[crust]

99 Accord EX V6, 90K miles

I recently had a new tranny put in (@ 87K) and replaced the alt and battery at the same time. Recently, while driving the car seemed to lose all electrical power. The entire cluster would go to 0 and this would last 2 or 3 seconds. Only the vehicles momentum seemed to keep it going. Then all of a sudden it comes back to life, as if you just turned it on. You get the seat belt light, the chime, and all. I did notice though that the radio continues to play, so it seems it can't be the alt or battery causing the problem. Checked relays, fuses, etc and they seem ok.

Fast forward a couple of days and now I sometimes have a hard time starting it. It does not seem like the battery as it cranks pretty hard, lights work, etc. Eventually it starts and continues to run and I drive off. I scanned the car and I am getting 3 codes.

P1607 - Engine ECU internal failure
P1491 - EGR lift something
P0420 - Exhaust something.

I am mostly certain the latter 2 are related, but I could not find much searching on the P1607 code. I found folks that say their car throws the code and goes into limp mode, but I have not seen that happen.

Any ideas?
Thanks
ayman

 

[Griffeycom]

I hate that I always say this but perhaps ignition switch?

 

[crust]

I hate that I always say this but perhaps ignition switch?

Thanks, I never considered that it might be the switch, but it seems to fit the data. Any thoughts on how I might test or determine if it is the ignition switch short of changing it and see if the problem goes away?

 

[Griffeycom]

Thanks, I never considered that it might be the switch, but it seems to fit the data. Any thoughts on how I might test or determine if it is the ignition switch short of changing it and see if the problem goes away?

Sorry no I can't help you there, mine went out when I was on my way back to my place at school. Luckily it was able to make it back to my normal dealer and I had to get it fixed right away due to going to a commuter school! I wish I would have taken the time to fix it myself, would have been cheaper than dealer doing it.

 

[crust]

So I've cleared the codes and the P1607 hasn't returned. I still get cat underperforming ....

In any case, I came up with a test for the ignition switch. As I was driving on the highway (and with no cars around), I turned the switch from on to Acc and waited a second than back to on.

Next I did the same thing except from on all the way to off, waited, and then back to on.

Though it did cause the engine to lose the electrical power and stop running it did NOT have the same behavior. When it happens on its own, I get the car starting chime that rings for a few seconds. When I did it with the key, I did not get the chime and this experiment was repeated several times.

So at this point, unless my experiment is flawed somehow, I am not sure it is the switch. We also tapped the relays to see if we could cause it to happen, but there was no correlation.

 

[nehonda]

Another somewhat common cause of hard starts and engine shutdowns is the main relay. You can search here for more discussion on that, but the solder joints sometimes cause the fuel pump to quit running. The main relay is located under the dash near the steering column. You can also watch "Eric the car Guy" explain this issue very well on You-tube if you like.