Starts, runs, stalls, repeat.
 

This has just started happening recently. Very awkward.

So Im driving home from school on the 403 west bound to Brantford, all of a sudden the engine bogs then it shuts off! I pull to the shoulder before it complety dies stops rolling.
So I sit there, wondering WTF! I start the car, give it some gas, nothing happens. I start to pull forward a bit and boom again. This time engine light pops up. I get out of the car and pop the hood. Check the fluids, everything seems ok, check the spark plugs, just dandy.
I sit there dumbfounded. I try again, but this time it doesnt turnover. I shut everything down, lights, stereo, anything electrical. Vroom! Car starts, soon as headlights come on, *kaput*it dies.

So I get it towed home thinking it was something stupid. The next day I immediately thought of the alternator and battery. Boom, drop 400 bux for the some new current. I take it for a spin and all of a sudden not even a block from my house it dies. All it does is bog, bog, stall. At some points it even sounds like the car is misfiring.

So now the car sits in the driveway with a big question mark over the hood. I am lost and don't know what this could be. Tested the alternator and battery, both are fine, the battery hits 14v when running and 13.1 when off.

The car will run but only for a few mins.

Car Specs:
89 CRX Si
ZC Motor
ZC ECU
170,000 km
Optima Battery
Champion Alternator
NGK Sparkplugs and Wires

I assumed that this was an electrical issue since the night before it couldnt even turn over with the lights on.

Any other suggestions?

what code are you getting?
Check for spark.

Pull your plugs and check condition of tips, may need replacement, check wires for arcing (will usually show a white "burn" mark) Check dizzy cap/rotor for cracks/wear.
Check your grounds, sand and remount if nec.
Check engine compression if you have the means to.
Let us know!

cars are very simple... air, fuel, spark, compression and timing of the strokes... if you got those down, the car must run, there is no two ways about it.

since the car and engine are both sol old, start with the basics. check compression first, you fail that (under ~140 psi or a 5% variance between cylinders) and you can stop right away and shop for a new engine.

if that checks out, put the engine at TDC, check that the cam and crank pulley line up to TDC and that the distributor rotor is pointing to the #1 cylinder on the plug wires.

check for a nice hot spark.

then check for fuel pressure at the rail (and fuel pressure at the injectors (crank the car over, pull the plugs and make sure they're wet with gasoline).

given these conditions the car will run.

after that, you gotta check your sensors, relays, etc...

but that's what I'd do if I bought a non-running car or if someone brought me a car that wasn't running and I had no previous history on the car.

since you have history on the car, you can make certain assumptions about it... like if the car ran strong you can prolly assume compression is there and you can just do a visual check on the timing belt.

have you checked the ECU fuse?? the ECU fuse could have blown... check ALL your fuses. check to make sure the battery terminals are tight and that the grounds are in good shape.

get it started again using these steps and report back with what conditions cause it to stall.

So I checked the code out today. It's throwing me code 10.
If I read the flashes properly, that's what I saw, 10 short flashes than a pause than it repeats itself.

From the list of codes I have here, its the IAT sensor (Intake Air Temperature).
Can anyone make sense of this?
Still stumped on this, doesn't make sense to me.

Or a guide to where I can find the sensor?

Thanks.

intake air temp is usually located somewhere in the intake tract or the intake filter box if so equipped. I suppose it could be causing your problem by way overfueling the engine, but it would not have caused the original stalling with the lights on. either way fix it and go from there.... again, I don't know what kinda intake system you're using since you have a swap, but look for a simple one or two wire temp sensor somewhere in the intake tract (usually before the throttle body somewhere, in my case it is located inside the filter box.

Okay Change the fuel pump.
I had the exact same problem.
I work at a mechanic shop and i had a problem figuring this problem out, as soon as you change the IAT sensor your still going to get another code with the Oxygen sensor, check your plugs if they're white means your running lean therefore not enough gas.

Try it, cheap solution and if it's a crx i think you can do it through the backseat.

One more thing if it's hard to start your car at first, turn the key on and off about 3 times (without starting the car) if it starts right away change the pump.

Some how, I think it is fuel related.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread. I have a question regarding fuel pump. When I fill up gas (and I usually do when it is low, close to 5L reserve) and restart at the gas station, car would start and stall. To prevent it, I now learned to give it a bit more gas so it won't stall. But this only happens at low fuel, but at normal level.

The pump is claimed to be from an ITR, and I swapped it in about 6 months ago, used of course.

The old DX one didn't display this issue. Do I have a bad pump or a higher flow rate fuel pump does not like to start at low fuel level (and after air entred the system?)

charles.. does it bog down like its too rich? or just stall like its lean?

mm... let me see.

After I turn the key over and wait for the beeping to end, I start the engine. Then it would bog a little and then dies, it doesn't die right away. It is like, poh poh poh poh poh.... dies.

However, if I give it some gas while it was doing the "poh poh poh...", it would go away and car would run fine and off I go.

But even if I don't give gas the first time and just let it dies on its own, the second time will always start fine.

Yeah sounds like the fuel pump is gone.

Aside from that, the car starts fine every morning. What a shame, I don't want to go back to DX fuel pump :P haha

don't....get a walbro, they're so cheap nowadays.

255 lph? You are not suppose to use that without tuning right? Cause it will just dump extra fuel making you run rich?

Someone correct me if i'm wrong...but aren't fuel pumps just supposed to not work at all when they go? A mechanic explained to me that it's just like a starter, either it works or doesn't work...no intermitent failure. By the way, anyone knows who or where have walbro's in stock and for how much?

I had this same problem and it ended up being a cracked router in my distributor... thoroughly check your distributor would be my advice.