car shutting on an off when driving!!??

[1g dsm d22]

it just started doin this today, i was about to leave work to luch and it was runing fine when parked, idleing smooth and all. but as soon as i started driving after i took off, it ramdomly started shutting off and on like several times. like if i was turning the ignition switch on and off not nought to stall the car. all the lights on the cluster would come on and go off but very quick. so i have no idea what could this be. anyone got this problem before? thanks guys. anything would help. its not an automatic.

 

[habitatguy187]

Have you checked your ecu for cap failure? Check this out, it has some info on what starts to happen when they leak. 89-94 Capacitor Replacement
Might be the problem.

 

[EnvyMyGsx]

I know this sounds dumb but make sure your igniter harness is plug in all the way, zip tie it if you have too. I had the same problem took me the longest to figure it out for being so little.

Jim

 

[toxicity883]

even dumber, a loose battery cable can kill the car

 

[1g dsm d22]

Quick question, what's the igniter harness? Would that be the coil harness? Or injector harness?

 

[deviousgst]

something like this happened to me too..
i did a quick run on my car and all of the sudden my car shut off..
the coil module(i think thats ### its called) got too hot

 

[habitatguy187]

something like this happened to me too..
i did a quick run on my car and all of the sudden my car shut off..
the coil module(i think thats ### its called) got too hot

I think you mean coil pack, it's the thing the spark plug wires plug into. I've read that they can act/test fine when cold but once they get hot they can start acting up. It very well could be something like that, any kind of short in the electrical system could cause it too.

You should still check the ecu first because if the caps have never been replaced you can bet money that they've leaked, whether or not they've caused damage is another story.

 

[4cyls_of_fury]

sounds like a bad ground or loose battery cable to me.

 

[sschambers]

I've had this SAME exact problem before in my Spyder.

Found out it was a loose ignition switch connector (up under the dash under the steering column). I never found out how/why it came loose, but it did. Here's why you need to fix it:

Was driving one day, had to make a quick left at a light because traffic was coming. In the middle of the turn, the car shut off just for a split second and suddenly (and very luckily) it came back to life and I completed the turn ...thank god...because if it didn't come back on, my passenger side wouldn't be so pretty.

Get it fixed

 

[RayBan GST]

it happend to me before on my Chrysler NEON 1996 car , i believe you have a similar engine?

it turned out to be a fuse in the fuse box ( 10 AMP) fuse , i can not remember it was for what but its the only 10 AMP fuse , check this out and let us know

i used to remove this fuse to set the ECu of the car and to clear the codes.

good luck

 

[Defiant]

Bolt down your battery and put a cover on the positive terminal.

 

[Shelby_Sue]

Bolt down your battery and put a cover on the positive terminal.

That would be the first thing I'd do. I would say it's just a loose battery connection.

 

[EnvyMyGsx]

Quick question, what's the igniter harness? Would that be the coil harness? Or injector harness?

On a 2g its on the left of the coili pack, about 1'' long harness.

Anything like this problem start checking all you basic things like ingnition harness, coil pack, batter even grounds. Check your plugs and wires for spark but I dont think this would cause your car to shut off like it is.

Jim

 

[chico904]

Same thing happened to me on my old eclipse. I had a C/F hood on it, and put the stock one back on before selling it. I didn't realize that one of the battery tie down posts was too long and hitting the hood. I cut some off, put a cap on it, and all was well again. Check everything associated with your battery. Ground, terminals, posts.

 

[1g dsm d22]

Oh ok sweet sweet. Thanks soo much guys. I checked the ecu today and it all looked pretty clean. Except for one capacitor had a lil bit of greenish stuff under it (leak maybe) and I found that my ecu aint an eprom one . But deffenetly ill check my battery terminals and the ignition. Thanks Guys.

And would that cap be a big deal? I mean is a lil bit of greenish stuff under one of them. Should this be a must fix asap guys?

 

[eclipser93]

Bolt down your battery and put a cover on the positive terminal.

I had this problem twice!
1st time; I believe there was a loose cell in my battery once that shorted out the car every so often. Car would just randomly die, Would get a jump and be fine for a few days. I replaced the battery and never had the problem again
2nd time; Just bought eclipse and the previous owner installed the wrong battery. Every time I hit a bump or sharp turn the positive post would ground out on the roof briefly shutting the car down.

 

[shadowdrag]

My car just did the same thing yesterday. Try to accelerate and car flickers on and off to the point where its seems like fuel is cuting out. Open my hood and the + terminal battery cap came off and during jump acceleration, battery bumps onto the strut bar causing it to cut out. Got mines fixed. Seems like + terminal to me.

 

[1g dsm d22]

I checked the battery too, it had the cover on the positive when this happened, so no posible short on the battery, cables are tight on there too. :/ damn. Ill still be checking tho. Weird thing is that it only did this ones. It hasent done that again all day today. Hopefully it doesn't again. But thanks a lot guys for the responce.

 

[1997_GSX]

I would replace the caps, you can pick a soldering iron kit at radioshack for $10 and get the caps there or on ebay.

 

[habitatguy187]

And would that cap be a big deal? I mean is a lil bit of greenish stuff under one of them. Should this be a must fix asap guys?

Yes the longer you wait the worse and worse it will get. And when you (or someone else) pulls that cap off you'll probably be surprised by how bad it is underneath. Mine didn't look to bad from the top, but once the caps came off you could see there was major damage.

Anywho, if you don't fix it now it may get to the point where you can't fix it and have to buy a new one.

 

[1g dsm d22]

Oh ok then, better now than later. So I if radioshack don't have them, would ebay be a good idea to order from? I read the link that habitatguy187 had and helped me a lot thanks. And it said tht radioshack might not have these caps. I also read that if I get better or stronger caps its better, is this true? Would it affect anything later on? And I have some soldiering knoledge from high school my own soldiering iron, and should be farely easy according to tht link that shows u step by step . But bck to the question, is ebay a good option? And what caps for upgrade would be good?

 

[steve]

Use the same capacitance values, you can use higher voltage rated caps (much higher impacts fit) , they should be 105*C rated. The common caps you will find are 85*C. When I looked today the three different sellers on eBay were all selling usable caps.

Once the caps have leaked, the trick to longevity is in the cleaning of the ECU before installing the new capacitors. If you don't do anything it may not even work when your done, if you use a solvent you might just be pushing the corrosive electrolyte around and distributing it to new places. Over time it will disable the ECU by eating through the copper traces. Many of the boards were over etched at the factory so they don't need much help before you have microscopic opens.

Burning the traces and pads off the circuit board is a newbie mistake cause by using cheap equipment or misusing good equipment. A $10 radio shack soldering iron is going to make the job harder to do right than with a proper temp controlled one.

These board use old lead/tin solder and will solder back up with 60/40 (or so) rosin core solder. Using new lead free solder will make it more difficult to get a good joint.

If you don't have much soldering experience read: EPE "Basic Soldering Guide" and seriously consider sending your ECU to someone who knows what they are doing. Learning on the ECU isn't the most cost effective way to gain experience.

 

[Robertm1212GST]

Same thing happen to me. My DSMlink chip was coming off the board on my ECU it had one bent prong I had to bend it back and get one of the holders that locks the chip to the board. Just an idea.

 

[1g dsm d22]

K, I have like 4 ecus but they're from a 1.8 dsm. If I take the caps off of those would it work? Or is it better to go and get them new. And ill check ebay after I get out from work.

 

[1g dsm d22]

Oh, and what's the best way to clean where the cap was leaking? Special liq?