Hello all, sorry for this nubbie excuse for a post. My girlfriend's check engine light just went on and I effing hate bringing in the car to be repaired without first at least TRYING to take a look at it. What steps do I take? With my supra i can hook up two wires and watch as the check engine light blinks to get my codes to determine what is wrong. Also ever since the check engine light came on the car takes longer to start (when the key turns the engine turns over more times than usual). Any tips?

 

Maybe if you tell us what the car is we can help.

 

You can do that with Hondas too. Just jump the service check line to ground.

 

Duh* jeez i'm sorry, car is a 94 honda accord.

 

no big deal, you have already taken the Correct first step; you made it to a website that will get you correct and accurate information to help solve the problem. Check this link so you can get the code;

http://members.troublecodes.net/hond...ice%20conn.jpg

Repost the code and help will be on the way

 

AWESOME! wow. I'll try it out tomorrow morning if I have time, otherwise it will be saturday afternoon! As far as check engine lights go, when they go on, is it almost always somethign serious?

 

It could be a number of things. A sensor might have failed, or detected a problem.

Just post the code(s), and we will let you know how serious it is.

 

it blinked 8 times fast then paused, then 8 times again and it just repeated like that

 

after some searching found it was a TOP DEAD CENTER error code. It sees where each piston is and tells the engine when to fire or something? Maybe this is why it is taking the car longer to start......

Anywho, I have no clue what to do, some threads said check the wiring, but I don't even know where to start to check the wiring. I don't know where this sensor is.

Here's what i found pretty much :
Check for bad wiring from the distributor to the ECU. Otherwise you have to replace the distributor because they don't sell the individual sensors.

I don't know how to do either....

 

The TDC sensor is one of three in the distributor.

If you go to the DIY section of the forum and click on the online manuals there is a hondahookup.com link that has the shop manual for the 94 accord. Its about 40mb pdf, so hopefully you have a high-speed internet connection. Just click on fuel and emissions and its page 11-42.