Had to call my stepdad to help get the car started. Once we did, got the car home as quick as we could. With a quick stop for a new cap. Threw it on that night. Didn't have any more problems with the car. Until it was parked, then sold to be used as a demo car. The original reason the car was bought.
I've had a few breakdowns in my 1993 Dakota, some of which resulted from poor quality replacement parts. I try to take very good care of it, but because of its age and mileage (about 220,000) I can usually expect to require a tow about once per year. I have to say, though, that it often chooses convenient times and places to break.
I had a 1990 Honda Accord that had it's transmission/torque converter fail on me going 60mph at 4am on Thanksgiving one year. Paying for roadside assistance is so worth it in those moments, got her towed home and replaced all that good stuff and got her working again. That same car also had the blinking S light problem that wouldn't allow it to start, which was always very convenient, pretty sure there's an ETC video on how to fix that.
Hi! I always find your videos informative and entertaining. And watch episode after episode for the information I get. Just a few days ago, the car I was driving died on me while on a busy street. It was early in the evening but it already dark. My first thought was the timing belt. But after checking, it was fine. Checked the fan belts and they where also fine. To make the story short, the alternator seized.
Last year I was driving up two hours to school in 97 Acura CL (basically an Accord) car died in the middle of nowhere Maryland. Had some tools in my trunk so I checked for fuel at the rail by cracking the banjo bolt and priming the pump. Wanted to tow it to the nearest Autozone that had the full distributor in stock because I really just wanted to get on the road. My passenger at the time was reluctant to do that so we got it towed to a nearby shop. Guy diagnosed it, boom bad ignition coils. Replaced the whole distributor because the car had 274k miles on it and that may have been the OEM distributor. Fun day turned a 2 hour drive into 9 hours.
When my Cavalier let me down the Crank Sensor went out. However when they do fail you let the car sit for 10 min and it starts back up then will die in another few miles, then over and over till you get it home and replace the sensor.
I have a 04 A4 with a thrown connecting rod, happened on the way to work. Hopefully there isn't too much damage, the blocks still intact.
WEaiting for the temperature to get back above 0 before i pull the oil pan off to have a look :/
your story made me smile Eric. There is no replacement for experience sometimes. 😀
Was half-expecting it to be the main relay - my '91 Honda Beat suffered that issue & refused to start when hot (but thankfully never stranded me, at least.)
I had a little Honda Civic from the 1980's that intermittently failed, but if I left it alone it would fire right up the next day. A little frustrating because once it started working all evidence was gone. I ended up selling the car before I found out what it was, which makes me wonder even today what it was. I'll never know, though the main relay had to be high on the list.
At least it seems like it was something easy to fix, and didn't involve tearing out half the engine. Those are the better kind of breakdown problems to have in an older car.
Blew the end off my starter on our old Bronco II a few years ago. Seriously.... Had to get it towed to a shop as I didn't have access to my tools or anything. The mechanic brought me out and said "Easy to diagnose- The end of your starter housing isn't quite where it belongs." Never saw anything like that LOL. Just glad it happened in a parking lot. (Got hosed on the repair bill. Full list price for a reman starter is obscene)
had a break down on my 88 crx, had to ghetto tow it home. To fix the problem all I did was switch it to a gsr engine.
you da man Eric . schooling is important but nothing beats experience. I agree with everything you said about what the common failures are. kinda nice havin extra cars around. my wife use to complain why we have extra cars until she had a problem. it's a nice feeling to know your still have transportation after a breakdown..cheers mate
My GSR has only broken down on the road 2 times in 16 years, first time because of a crappy alarm starter kill wiring job (done by Circuit City back in 2001), and the second because of that pesky distributor. Lucky for me it was an easy fix, unlucky for me was that I had already spent bucks on a fuel pump, battery and new plug wires (all of which had previously tested bad anyway). And I also didn't have a spare car to use. Not so much a big deal nowadays since I cycle so much and now have an e-bike that I just about use more than the car now.
and it was almost the same circumstances, coming out of Target parking lot, stopped at traffic light, started to go and BAM just died. I also have repaired/resoldered my main relay, so hopefully no issues from those in the future!
Patrick94GSR - After their "stellar customer service" several times over several visits, they'd earned my wrath, too! From then on, they were known as "Shirk-Ass Sh*tty". Don't let the door hit you on the way to bankruptcy, Circuit City!
My accord has only let me down once, and it was because I had replaced the alternator the day before and hadn't realized it was just a glorified paper weight. Lesson learned, always make sure new alternators are actually charging.
The first car I ever owned, a 1987 Accord LXi hatchback, purchased used in 1991, completely stranded me on 3 separate occasions with 2 other significant failures. The first time, a failed igniter. The second time, an exploded water pump roller bearing - blew up on a very hot summer day in Las Vegas while sitting in the fast food drive-thru - threw shrapnel (roller bearings) everywhere accompanied by a terrifying noise. The third time, one of the clutch disk springs fragmented and a piece of the spring got jammed between the disc and pressure plate. The 2 honorable mentions? The A/C compressor clutch coil failed on a 110 degree summer day leaving me with no A/C. The plastic top cap of the radiator cracked open on the way home from a trip to So Cal. Lost a lot of coolant and engine started to overheat less than 5 miles from home.
Funny enough, I still have only fond memories of that car all these years later. It was so fun to drive. Surprisingly decent amount of power and yet still good fuel economy (28 city/32+ hwy). In hindsight, pretty sure that car was heavily abused before I got it (which explains the low sales price) and suffered from a serious lack of maintenance on my part - being a starving college student at the time.
My 97 accord, seen many a days, 276,000 miles had an issue with the crankshaft pulley falling off. Always knew it was happening as soon as I lost power steering. Quite stressful when work is 70 miles away from home and that's main transportation.
Just had one of the sparkplugs of my 2005 F150 blow out, I have had it happen before and always just repaired, now I'm going to preventively put inserts in all of the sparkplugholes I haven't gotten too. But you know how it is when you are a mechanic. I'll get to it...
Should have put this one out before the ignition coil replacement. Oscar for that dramatic reenactment.
I would have liked that, but it just didn't work out that way.
I ran into the exact same issue on my 1995 Civic EX. At the time, I was generally ignorant about cars, and sought the help of my father, who hasn't worked on cars in over fifteen years. He tried to diagnose it with a distributor rotor problem. Luckily the neighbor across the street saw us having issues, and came to our rescue. He used to race hondas, and without him, neither my father nor I would have ever guessed that it was the ignition coil. Bought a new one at auto zone, turned her over, and she started right up.
do you actually drive around with eric the car guy front plate?
A few years ago I tried to daily drive an 86 BMW e30 4cyl, it had all kinds of problems all of the time. I did my homework on forums for what to expect and kept the trunk full of parts. One day after work I go to drive home and the car doesn't start. It's pouring down rain. I think about it, and then change out the fuel pressure regulator. Starts right up, gets me home.
I drive a 1987 Dodge Ram D 150. on my way to work the other day. started to smell antifreeze and then a bunch of steam started coming out of the engine. turns out the heater hose from the water pump back to the firewall had split that starred it and dumped a good bit of coolant onto the driver side exhaust manifold.
I haven't had a car strand me on the road yet. However, when I was young and didn't know jack about cars, I did make a 540 mile round trip to the beach and back in a 3.1 Z24 Cavalier that had a crack between cylinders 1 and 3. I didn't know it at the time, but it was idling funny cold and at the end of my trip was pushing coolant out the overflow. Got it diagnosed when I got home....had to get a new(ie used) bottom end for it.
Needless to say I've come along way in the past 20 years in my mechanical ability. =)
Yeah man - Ignition switch went on my 92 Accord and I came right to your channel for the fix! I did ignore your recommendation for Factory Honda replacement though - I just couldn't beat Amazon prime 2 day for cheap...Watched the fix for ignition coil the other day too so I'm now even more prepared! Thanks! :)
Only time my Integra GSR broke down was when it snapped a connecting rod lol. Of course the rods were stock and it was turbocharged so it was bound to happen one day. She's still waiting on me to finish building her a new engine so she can grace the roads once more lol. Glad you got your GSR back on the road Eric!
worst ever was knowing my Crx was loosing compression... get a head gasket kit, head home to do said work... and the car just started bogging down on the freeway. loosing power. so I downshift lower and lower as the car just continues to loose power... got to 1st and it died. rolled on the shoulder and pretty much knew my car had figured out what was going on and gave up on me. now I'm in phoenix and this was July. lucky I had a friend close and we towed the Crx the final 5 miles and I did said head gasket... only thing was my rims got stolen while it was immobile for one day... so I ended up selling it. 😒 but that was like 9 years ago. still love my Honda's! have an 04 civic lx, and an 89 crx si with a d16y7 running obd2. 362k on the trans and shell. 120k in motor. they both run great. even though my daily (04) 210k is about to shit out its 2nd transmission. 😔 first one went out at 195k. so soon enough I will be in the boat again where my car leaves me stranded. but I know what's wrong! lol
Patrick Candler as much as people hate 7th gen civics they are not bad. Other than headgasket issues and he early models had 5th gear issues
JOEL LEE mine has been the main bearing in the transmission. at 195k and now again at 195ish on the used trans. I'm just going to save up for a k24a2 swap and make my 04, not slow anymore! lol
Had the coil go out on a 93 integra once. I believe it was due to me having bad spark plug wires. Was on a car I had just bought. You could feel soft spots and bulging spots on the wires. My thought was maybe high resistance in the wires caused the coil to overheat and burn out? Either way new coil and wires and it was up and running again.
same happened to my B16A2. your channel help troubleshoot alot on my other issues.
Hi Eric, Good to see a repair video again. The faremont project is interesting but as you say slow to build. In hindsight, perhaps it would be better if you had a team of mechanics working on this project... people get bored too quickly otherwise.
Looking forward to the day the farmont is finnished, and you can take it out on the road.
My Miata had a no start/no power windows/no wipers/no blower motor last week. Turns out the wiring harness at the ignition switch got too hot and slightly melted the connector and created a short. Replaced the harness and she starts again but I fear the issue isn't fixed, since it seemed like some of those wires were pulling too much current. Might be a short or bad ground in the blower motor. I guess I'll find out soon one way or the other.
It's funny you say some of us probably found your channel after a breakdown. Back when I had my EG it developed a leaking caliper. Luckily I carry my tools with me (mostly because I was too lazy to take them up to my apartment.) But it occurred when I was driving to the airport to pick someone up. I had to stop 3 times and bleed the caliper on the side of the road when too much air got in lol.
After replacing my wires, plugs and cap and rotor, after I purchased my accord a month ago, It started misfiring a day ago, then now It wont start. I checked the main relay and it is doing its job, and there is fuel getting to the fuel rail. The codes I got were p0304 and p1399.
I've only had breakdowns in the driveway. Most of the time it was an old hose starting to leak badly and occasionally an old gasket in the coolant system. The parts are 37 years old anyway so it's expected. I've never had a catastrophic failure and been left stranded, guess I'm just lucky.
2002 Ford Ranger 4.0L left me at a rest area 300 miles from home on a Saturday afternoon. I had a scan tool OBDI ll and my phone with the scan app. Crank no start, a little bit of fire but no run. It was the MAF sensor AGAIN. Got a tow, first time in my life for that. While waiting for the truck to arrive I called around. The closest town was 6 miles away and they had TWO auto parts places. Tow guy waited while I popped the MAF in and she fired right up. Of course I had to buy a anti tamper Torx bit set to get the screws out... 3 hours later I was back on the road of my 1000 mile journey
eric, I think the wiring in the distributor ignition is also considered a suspect too, also inspect the difference between the old and new.
Mine was an odd one. 99 neon now with 240k. Fuel pump fuse would blow every now and then
Then it would blow, pop in another and that would blow right away. After ignoring my "diagnosis"(you tube) and a new fuel pump ($300) found my "diagnosis" was correct all along. The O2 wires inside the harness that comes round the vavle cover were chaffed and shorting on the vavle cover. $5 in parts and an hour of time back on the road.
I've got a good one... I was driving my rather well used 98 neon and blew a trans cooler line... towed it to my mother's house because she lived closer to the breakdown than my own house... and borrowed her truck to take the hour trip to my destination for the weekend... when I got back, my mom needed her truck to go to work so I used one of the fleet trucks to go get a new trans cooler line... got 3 blocks away from her house and the transmission went out on the fleet truck at a stop light (fleet truck was a ram)... I was having bad luck with Chrysler products that week apparently lol
it happens Eric. its Mechanical parts do wear out in time and with the Ignition coil when you showed that one spot it seems like it happens.
I drove my '90 Legacy to Toronto for a job interview and hoped to see some sights. The alternator died when I was in the suburbs, so I had it towed to a Canadian Tire. I did the interview, replaced the alternator in my suit and drove straight back to the U.S.
My daughter had a 93 Del Sol with a vtec. It kept dying. Had fuel and compression, no ignition. I replaced the coil and the igniter looked brand new so I did not replace it. The engine ran for awhile then dyed. This car has been in several Honda Dealerships for this same problem and comes out of the shop for a few days and has the same problem. So I searched the internet for Honda ignition problems. I eventually ran across someone who had a similar problem. He noticed a discolored spot, very small, on the case of his igniter and replaced it. I looked at the igniter on this engine and it had the same spot, I replace it and it became a reliable engine again. That was my only experience with a vtec ignition problem.
Oh hell yeah, I love having a second car especially if the primary is not working. The old explorer that refuses to die is my secondary and my mule to haul junks and crap. Love the video!
About 3 years ago, My 2001 Taurus had an odd failure on me. I was sitting at a traffic light, and just when the light turned green, the engine stalled. It felt like my rear bumper got lightly tapped by the vehicle behind, but when I looked in the mirror, the vehicle behind was still a good distance away. I then noticed the tachometer on zero, and tried to restart the car, and it didn't go. I just threw my hands in the air to signal to this other driver that my car wasn't working. He was nice enough to help me push it off to the median so I was no longer blocking traffic. I called my dad and he towed the car into a parking lot with his pickup. I rode home with him and grabbed a little code reader I have, and with some guidance from a friend, opened up live data and cranked it over. No RPM signal. I was still not very familiar with any kind of diag on modern cars so I reached out to a friend who told me to suspect the crankshaft position sensor. I found that the entire tip of the sensor had broken clean off. It must have developed a crack in the plastic and rusted inside. my dad and I ran over to the junkyard and popped one off a low mileage car out there, paid 10 bucks for it, and installed the sensor on my car in the parking lot. It worked perfectly and still runs to this day after I sold the car to my sister.
I had a Geo prizm, called it the Bugatti. I bought it from my Bros girlfriend, she thought it wouldn't take me far, "it heats up a after about an hour it driving" something like that. I only "broke down" once, it was the ignition coil. If I'd known at the time, I would've saved $150 to tow it. When I was at home browsing UA-cam I believe it was a Scotty kilner video that showed me. $32 at O'Reilly's, got home and in 5 minutes, my car started right up. That was back in 2013. That car took me everywhere, some asshole tried calling it a bucket, I said "I bought this with my money, and it takes me everywhere, where's your car? ". Anyway, take care and love your car.
AS most old cars do, my mustang loves to break down on me in the middle of the road. The wire going to the ignition coil loves to fall out. Thats happened at least twice now. Once at a stoplight and once in the carpool lane of a busy freeway. I was able to limp it over to the shoulder on an onramp where it promptly died. I've also had a hose camp disappear off of the fuel line once and sprayed gas all over the engine compartment. I have no clue why it didnt catch fire. Fun times
At least it didn't catch fire.
Love your channels Eric the Car Guy!! Your definately my go to mechanic, ALWAYS! You're awesome. I also own an Integra GSR but mines a 96 4dr :) I love to get a s2000 next though.
When I had my 94 integra I carried a spare distributor and a few main relays in the trunk with the spare tire along with a 10/12/14mm
my worst breakdown I had, was with a 1996 turbo diesel Vauxhall Astra, I was driving to a car meet when one of the driveshafts started clicking, not while going around corners, but while going straight. I managed to get to the car meet, and it wasn't until on the way home that the CV joint let go. since the car is front wheel drive, the steering wheel was shaking around all over the place, fortunately it was still connected but partially gone so was able to pull up in a layby and had to wait 4 hours for the tow truck.
I have a 1998 Accord. Fuel pump is common to go bad for these models so I already knew before it went out that the fuel pump is bad. Car bogged then died while driving. Replaced it days later and that's it. Runs great now
I found you when Troy to fix the Mitsuba main relay under the dashboard with cracked solder joints. I did the repair and never again had an issue.
Shit be breakin!! I have a 96 Ford Ranger, a 98 Chevy Tahoe, and a 98 Dodge camper van. One of them always seems to be in need of attention, but I have 2 others to keep me going. It drives my wife friggin crazy. She has a new Mazda van, and the one time it broke a rear shock mount, and she had to borrow one of my units, I was of course the first to remind her of the value of my fleet of spares!!
In my younger days my friend was doing a burnout in his RSX, the bar connecting the two joints on the drivers side cv axle twisted and broke in half. We replaced a CV axle on the side of the road, fun times.
Timing belt snapped on my 2000 Kia Sportage, luckily it wasn't an interference engine. That and I was lucky I didn't hydro lock the engine since I tried starting it a lot of times.