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Odd problem. I was driving around last night one the highway and I go to shift geard and the RPMs hit 0. Nothing else happened it just died. I pulled over and it smelled like gas bad. tried to restart the car and it sounded like the engine was drowning. I called the parental units and then tried to start it up again and Ill be if it didnt start up and we drove home. My oil was a little low but that was the only thing that seemed to be obviously wrong when I got home. Put oil in the car and drove on. It happened a second time that night but as soon as I pulled over the car stated up with no noises or any thing. now the other crazy thing is when I was sitting in a parking lot with the engine running the temp gauge would go up to the mark right under the overheating red line and then fall. im driving a pretty much bone stock 93 GS SE. Any info on this would be much appreciated.

Steve-O

I'm presuming you checked your coolant level under the passenger radiator cap after the car cooled off?

MMm ok well aside from the whole temp thing and the gas smell, the exact swame thing happned to me. I whent home, and put abit more oil in (it was halfway between low and high marks) and the next day my CEL came on, and it was the TPS. I was board, and so i reseted my idle (it was ideling at about 450ish). The CEL never came back, and i haven't stalled yet.

Whats your idle like after its warmed up? If it's really low, then you might want to set it higher, then it might not stall. Never know. You might have a combination of problems here, or just one..its hard to say, and very strange.

I planned on flushing my coolant system today to see if that helped and when I took the radiator cap off I found the problem. The rubber seal under the cap had cracked and gone all to hell. Im still going to clean the system since I got the stuff to do it. Thanks for the help guys.

Steve-O

Just kidding. It happened again. This time I wasnt shifting. I was just crusing along at about 45 and the engine dies. Still got power and everything else. Stopped the car and turned erveything off and it started right back up when I turned the key. Im lost.

Steve-O

p.s. the idle is about 600 when its warm. Its not really a stall problem cause ill be driving along and boom the engine dies.

It sounds electrical to me. Maybe the distributor or lose wire. Check to see if it has a code. Intermitent electrical problems can be very difficult to track down. Good Luck

I got to poking around in there and found a couple of major problems. There was oil in one of the spark plug holes. Like a large amount. I assume since it was only in the sparkplug next to the oil cap that its is spillage from there...hope at least. There was no air filter in the air filter box, You expect when you buy a car that inside that box there is an air filter... Thats what I get. I pulled codes and came up with an error code 8, which deals with the air management system I think. I pulled the PCV and the valve plunger rattled like it should, seemed abit dirty but not clogged. That was my dads suggestion. At this point Im guessing its a vaccum leak somewhere cause when I pulled the PCV to check for a vaccum it died like it should and I left it out to see what it sounded like when I tried to start it with the valve out and it felt identical to when I dies on the road and wont start up. Should there be clamps on the hose between the TB and the PCV? They seemed to be looser than I expected. I also ordered an integra intake to replace the taped intake hose and missing air filter system.

Steve-O

A possibility: coolant may be leaking near the rad cap and dripping onto the cam angle sensor wiring harness, which could be causing a short thus causing the ecu to cut fuel = car dying on highway.

lmao no air filter........jeezzzzeeeeee i would go to the last owner and punch him out!

sk8erdude802 wrote:. At this point Im guessing its a vaccum leak somewhere cause when I pulled the PCV to check for a vaccum it died like it should and I left it out to see what it sounded like when I tried to start it with the valve out and it felt identical to when I dies on the road and wont start up. Should there be clamps on the hose between the TB and the PCV? They seemed to be looser than I expected. I also ordered an integra intake to replace the taped intake hose and missing air filter system.

Steve-O

This a good bet the tape on the intake hose would indicate that it cracked. If it is cracked or enough air is getting into the intake after the VAF the engine is going to run lean and stall. The PCV hose should be a tight fit at both ends

Use some small hose clamps on the PCV hose. Mine got loose over the years too and I ended up using clamps to get it to stick tightly before I swapped the ZE in.

Also, I'd do the filter (CAI) and then see how it runs. I agree that if the pipe is wrapped in tape and you have no filter that is the best place to start.

Seems like you have a good handle on diagnostics though. Good luck.

if you still have the problem did you check for arching, it always seems to happen at bad times and then it goes away for a bit and pops up again like when your going to work. check it out its just a suggestion.