This thing is really startng to get on my nerves! Anyway I have a 1998 honda passport 3.2 v6 4x4. Two days ago I went to start it and when I hit the key all i would get is 1 clicking sound not like the starter soleniod clicking but like a relay or something. So I pushed it into my garage wiggled the wires going to the alt. neg. on the battery and low and behold it turned over and started. I tred to wiggle the wires again once it was started too see if I ad a short , broken wire ect. but it continued to run. I took it out for a drive and it was stalling on me every time I came to a stop. A month ago it was donig the same thing until I replaced the idle air control valve. So I went back to the parts house where I got it and had them warrenty it. I put it in and it was running fine again. It sat over night and when I went to work in the morning it started right up again but when I got going down the highway it wanted to on me. So now it will die on me if I am stoped or running. I made it to work and then on the way home it drove fine again.

When it starts to stall it does not spit and spudder it just dies like someone turned the key off if I shift too neutral while coasting it will sometimes start right back up or not die all the way. This thing has been and perfect car till now but it is making up for it real quick. I dont even no where to start. It has a new battery also.

You're vehicle is at that age where little things are gonna start happening, it's just the way it goes. It can and does get irritating, specially when you can't figure it out - I was there myself with my '97 Rodeo that took me a full year to figure out why the darn CEL light kept coming on.

Kind of sounds like something to do with the ignition - hopefully others will chime in, as knock on wood, I don't have any experience with that area on these rigs.

However, you said you replaced your battery, is the alt fairly new too? What brand, and is that *alternator* in there good and tight? Not just the wires going to it, but the alt itself?

Last February after my timing belt/waterpump and all that was replaced, they reinstalled my alternator, but didn't tighten the sucker up, took me a week to figure out why my truck wouldn't hold a charge and kept dying every other pot-hole - cause the alt was wiggling.

How many miles you got on that rig? And try to remember, it is a 9yr old vehicle, things are gonna happen - doesn't mean it still can't continue to be a good rig.

Thanks for the info. It has around 130,000 miles on it. The weird thing is I have never got a CEL. Once it stops trying to stall it runs great, perfect idle ect but other times I can start it up and it will rev up high and then try to stall a bunch of times in a row until it finally dies. It is almost like you said some type of ignition problem or at least a bad connection somewhere. Also I did not replace the alt. just the battery. It was the original battery if you can believe that. Is there anything that is related to the starter that would also make it cut out when driving? Sometimes when I go to start it there will be a few second delay before it starts to turn over. Weird.

This sounds exactly like what was happening to me. See my post on 99 passport issues thread. It has been doing this to me off and on for a while now but it got really bad on me and I finally got a CEL where I could determine the issue. Also, have you changed fuel filter?

Could also be a bad intake manifold gasket - the 98+yrs are famous for this, with same symptoms as you're describing. High idle, stalling, intermittent issue.

The only reason I don't think it is the intake manifold gasket is because it runs great when it is not acting up. The idle is perfect it never spits, spudders or anything like that. The only problem it has is when it does stall it just dies like I turned the key off and just before it dies the rpms will go up and then start to come back down and it will either die or go back up and come down till it does stall. Then I just hit the key and it fires right back up although sometimes there is a delay when I turn the key till it starts to crank over. There will be 1 click and then nothing until it starts to turn over. Not like the clicking of a start but like soleniod or something. It almost seems like there may be 2 different problems going on at the same time. Also I am not getting any check engine light. This has been going on now for almost 2 months and I have never got a check engine light. I am afraid to drive it more then a mile or so away from home now because I don't want to break down far away from home and sometimes it will be running great and I will think it is fine now but the problem always returns. Thanks

Short in the harness?

...Not like the clicking of a start but like soleniod or something. ... starter relay?

//bc

Check The Ground At The Alt Bracket