91 Integra Ls (B18a1) - Car cutting out while driving

[Odessy]

Car has been cutting out while driving. Will be running fine and randomly cut out instantly with no warning.

Initially was only happening occasionally and would start again in a few minutes. Seems to be occuring quite a lot more often now and has been taken to a mechanic where I was told it was most probably the distributor (Mechanic got a shock from the distributor cap when he touched it too.)

He seems to think it will coast around $1100 to get a new. This seems extremely expensive? Anyone else had problems like this or know if this diagnosis is correct?

[BoostnDC2]

Car has been cutting out while driving. Will be running fine and randomly cut out instantly with no warning.

Initially was only happening occasionally and would start again in a few minutes. Seems to be occuring quite a lot more often now and has been taken to a mechanic where I was told it was most probably the distributor (Mechanic got a shock from the distributor cap when he touched it too.)

He seems to think it will cost around $1100 to get a new one. This seems extremely expensive? Anyone else had problems like this or know if this diagnosis is correct?
$1100? I would be finding a new mechanic.

When does it cut out? When it is cold in the morning? When it is hot? When it is under load? (ie. going up a hill)

If it is cutting out, if can either be fuel, spark or an electrical problem, or a combination.
How many km's has the car done?

If it is fuel related, it could be;
faulty fuel pump
blocked fuel line
blocked fuel filter
blocked fuel rail
faulty injectors
try using a higher octane fuel?

If it is spark related;
wet/worn out spark plugs
faulty leads
faulty distributor
cracked distributor cap (this would make the car misfire under load)

Electrical;
a badly tuned ecu, running really lean?
faulty O2 sensor?
check the wires going to the O2 sensor, usually a pretty common problem.

However, none of the above listed things would make the car just 'cut out'. The car would just misfire or not even start at all.

Really need to know a bit more about the situation.. any videos?
Hope this helps anyway.

[dougie_504]

$1100 would get you probably 3 B18A1's.

Dizzy, second hand $100-150. New $200+ depending.


So is it cutting out when it's warm, not starting again (straight away), then starts again after you wait a few minutes?


If yes, it's your main relay needs to be re-soldered. Very, very common.

[Odessy]

Yeah Dougie that's spot on for whats happening. Seems to happen when I am driving during the day in the sun. Anyway of knowing/testing its the main relay without replacing it and seeing if it works?

BoostnDC2 - The engine wont 'splutter' or anything, there is nothing else connecting the events (up a hill, heavy accel etc) other than it usually occuring on a warm day. The check engine light will turn on for around 2secs and turn off again. It is instantaneous and there is no warning sign, I just lose power and the engine won't fire.

Also not sure if this is related but on the odd occasion, when cold and usually turning a corner(but not always) the car will struggle for power. Only usually happens within the first minute or two of driving.

[dougie_504]

Doesn't need to be replaced, simply removed and re-soldered. The stalling when warm and difficulty re-starting straight away (but starting again in a few minutes) is pretty much a dead set giveaway for Main Relay.

I think there is a DIY here on the forum. It's a very common problem and can cause a lot of headaches, and cost a lot of money if you pay monkeys to try to figure out the problem.

[Rayle]

Yep. An easy way to tell if it's the MFR (which it definitely sounds like it is) is to listen for the fuel pump when you try to restart the car after it dies. If you don't hear it prime, it's the MFR.

[Super-DA9]

PGMFI relay for sure, as dougie said. my DC had a stalling problem once similar to what my old DA had and that was it. :)

[Terry Haines]

I had same problem on 94 Integra i just bought.It was the coil and module in Dizzy and cost about $300. Very easy to pull out dizzy and fit them yourself, cant go wrong.