Engine management light.

[PaulC]

Hi guys,

As you might have seen from the photos i posted today, i picked up my donor car today. :D
Drove it home no problems. Took it out later for a spin did about 20miles and on the way home the engine management light came on :( . Slight problem as i am planning on using the injection system and ecu in the mini.
It did have a "lazy" battery and i have topped up the cells with about a pint :shock: of cold water boiled from the kettle. Would this have anything to do with it? Does anyone know what would cause this?
Is this a major problem?

Cheers, Paul C

[strudel]

Just an off guess without more info but very often it is one of the O2 sensors giving up. Could be many other things. Try this to diagnose the problem.

Get help and access to the ecu either under the seat or under dash depending on model. Turn key on but do not start the car. Count the number of times the led on the ecu blinks and then check a code chart for that car. Sometimes if I recall there is one solid blink and then the blinks for the code. There also could be more than one problem and it may blink another code. Do all this a couple of times and make very sure of the number of blinks. If there is just one problem it will repeat the code again.

Clear as mud? Good luck! JS

[PaulC]

Thanks,
I have seen the blink codes on another website. i'm a bit gutted really :cry: . could it be something serious and/or expensive?

Paul C

[duck]

Here is the Honda site with some on-line manuals:

http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/workshopmanuals2.html

You should be able to find the error codes in there.

Here is a link to the CRX 88-91 error codes:

http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/CRXManual/62SH200/6-18.pdf

Good luck troubleshooting !!!!

[strudel]

Depends on the codes I suspect. Most of the ones I have read about are not that big of a deal. It is ususally tracing to the exact problem that is the headache.

Could be any number of simple stuff like a hole in a vacuum hose. The ecu monitors all sorts of crap and a lot of them are various sensors that control the fuel.air flow, etc.

Sorry I'm not more help.

[PaulC]

Thanks guys. Going to phone honda tomorrow. and the bloke i bought it from :twisted: !!Would i damage the engine if i drive it with the light on? I've insured it for a week and was going to drive it about.

Paul C

[strudel]

That again depends alot on the problem. I don't know for sure how that light is related to, say oil pressure. Usually you can drive the car a fair bit with the light on, mostly an annoyance. If your oil is up and the normal stuff checked I'd suspect it's OK to drive. Most, I suspect drive their cars for a while before bringing it in to a shop for repair. Check the code!!

I just looked at your pictures of the door car. I would say from first glance that it is a shame to destroy a car that looks that good unless you got it for very little cost? I would have thought that donor cars are usually bent, engine kaputt, rusted beyond repair or some other major damage. Should be a good car to scavenge a lot of parts from.

[PaulC]

Its got 12 months mot on it!! I'll be able to sell the alloys and its got a clifford alarm that my neighbour say he would be interested in. There will be other bits and pieces that i can sell to. The reason i bought a whole car is so i know that i've got all the right bits that go together ie the right driveshafts for the gearbox. Also the injection system is complete to. Scrap yards want £800 plus vat for just an engine then i'd have to buy driveshafts, startermotor, exhaust manifold, ecu, wiring loom the list goes on. Just ashame about the engine light!! :(

Paul C

[fbm-spec]

My first suggestion would be as per strudels suggestion..the O2 sensor. These can be checked if you have a digi voltmeter. My experience of honda ones are that they are the 4 wire type. ..ie. heated, two wires for the heater, one signal, one earth. With the engine running a swinging voltage ( usually 0 to 1volt) should be seen on the signal wire...the actual value is really meaningless..the important thing is it must be swinging!!
Obviously to measure the values , the o2 senosr must still be connected and engine running.
Worth a go anyway.

fbm-spec

[strudel]

Interesting about the car. What year and model is it and if I may be so bold as to ask what it is worth. More for curiousity to compare values here to there. If you don't want to publish it just PM me. JS

[mikeb]

wouldnt really worry about that light too much it comes on now and again on my crx ,the car starts first time runs like a watch and sings all the way to 9000 rpm .
you can buy a honda fault finder from halfords .its a tester that tells you the exact code so you can look in the manual ,i think there about £25

[PaulC]

I'm going to have to get one of those testers i think!

Thanks for all the ideas you gave. I was driving it around and it cut out on me twice so i drove it to honda and asked them to see if they could look at it and fair play to them they did it there and then and they didn't charge me ( i'll have to go back to them if i get a fault when the engine is in the mini. !! :lol: :lol: ). It turns out to be the distributor. So if anyone knows where i can get a second hand one from. Can dizzys be reconditioned? At least ive found the problem now.

Strudel.

It is a 1993 civic vti, its done 104,000 miles. I paid £1600 for it. i personally think it was a fair price. any one agree? it is a shame about the dizzy but there we go. Why couldn't the exhaust fall off or the electric sunroof pack up or something that i don't need break!! :x sods law i suppose

Paul C

[strudel]

Paul, I just went through a distributor break down in my 91 Accord. Turns out the coil went and moments later it blew the ignitor in the dizzy. In this scenario it would not start. Period. Had to tow to the dealer to diagnose.

Could be all it needs in a new ignitor as it may be intermittant. Canadian Honda charged $135.00 about 60.00 GBP for the part. Might be worthwhile to check it out. JS

[PaulC]

It was two sensors( i'm guessing inside the dizzy) that went. Darren suggested a honda forum to sell bits off the car. I went on it and found another link to a distributor company. I emailed them about the problem and they phoned me today and recomended that i buy a recon dizzy instead of just the sensors as the bearings might have gone as well which would have caused the sensors to go. I phoned Geoff today about the possibility of a secondhand one but he is at the autosport show. I'm phoning him tomorrow morning. Thanks for the advice though.

Paul C

[PaulC]

That is the very company that i contacted!! Thanks anyway

Paul C

[mikeb]

a faulty distributor is a common fault on the twin cam vtec engines