Hey guys, I have a 1995 Accord Vti, manual with 220,000 kms.

The other week I was driving along and the engine cut out. The engine light came on and I lost power steering/brakes etc. I had it towed to my mechanics but it was working by the time it got there. He looked at a number of things. The fuel pump was working fine and he ended up replacing the ignition module.

It worked for two weeks after that but then one day I was driving along and the engine light appeared, I drove onto a quieter street, turned off the engine then restarted the car and the engine light had disapeared.

Yesterday I was driving along and heard a light clicking noise, almost inaudible, I looked at the dash and my engine light came on,I quickly pulled onto a quieter street and 10 seconds later I lost power again. I had it towed to a different mechanic and he has not been able to get it to fail and hence work out what might be wrong with it!

Any advice anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated, keep in mind I only ever lift the bonnet to top up the oil so my knowledge of cars is a bit lacking...

Thanks,

Dan.

 

Just to be clear, the check engine light turned on and stayed on while the car was still running?

 

Yes, the last time it was on for about 10 seconds before the car konked out. Also, I don't know if this is relevant but about a year ago I had a whole bunch of fuses blow all at once, handbrake, airbag and seat belt. The car still worked fine so I never really thought anything of it but now I think about it there could be something wrong with the electrics??? I just don't know what...

Thanks.

 

Since the check engine light came on, the engine computer should have stored a code.

Use a thin paper clip or some wire to short the blue two pin service connector to get the codes.

Follow these instructions: http://www.dhost.info/accordinfo/howto/cel.html

Post any codes you find on here, and we will help narrow down your problem.

 

Ok, great, I will check this tonight when I get home. Also, don't know if this means anything but, sometimes when I turn the key to position II on the ignition the engine light comes on for about 5 seconds before turning off.

I will post what codes I come up with later tonight. Thanks again.

 

The check engine light should turn on for a couple of seconds when you first turn the key to the II position. That is to show you that the check engine light still works.

 

Ok, so when I did the above test to find the code the engine light stayed on the entire time the ignition was switched to position 2 but the SRS light had 5 slow blinks and 2 short blinks. Does this make sense?

 

Well, the check engine light staying on all of the time means that no code was stored in the ECU. The SRS light flashing means the air bag system computer also detected a problem. Code 5-2 does not show up in my shop manual.

Sounds like you have an electrical problem, which can be tricky to track down. Your circuits drew too much current and the fuses blew to prevent damage.

Can you remember which fuses blew? Was the main fuse one of them?

Was there any work done on the car shortly before the fuses blew?

Can you get the car to stall by shaking the key while driving?

 

Ahh, I was dreading the idea of it being an electrical problem!

The fuses that have blown are the handbrake, brake lamp and airbag. I have not replaced these yet for fear they will just blow again straight away. The airbag fuse was blown when i first bought the car 4 years ago, I had this fuse replaced. A year later all the above mentioned fuses blew at once (this was about 1 month after I had it serviced).

I drove the car around the block while shaking the key but it seemed to have no effect.

If it breaks down again would I be better off taking it to an autoelectrician rather that a mechanic? I'm hesitant to take it to either since the car will just turn over fine when they have a look at it. I'm also hesitant to take it to a Honda dealership as they are likely to charge me an arm and a leg and still not fix it.

 

This is a good point, although the car by no means breaks down everytime it rains it was just after a wet period when it broke down the first time. Maybe water is short-circuiting something??? On that note about 2 years ago i was washing my car and the alarm system started going off. Roadside assist had to cut it out!!! Water had got into the car and set it off.