98 Accord LX dies/shuts off while driving....HELP!

Hey guys I just bought a 98 Honda Accord LX automatic from an auction. The car itself runs and drives perfectly fine.

The odd thing is that every once in a while as I drive the car whether it's on the highway, city roads, anywhere it just shuts off and the maintenance light flashes right when the car dies. It's as if the power just gets cut out. When this happens the only thing that you can do is to either put the car in Neutral while it's moving and then crank it. Sometimes it starts up just fine however if it starts while the car is in neutral the car cuts out again and dies.

IF what you just did didn't work you have to stop and put the car into park wait a few seconds sometimes even a couple of minutes and crank it. The first time you crank it the car runs for a split second and then it shuts off again.. If you wait a couple of min the car starts and runs perfectly as if nothing even happened.

It's frustrating because I don't know where to begin to look. Any help would be good.

Perhaps the ignition switch. Does it have remote start?

The car does not have an alarm/remote start. It is completely stock.

Sounds like advanced stages of ignition switch failure if the car doesn’t come right back on a split second after it cuts out. Previous owner must not have done anything about it, because they would have had to notice that problem getting worse over time. I’d start with that. You can check to see if the recall has been done on your car, or there’s a DIY.

I just called the honda dealership and they confirmed that it was fixed.. However I am thinking that maybe it's the same problem. Anyone purchase an aftermarket one that works great?

It is possible the switch went bad again, you can ask the dealer if they’ll replace it a second time but you’re likely on your own.

There are two Honda part numbers, not sure which is the newer version, thought it was the AO1 but not sure. I’d go OEM but there are others available, someone posted recently they bought one at Autozone.

I will have to check it out.. I just hope that this is all that it is and nothing more.

How many miles are on the car now? Was the dealer able to tell you the mileage at which the ignition switch was replaced when the car was taken in for the recall?

I forgot to ask them that question however the car now has 186,xxx miles.

35130-S84-A01, runs about $77