RPM's bouncing, car randomly stalling, etc..
 

Hey guys. I haven't been here for a long time, but I'm really hoping someone out there will be able to help me out. The following issues I'm having have existed for the last year or so, and I really don't know what to do, and don't want to get stuck with the bill of relying on the dealer:

It happens pretty much all the time, but most frequently when I hit 3000+ RPMs, they start bouncing around like crazy. If I'm accelerating, they can bounce as high as 9 or 10k, and all over the place. It's not just the gauge either. The performance of the car is very much affected. The acceleration is very unsmooth, and there is a huge power loss.

Next issue is the car stalling. It's okay for the most part when idling, but let's say I'm driving along doing about 100km/h, around 3k RPMs or so, the car will randomly just die. It's as if I just clicked the ignition off and kept rolling along while the engine slows the car down quite quickly. Needless to say, it's not the best thing to have happen in traffic. If I put the clutch in while this is happening, and engine is dead. Otherwise it seems to kick in after a second or two, but really freaks me out when I'm not expecting it, as you could imagine. Most of the time, it dies and gets going again in a split-second. The car just does a jumping thing quickly--another startling action.

The final big issue I'm having right now is my alarm going off once in a while. It usually happens a couple times a week at least. The reaction the car gets is the same as if you were to disconnect the car battery, then reconnect it. Everything is dead. The alarm can't disarm. Then it makes some strange little "bleep" sound, and a minute later the alarm goes off, and everything is working again. After this happens, it also resets my radio settings, again as if the battery were disconnected. During this time when everything is dead, I can unlock the car using the key, and when I slam the door closed, the alarm kicks in and works again. I don't know if this is related to the above two problems, but I'm hoping to find an easy way to fix everything.

I've recently changed the intake filter, as people online have suggested this as a possible issue. Nothing changed. I've also recently replaced the MAP sensor and primary 02 sensor. Now, when I did the 02 sensor, we found that my car ONLY has the primary. There is no secondary. No idea why this is. Is that something that I need? There is nothing I've had done to the car in the last year that would make it have to be taken out and possibly forgotten to be put back in. My "maintenance required" light is on. I had this diagnosed and it came up about the 02 sensor, so I changed it right away with high hopes. Cost me about 300 bucks to do so, so I wasn't thrilled about it making no change.

I'm about ready to drive into a pole if this happens again. I had some big issues with this on the way home today, and really freaked me out in the middle of traffic. That's how I ended up here really hoping someone will be able to help me.

Another note, the stalling became and issue during the winter, and seemed to go away when the warmer weather came. Today was the first time this summer that it has been as bad as it got in the winter.

Thank you in advance,

DS7.

i can't really answer all your questions but i can say is that, when i had a prelude my car will turn off when I'm taking a turn or something.
i then found out that my negative battery wire was loose and when i'm driving the engine tends to shake a bit and then my wire comes loose and then boom everything is off,
so maybe check your negative wire and positive wire make sure it's tight...

i also had an issue before where i would be driving down the highway and then my car will suddenly slow down, on its own...don't know why :S.....but is that what happens with you?...

but how many KM on your engine?
what kind of engine is it?
maybe your engine is dieing....

Ah, I forgot. Guess I should have mentioned that I have a '95 Integra GS-R with about 280k on it.

It doesn't just slow down. It totally dies as if I turned the ignition off, then kicks back in again and everything is okay, minus the bouncing RPMs.

I checked the battery when it first started happening a year ago. That was one of my guesses as well. I also had a theory about the fuel filter since it seemed like when it was dying that it was running out of fuel suddenly, but never ended up actually testing that theory.. it was shortly after suggested about the MAP and 02 sensors, which I then changed.

Thanks for the suggestion though :)

DS7.

main fuel relay maybe. it is a common problem with honda's and acura's
i had an accord come to the shop today and he had the same problem except his would shut off every 15minutes. or so.

another could be your distributor might be on the way as well i have had that happen to me. car completely shut off while driving.

while your at it take a look at your charging system and also do a load test on your battery.

My distributor is about 1 1/2 years old now, so I doubt there's a problem with that. The battery is likely around the same. I checked the spark plugs also and those are fine. If the battery is giving out while I'm driving, or a loose wire or something, I would think that the music would shut off as well but it doesn't.

I'm not sure exactly what the main fuel relay is :-/

DS7.

Another thing I forgot to add in here is that a temporary fix to this problem is when I hit v-tec in a couple gears, it seems to make everything good again. The car runs great, powerful, and no bouncing RPMs. See if you guys can figure out that one :P I figured that one out after getting pissed off at the car running like crap, so I was just gonna drive the ---- out of it. Then everything seemed to be fixed for an hour or so.

DS7.

maybe have a bad ground somewhere.
main fuel relay is under the steering column not sure of the part number but its a possibility

remove the distributor cap and change the ignition coil

Thanks man. I actually had someone suggest the same thing to me last night. I may just give that a try.

Much appreciated!

DS7.