Atriticuss

I have a 2002 honda civic EX coupe automatic that my mechanic says has an electrical short or bad ground. The person I bought it from said he had his mechanic disable the check engine light after switching the cat converter to straight pipe. So I figured I would start in these 2 areas in identifying the short. The downstream 02 sensor is unplugged so I figured probably not that. I looked for cut wires behind the instrument cluster, around the computer and around the fuse box under the hood with no signs of tampering. So unsure a wire was cut I replaced all the light bulbs with new led bulbs on the instrument cluster and I still don't have a cel turn on when I turn the key. Can someone help me identify the cel wires or other reasons it might not be working? I do know the car is throwing codes for various things including electronic load detector but my mechanic swapped both fuse boxes out (under hood used, under dash new) and replaced the computer (used). He also said my alternator is fine. Tomorrow I will clean up any grounds I know of or find but this cel has me wondering. Aditional details I don't think relate but I could be wrong. I rebuild the head, replaced gaskets timing belt and water pump. Replaced the vtec assembly with a used one but new gasket. Cleaned egr ports and valvle. Had my mechanic rebuild the transmission. Replaced the throttle body assembly with another used one. I still get codes for vtec and throttle position sensor and crank position sensor. Replaced (used). The car does run and shift better when the throttle position sensor is unplugged. That also unlocks my shifter so I don't have to over-ride it to get out of park. It also doesn't go into limp mode as oftwn and shifts smoother with it unplugged. After I rebuilt the engine the car seemed to drive fine for a few weeks then the transmission started acting up and completely went out within about a week. That's when I had it rebuilt. Oh, and I bought some air fresheners. That's the only thing that has worked so far.

bbarbulo

wow, that's a lot of stuff done on that poor car. o2 sensor being unplugged does not mean there isn't a short in the wiring. the field wiring can still be bad.

the CEL is illuminated straight from the ECU itself. I'll have to dig up a wiring schematic for that model...