so i just picked up a 93 civic four door. when i bought it the guy told me the main relay was bad. he said if i would get on it pretty hard the car will shut off. so i was driving it home taking it easy all the sudden it shuts off i pull off the road shut it off and turn it right back on. car starts right away. going to gt my gf and im pulling in and it shuts off again but this time doesnt start up again till i put a differnt main relay in. driving home and it shuts off twice but starts soon as i try to start it again. im 1 mile from my house does it again as im pulling out from a stop sign but this time doesnt start up again. i tow it home and it still wont start tried for two days and still wouldnt. tried yesterday fired right up. what could this be? it also would start on starting fluid but once it was gone it would shut off. i ordered a fuel pump because it seemed like i wasnt getting fuel. should i order a brand new main relay? or any other options for what it could be? car only has 80k original miles on it. any help or ideas would be nice. turbo kit is almsot on and i dont want to take it out and break down again. Please help
i would try and get the problem wrapped up before you go playing with the turbo kit…
can you try switching out the relay with another to see if that’s the problem?
what about distributor or coil?
well i know i should but i was boosting it cause i had all the parts and on the way home to start working on it it did that. it worked swaping out the relays once and then didnt later left that relay in and 3 days later started fine…didnt try the dizzy or coil…gearhead thinks in the relay but like i said worked once then didnt later so not sure…could there be a short or somthing like that?
maybe check out the ignitor in the distributor. is it throwing codes. get yourself a volt meter, a helms manual and check the mpi relay pins and other crap. can you hear the fuel pump prime after it dies before you turn the key all the way to start?
oh my teg wouldn’t start sometimes also due to the relay and i took it out and resoldered all the points on it, no problem since.
i think im going to order a new main relay dizzy cap and internals and see how that treats me…but if theres anything else you guys can think of let me know
It’s the ground on your waterneck,
double check all the grounds
if perhaps it was a ground why would it work when i changed teh relay? also another weird thing is when the ground wasnt connected from my valve cover to the rad suport that is when it started.
i would definitely check the ground on the thermostat. take if off and clean everything with sandpaper or something. that is the one the grounds the ecu. a bad connection could cause the car to die while driving. i’ve had numerous bad main relays and never did they cause the car to die.
so what all grounds would cause this? anything else i should check?
also what would happen if a main relay went?
you need to watch what the dash lights do when it shuts off or when you’re trying to start it again and it won’t start. if they aren’t lighting up when you try and start it, the problem is in the starter switch on the back of the key cylinder. i’ve seen it a few times now.
all the lights are on when i try to start it.i changed the fuel pump checked all of the grounds still having the problem. took the car out boosted last night for a spin drove fine no problems pull into my driveway shut it off wont start. changed the main realy fired right up, but parked it casue i didnt know how long it would last this time. so what casues relays to go??
improper grounds can work when they want, had a grouding issue with my work truck, would start sometimes and get power others it wouldn’t, when i put new 1/4 panels on it gave the solenoid a fresh grounding point…unlike the rust one it had before, needless to say it worked fine ever since
but why would it work when i change relays if its a ground?
dude just take out the relay and resolder all the pins on it to make sure.
what do you mean resolder all the pins?