Hacksterbaby
New Member
Howdy- haven't been on here in awhile since I sold my last DA. Just got another one w/209K on the body and 81K on the motor. 5-speed. When I picked it up Saturday, I noticed that every once in awhile, especially pulling out in first, it would die for a second, like it lost ignition,then it would catch again. Not terrible, and not frequent. Drove it to work and back yesterday with no real issues. But today, coming home from work (I commute ~50 miles one way), it started doing it, BAD, and on the open interstate, too. Cruising along at 75, when I backed off the throttle, and the motor revved down, pushing the pedal again would make the motor cut out, like it had suddenly and totally lost spark. Then it would jerk back to life. It was intermittent, but got worse and worse and I almost didn't make it home-- it cut off a couple of times on me when I slowed down for a ramp or stop sign. It will crank, and idle, and rev in neutral just fine, and will pull out and drive okay sometimes- again, the problem is intermittent.
So here's what I'm thinking:
1. Bad igniter. Makes perfect sense *except* that the guy put a new distributor on it before I bought it. Is there any way to test igniters without a shop computer? EDIT- the distributor was rebuilt, not new, and of dubious origin- would a rebuilder really keep a used igniter in a distributor sold as rebuilt? If so, this becomes more plausible.
2. Fuel pump relay cutting out? I had that problem in my first DA-- when the car was parked in the sun, it wouldn't catch when I tried to crank it, until I cooled of the relay. Fixed that by re-flowing the solder joints on the relay board so they wouldn't open up in the heat again. But, it hasn't even hit the 70's here for weeks, and it's not hot inside the car at all.
3. Bad battery, possibly? I know that in some cars, especially later ones with drive-by-wire, a bad battery can wreak havoc with the electrical system. This car has an old battery marked "used"; and it will need replacing regardless. The lights seem to run pretty dim, at idle, and brighten up with RPM's. But I don't think the B18A is sophisticated enough to have a problem like this caused by the battery?
4. ECU? Is this a common symptom of a bad ECU in a DA?
Thanks for any ideas...
John
So here's what I'm thinking:
1. Bad igniter. Makes perfect sense *except* that the guy put a new distributor on it before I bought it. Is there any way to test igniters without a shop computer? EDIT- the distributor was rebuilt, not new, and of dubious origin- would a rebuilder really keep a used igniter in a distributor sold as rebuilt? If so, this becomes more plausible.
2. Fuel pump relay cutting out? I had that problem in my first DA-- when the car was parked in the sun, it wouldn't catch when I tried to crank it, until I cooled of the relay. Fixed that by re-flowing the solder joints on the relay board so they wouldn't open up in the heat again. But, it hasn't even hit the 70's here for weeks, and it's not hot inside the car at all.
3. Bad battery, possibly? I know that in some cars, especially later ones with drive-by-wire, a bad battery can wreak havoc with the electrical system. This car has an old battery marked "used"; and it will need replacing regardless. The lights seem to run pretty dim, at idle, and brighten up with RPM's. But I don't think the B18A is sophisticated enough to have a problem like this caused by the battery?
4. ECU? Is this a common symptom of a bad ECU in a DA?
Thanks for any ideas...
John
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