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YACT: My friends car randomly turns off on them while driving.

D

DVK916

Banned
Sometimes when their car is in motion, everything just shuts down but the headlight. The engine turns off as well. They have to place the car in park, and turn the ignition on again.

What could be wrong with their car.
 
take it to a mechanic, probably 20-50 bucks to isolate problem. Just make sure you take it to a trusted mechanic.
 
Wow that is pretty dangerous. I dont have any idea what it could be, but should definitely take it to a mechanic.
 
1996 Honda Accord.

Strange how everything in the car stops working but the headlight. Even the engine turns off. Even the power stearing turns off.
 
well power steering is gonna "turn off" when the engine dies.. which is what it sounds like to me.. are you sure there's gas in the tank? are the interior lights still on? might be a bad distributor... definately take it to a mechanic
 
Originally posted by: habib89
well power steering is gonna "turn off" when the engine dies.. which is what it sounds like to me.. are you sure there's gas in the tank? are the interior lights still on? might be a bad distributor... definately take it to a mechanic
Click to expand...

Full tank of gas.

Nope the lights in the car die as well. The only thing which seems to function is the headlight and the break.

It also seems to be increasing in frequency the number of times it happening. Before he said it happen once every few weeks, but now its about once a day.
 
Originally posted by: DVK916
Sometimes when their car is in motion, everything just shuts down but the headlight. The engine turns off as well. They have to place the car in park, and turn the ignition on again.

What could be wrong with their car.
Click to expand...

it's not a Kai, is it 🙂

because this very experience was my first with a new Kia (admittedly several years ago before they got their act together).
 
Originally posted by: Mrfrog840
take it to a mechanic, probably 20-50 bucks to isolate problem. Just make sure you take it to a trusted mechanic.
Click to expand...

trusted mechanic :laugh:
 
Had this problem before with my car, but I don't know if it's the same issue with your friend's. The contact point on the car battery had oxidized to a point where it wasn't making good contact with the wire.
 
Originally posted by: DVK916
Sometimes when their car is in motion, everything just shuts down but the headlight. The engine turns off as well. They have to place the car in park, and turn the ignition on again.

What could be wrong with their car.
Click to expand...


i had an old neon that did this... my car would shut down, but i didnt put it in park to restart, i just dropped it nuetral.... ended up being that a small oil leak got onto some electronics......
 
Quick check for you:
Open the hood and check the battery terminals. If they've white goop around them or are generally filthy, remove both leads from the battery and clean the terminals thoroughly with a cloth. Clean the ends of the leads too, to see if a better battery contact helps.
 
Does it only have one headlight????

WTF???

Let's stake a wild stab in the dark, and I'm going to bet that it is the fuel pump relay.
 
Should be able to restart it in Neutral isntead of park. that way you don't have to actually stop in th emiddle of the freeway.
 
I had this problem with my old 88 LeBaron... it was the pickup wire from the distributor... it was slightly frayed and it was totally cutting out if it moved exactly the right amount. spark would shutoff to all 4 cylinders at once when it happened, makes for the exact same problem you are having. Obviously just a stab, but similar symptoms.
 
This happened to me few months ago. I also drive a 1999 honda accord. This happened to me while I was driving and its actually pretty dangerous where it happened to me on a freeway one time. Basically the ignition where you insert the key to start your car is loose. Turn on his car, wickle the key, and you'll see that the car will shut down. I think it costed me little over $100 to replace the ignition, but I went through a friend.
 
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