bigmicmasta

Ok, I know this is a very long post, but I would really appreciate it if you guys took the time to read through it and see if anyone has experienced this prblem, or knows what I can do.....


Alright, so last night something happened that I'm flipping over. Ok, so i'm gonna mention anything/everything that I think could be the reason for the problem that occured. First things first, I have a 1997 Honda Prelude Type SH. I have some simple bolt on mods. Recently I failed emissions which is probably because I have reason to believe my cat is bad. It rattles when the car is cold at about 2k rpms. Mechanic claims the failed emissions to be because cold air intake/ and exhaust system/ bad cat. Ok so moving on, my ATTS light seems to come on freqeuntly, and stays on throughout my trip in my car. If I turn the car off, and then back on, it sometimes goes away, but most of the time, comes right back on after a few seconds the car has been on. Also, if i'm driving my car and I exceed over 80 mph, my ABS light comes on aswell, and I loose ABS....although, to solve this problem, i simple turn the car off, and back on, and the ABS light does not appear again until i exceed 80mphs again. Now these two are things that have been happening for a while, pretty much since I purchased the car in a year ago. Now getting to what happened just tonight, I was driving home, and my ABS and ATTS light was on, which is normal. Then all of the sudden, my brake light and my battery light come on and my seat belt light indicating that I am not wearing it goes away, and my speedometer stops working. My RPM gauge still works tho. The ABS and ATTS light still appear bright, HOWEVER, the two lights that come up in the dash (battery/brake) are not fully lite, they are dim, and my indiglow gauges also get a little dim. The car is still driving normally. I then check all my fuses, and find that in the interior fuse box, a fuse labled: ECU/ EAT ECU 15A is blown out. So I replace this fuse for a brand new 15A fuse, and then turn the car on. Everything seems normal. ABS light is gone because i restarted the car, and the ATTS light comes on naturally. Then after a few seconds, the same danm thing happens. Brake light/battery light/speedometer stops/other lights do not show up/gaugues get dim. I check the fuse, and the same one is blown out again. I repeat the same steps again, replacing the fuse, and then this time, when I turn the car on, its ok until I put it in gear and let the clutch out, and then it happens. I repeat replacing the fuse again, and this time it happens just right after I turn it on, not even having to put it in gear. So thats what I'm really confused about. What should i do? Help me out. Thanks very much for reading through this, I know it is very long, but i really appreciate the help. I love my car, and just want this **** fixed. Thanks. Mick

Chiovnidca

What codes are the ATTS and ABS throwing?

bigmicmasta

The ATTS and the ABS lights have been coming on for as long as I have had the car. The problem with the brake light and batter light and seatbelt indicator and speedometer just happened two nights ago. Also, somethign that I just learned about a minute ago, right after i replace the fuse with a good one, and turn on the car, the check engine light comes on first, and then later after i put the car into gear and remove the clutch, the check engine light goes away, and the battery/brake/seatbeltlightdisappears/speedometer stops working happens. Also, some key information that I forgot to mention was that the battery light and brake light are dim only when the ebrake is down. When I put the ebrake up, the brake light gets bright, and the battery light goes away. However, all throughout the time, the spedometer and seatbelt indicator is not working. What do you think??


Modified by bigmicmasta at 6:50 AM 5/19/2003

b19coupe

Sounds like you may have a loose ground connection. It's one of those problems that will be tough to "fix" on the internet. You need someone with electrical experience, a Honda ETM, and lots of time.

bigmicmasta

Would this loose ground be for a component that possibly is not working now. Again, my fuse for ECU/ EAT ECU keeps blowing out. But before it blows out, the check engine light comes one...then the fuse blows and the chck engine goes away and all the other **** happens again. What ground could it be for?

b19coupe

You may have multiple problems, but without an ETM, you are shooting in the dark.
Unless the problem is very obvious, even if I had the car in the shop it would take me awhile to find it. The only thing I can suggest short of getting the ETM, is to inspect all of the related wiring-ECU wiring, dash wiring, etc. You have an intermittent short somewhere that is causing that fuse to blow. A dead short would pop the fuse as soon as you installed it.

bigmicmasta

Yo b19coupe, sounds like you know your ****. Give me some more insite about the electrical stuff. I'm actually getting somewhere with my problem I found some wires disconnected in my dash, related to my RPM Tach, alarm system, and indiglow gaugues. I'm starting to think it might be related to that. Could also be because cat is fried out. I dunno. But what do you mean/ what is the difference between intermittent short and dead short. What happens with the two. You were talking kinda about its relation to the fuses and everything. If you have a chance, ex[plain in detail please. Thanks. What do you think about the loose wires?

b19coupe

A dead short blows the fuse as soon as you plug in a new fuse. An intermittent short only blows once in a while, like when you hit a bump, or jiggle a wire that is shorted to ground. Loose wires are bad, shows that someone who did not care too much about the quality of their work was there.

bigmicmasta

I have indiglo gauges, which by the way are not working right now, even when the fuse is not blown or is blown, and from the box that all the wires come from for the gauges, there is one really thin black wire, which I think is ground, but i'm not sure. The parking light wire is connected, the wires going to the dimmer and switch are clear, and the wire goin to the dash gauge is clear as well. So this last wire must have to be ground. HOwever, when i grounded it, nothin happened. Am I grounding it wrong? Do you think this is related to my problem with everything?? what do you think? Thanks