sport light related problem
 

Ok heres the lowdown. I have a 1991 honda accord 4 door station wagon. got the car winter last year and worked fine at first. Then the sport light came on first just once in a while then all the time. I was told it was the transmission control unit that came out of geogia and that they are bad for that year and model. well we were also having other problems with the car getting really loud untill one day the catalitic converter just fell off (yeah like while driving down the road.). So it was tax time (feb) so we got that fixed and got all the fluids changed blah blah regular maintenance done. Boom car works great! In fact if the light ever came back on it was only for a short bit and it went off again. Now here we are months later and the thing is back on again. The car was a bit louder too so i took it back to the same guys figuring thier work jarred loose somewhere (roads down here are bad). All they could find was that i was missing a few botls on the intake manifold which they could not replace because the holes are stripped but they said that could be fixed. He also said he did not believe that had anything to do with the sport like coming on and didn't think it would cause the controll unit to not work right. So what is the deal?

soif it's the controll unit why the three month reprieve. could it be....

*yes the manifold is causing the issue in which case replacing the controll unit is a waste of time and money

*it's a heat thing as we are finnally out of the cold months and it's been in the 80's the whole time it messed up again.

*it's an oil thing, as we found we were very low on oil, although putting some in didn't resolve the issue at least not yet.

*it's just the controll unit and replacing will resolve

*or it's maybe another issue.

It's really wierd how it just suddenly starting acting up again. and to top it off now it's slipping down to first right in the middle of driving. Takeing the negative off the battery works for awhile but then so does letting the car sit for a long time. Use to be if i took the negative off the car would be fine for several days or weeks, now i'm lucky if i get ten minutes down the road.

i really need help here, i'm a single mom of four with very little money and no other transportation options. Im not very mechanical but not totally inept either and can be talked through just about anything not too complicated. I may have a used control unit i can get sat from a u pull it place but getting out there is not gonna be fun and i'd hate to waist the time and money if it's possible it's something else. If you need any more info to answer just let me know and thanks in advance for any help.

RE: sport light related problem
 

Was the sport light flashing or on steady? If a steady S light and transmission remains in 3r or 4th gear, the trans control unit (TCU) may be defective. You may also hear some clicking behind the dash (relay opening/closing). If you have these symptoms, reset the ECU by pulling the BackUp fuse in under-hood fuse box for 20 secs. If this fixes problem temporarily, a replacement TCU is fix. Check car-part.com for a used part near you. Part should not cost more than $100 tops.Note, I checked for a wagon Accordand not EX trim. Be sure to specify your trim level when searching.

If the S light is flashing, this means that fault code is stored in the TCU. You need to extract the code by shorting (small wire jumper) the service check connector (blue 2 wire connector beneath the glove box), turn keyswitch to ON, and read the S-light flashes. Long flash (1-2secs), F=10, short flash (<1 sec), f= 1, w/ short pause,p between long & short flashes, example code F-p-ffff = 14.

Repost if you need help.