NHTSA Complaint #10224106 — 1998 HONDA ACCORD

MY STEPDAUGHTER'S CAR WOULD SHUT DOWN WITH NO WARNING. BEING AN AIRCRAFT MECHANIC I SPENT A LOT OF TIME TROUBLE SHOOTING THIS INTERMITTENT PROBLEM AND WAS QUITE SURE THIS WAS AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM WHICH CAN BE THE HARDEST PROBLEM TO NARROW DOWN SO I CHANGE QUITE A FEW OF THE COMMON PART AND TUNED UP THE VEHICLE I CHANGED THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS: DISTRIBUTOR CAP ROTOR, TIMING BELTS WIRES CLEANED THE FUEL INJECTION AND A FEW OTHER COMPONENTS YET THE VEHICLE WOULD MYSTERIOUSLY SHUT DOWN. GOING IN TO FLORIDA WINTER THE PROBLEM SEEM TO GO AWAY HOWEVER I WAS NOT SURPRISED ONCE IT WARMED-UP THE PROBLEM STARTED AGAIN AND MORE FREQUENTLY. I DID AN INTERNET SEARCH AND FOUND THERE HAD BEEN A RECALL ON THE IGNITION SWITCH FOR THIS EXACT PROBLEM. I CALLED HONDA AMERICA AND THE INFORMED ME THE RECALL HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON THE VEHICLE I WAS LESS THAN CONVINCED. I FINALLY SWITCHED VEHICLE FOR A WEEK TO TROUBLE SHOOT THE PROBLEM. HAVING TO MAIN SUSPECT IN MINE THE IGNITION SWITCH AND THE MAIN RELAY I WENT TO THE LOCAL JUNK YARD TO SEE IF I COULD FIND THESE TWO COMPONENTS WITH OUT SPENDING. FINDING THESE TWO COMPONENTS ON MY WAY HOME THE CAR STALLED ' I QUICKLY CHANGE THE RELAY CAR STILL STALLED THEN CHANGED THE IGNITION SWITCH AND THE PROBLEM HAS AGAIN SEEMED TO GONE AWAY SINCE HONDA SAID THE PERFORMED THE RECALL WORK I CAN ONLY SURMISE THE REPLACEMENT PARTS ARE ALSO FAULTY OR THE RECALL WORK WAS NOT DONE, HOWEVER DOCUMENTED. I HAVE THE SWITCH AS AN EXHIBIT SHOULD ANY ONE WANT TO SEE THE FAULT. I NOTICED THE SOLDER HAS FLOWED OFF TWO OF THE CONTACTS AND THE INNER WORKING LOOK EXCESSIVELY HEAT WORN. *TR