99 civic ex coupe... engine stalls when braking

[kimcheejeegae]

Hi there...
I have a problem with my civic. It's a 1999 EX Coupe automatic. It's got 60K miles on it and there are no modifications besides lowering springs and audio. I used to have an intake and an exhaust, but i doubt that would be the cause to my problem. Lately, when I'm driving around town and I come to a stop sign or a traffic light and I slow down, my engine starts to shutter and then my engine stalls... so I have to drop it in N and then restart the motor... It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough that one of these days I'm gonna get into an accident. I read up on a tech. service bulletin that Honda had a recall because of an ignition switch engine failure issue but after running my VIN #'s, they said my car was fine. Also, my car idles at 0 RPMS!!!! What the heazy!!! It's not supposed to do that, before all this hullaballoo, it idled fine right below 1000 RPMS... The Honda dealership that I bought my car at wants $85 for an hour diagnostics and then would let me know what's wrong... who knows what the cost will be to fix the problem. I mean, $85 is not at all a large amount of money, but if this is something that I can fix, then I'ld rather do that. Has anyone had problems like this.. and if so.. what can I do or even better.. what "SHOULD" I do?? Do I need to provide more details? Please help.. I want to fix my car so that I can trade it in for a new car. Thanks.

Jin Kim

[AciDriveHB]

Well I'm not expert on Honda's, but I had a Ford Probe (god only knows why) that acted the same way. Actually it use to idle fine, until one day the timing belt snapped and from there it was down hill. The car never idled right after then, and still doesn't.

So my question is when did it start acting like it did, was there any event that happened and then it started acting weird? Changed a belt, any belt, why did you take off the air intake and exhaust, etc?

Hey I'm a newbie and maybe and not seeing the probably as it is, but I thought I would throw in my ...

~AciD

[kimcheejeegae]

hey... sorry for not being clear.. I took off the aftermarket intake and exhaust and replaced them with the stock equipment. In any case... it's funny that you mention the timing belt.. last time I went in for an oil change, they said my timing belt was loose... would that cause a problem? I found some articles with people having problems with engine stalls only when the A/C is running..and so I tested my car last night and it stalled with the A/C running and without the A/C running. I called Honda service and they said this could be a fuel relay problem, or could just be a need for a new timing belt and the 60K tune up... I haven't had my sparks replaced... so maybe that could be it? I'm not sure... your thoughts?

Jin

[sageuvagony]

LOL get all of that fix or replaced... If your timing belt ever snapped while revving high your engine may turn to crap. BADLY. Change your plugs. My damn car shuts off 60% of the time when Im backing out of a parking space with my AC on. I dont know why but I wish someone could help me on that. DEFINATLEY change your plugs AND of COURSE have that timing belt replaced or tightened. You dont want a huge problem with your engine

[AciDriveHB]

I would also recommend that you do all the 60K maintaince work and DEF get that timing belt fixed, then take a look.

As for the AC thing, just think of it as an engine stress. An AC takes a lot of power to run, which puts more strain on your engine. If you do not have an engine that is totally up to par, and put more of a strain on it when the car is idling, that is why it will stall. I know how it is, same problem with me and my last car, so I can totally say that works.

Though on that same note I haven't had a problem since I put in an Interstate battery in my car. I've had a few stalls with the AC on, but not as many as I had with the el-cheapo battery that came with my car... just a thought.

~AciD