Brain3208

Hello All!

ANYONE IN THE PA AREA SEE'S THESE CARS PLEASE CONTACT ME!
This links to my myspace log were i had have my car posted.

http://www.myspace.com/mike3208

I have been through MANY MANY Civic's and quite a few crx's over the past years so please don't flame me for this question. i just no longer have the time to drive back and forth to the junkyard replacing parts unless i am sure i know the problem.....My 91 Crx was stolen on thanksgiving day, it was my third REX and after losing yet ANOTHER one i have given up on them for now. they keep dissapearring and i don't want to get another till i am living in a better area.

I was given a 1991 4dr Honda Accord with a Automatic(ya i know) F22 in it. i can't complain at all since it was FREE

The car is fairly clean and runs great! the problem with the car is when you first start the car up in the morning or anytime after it's been sitting enough for the car to cool down the tranny will shift perfectly without any problems at all. the second i turn the ignition switch off and back on again their is a light on the dash that starts flashing. the light is a green "S". i'm assuming that the light has something to do with the switch on the automatic shifter that say's "Sport / Normal" . when i push the switch nothing at all happens to the light flashing on the dashboard. when i drive the car with the light flashing the tranny starts off in second gear, sometimes it feels like it is starting in 3rd gear. i only drive the car back and forth to and from work so it usually fixes itself within the time i'm leaving for work to the time i come home it's fixed again....shifting great till once again i shut the key off to get gas or food or whatever. i do not think that the solonoids on the tranny are bad but i'm not 100% either. i've just never owned an automatic Honda EVER and don't know were to begin. Does anyone have any idea what could cause the tranny to get stuck in 2nd gear? it DOES however shift out of second and into 3rd but just never goes below 2nd when the light is flashing. i am at work now. could it possibly be the TCU or should i be lookin elsewere? i can't really afford to get a TCU unless someone can confirm they have had a similar problem. I would really appreciate any help!

Ross 2.0

Is your speedo acting up at the same time?
The transmission isn't actually stuck in second gear, it's in fail safe mode. You need to find out what code it's flashing and we can go for there.
Long blinks are the 10 spot short blink is the 1 spot. So 3 long and 2 short would be 32. Look at the computer under the carpet on the passenger side with the key on and the "s" light blinking, look for a red light blinking from the case.

Brain3208

Speedo is working perfectly, the thing i don't understand about it is why does it work fine the whole morning and it shifts flawlessly until i shut the car off...once i shut the car off and start it back up the "S" light blinks and no matter were the "sport/normal" switch is nothing happens.

So their should be a light on the TCU also just like all the OBD0 hondas i am used to working on? i tried the paperclip thing but couldn't make any sense of the way the light on the dash was blinkin. i will try it again right now....

Brain3208

Ok everyone, I put a paperclip between the jumper under the passengers dash but i'm having a hard time making any sense of the codes.. i'll try to give everyone a description of how the light is flashing. the " -" represent the space between codes, the "1"'s represent the ON state of the Light and the "$" represents the extended on period i assume is 10 from my like my older hatches and rex's were. to make things simpler on everyone i will start with the extended ON state on the light.

$ - 1 1 1 1 - 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...........

I hope people can get my idea from the diagram above. any ideas what is causing my tranny problems?

Brain3208

Bump, Come on guys someone has to know what is goin on with my tranny.

Brain3208

TTT! someone's gotta has some kinda advice for me to look into.

Brain3208

Bump for the ride home from work!

hondadude

code 4 then code1 then code2 then 3, then 5 plus a 7 and an 8??
All the shift solenoids are bad and the speed sensor is not working or if the first code is 14 the ECU isn't speaking to the TCU

BLKFLSH

If you can't figure out the codes from the light, I suggest taking the car to autozone or some other parts stores who will hook up a scan tool and get the code for you. I've never done this myself, but others have said they will do it for free.

Brain3208

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondadude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">code 4 then code1 then code2 then 3, then 5 plus a 7 and an 8??
All the shift solenoids are bad and the speed sensor is not working or if the first code is 14 the ECU isn't speaking to the TCU</TD></TR></TABLE>

No sorry let me clarify....the "$" represented a Long flash. so i'm gonna assume from what your telling me that i am throwing code 14 due to the 4 short pulses after the long one at first. so my TCU is not communicating with the ECU? any idea what could cause this and how caould i verify this and/or fix it?

Thanks for the help!

Brain3208

Bumpdidlyump!

I have located what looks to be the Auto TCU. Up under the dash on the drivers side kinda near the fuse box, it's bolted to the frame with a 10mm. can anyone else confirm that this is the TCU? I'm lost as to why i'm throwing all those codes but like somone has stated i'm throwing a code 14. What would cause the TCU and ECU to stop communicating with one another?

Synthlight

More than one person needs an answer to this problem... I know I do. Seeing as its my only car and Im 17 and poor. lol.

Brain3208

Alright i still don't know what is broken but i now know that i'm officially slightly retarded for not checkin under the rug for the damn TCU! oh and yes all those codes that were flashing were right....

14, 5, 7 ,8......i got codes on top of codes! need to figure out what's up before i lose it. God i HATE accords! i swore to myself that i would never own one but it was free so can't argue with that. I just hope all those parts are not really bad but seeing as how it shifts fine sometime i doubt the parts are bad. my guess is still on the TCU being bad. anyone wanna confirm this or point us in the right direction.

BLKFLSH

This is the codes:
#14=IAC (EACV) -idle air control valve
#5=MAP - manifold absolute pressure sensor
#7=TPS-throttle position sensor
#8=TDC - top dead centre sensor

What makes you think it's a computer communication problem? You need to get yourself a Helm manual, and go through the troubleshooting for each code.

BLKFLSH

Don't hate Accords, hate the person who screwed this one up. I had a 92 Accord for 12 years, and I loved that car (basically the same as 91). You car has not been taken care of properly. Never had 1 problem with my transmission (auto). Seems like everyone who has a 91 auto has problems with that sportshift thing. I think I would find out if that thing can be disconnected.

voiceinurhead05

"the ECU isn't speaking to the TCU"

What happened? Did they get into a fight?

Anyway... all joking aside I'll give you an explination of the "s" light and so on.

The little switch on your shifter enables and disables what is commonly known as "sport mode". An f22A redlines at 6300 rpm, so in regular mode the tranny shifts at the redline. The peak horsepower occurs at 5500 rpm, so in sport mode, the tranny shifts upon reaching 5500.

Clearly the previous owner didn't take care of the tranny very well, because now this system is malfunctioning causing the "s" light to flash and the tranny to operate in fail safe mode... as the moo cow dude said. Fail safe mode allows the transmission to operate with minor malfunctions for a short period of time in order to prevent extensive damge to your transmission.

Synthlight

hm. so replacing the TCU should fix this problem, or no?

BLKFLSH

No, it's not the computer. When the computer goes out the D4 light will stay lit continuously, even when it's in park, or any other gear.

Synthlight

hm. well, the tranny in my 91 is a new one. but its doing all the same things my old tranny did minus the banging lol ( my last tranny locked the F up. )

i REALLY need to get to the bottom of this problem because i dont have enough money to buy a new car. esp after spending 1000 on the accord then another 1000 on a new tranny.

BLKFLSH

You need a service manual. It's kind of hard to troubleshoot all those codes over the internet.

Brain3208

Hmm. My D4 light does not stay lit and it shifts manually from 2 - 4 so i guess it's not the TCU or the trans itself bad. i checked all the fuses and anything else i could do while at work without tools. i have my multimeter if that will help me at all. should i be lookin for something bad? is it possible that just the switch for the sport/normal modes went bad, seriously doubt it but is it worth a shot to replace it? what is the most common cause of this problem on accords? Anyone know were i can find these codes online? tried to google them but only found half of the codes i need.

YeuEmMaiMai

my trans is messed up and it din't throw any codes. the lack of second gear is what gave it away.

Brain3208

I still have second gear, i have not felt first gear in a few days since it will not go no lower than second gear even if i have the shifter in 1st. funny thing about it now is i can be driving the car and it'll be fine..shift smoothly, downshifts when passing but now outa the blue the "S" light will start to flash if i'm sitting at a light and then my tranny starts acting up again. it must be something intermittent, everyone tells me the TCU is good since the D4 light is not lit all the time or even ever. it's just the "S" light that is flashin.

Can someone confirm if i should try to find a problem wit the actual switch being bad even though it's prolly not the case. i just don't know were to begin. i'm gonna go pick up a manual from autozone this weekend to find the problem. i'll let you know how it goes.

shrewz92

Must be the month for solid 'S'-lights. I don't think that Helm's Manual can be found at Autozone. I've looked at Advance Auto and only found Haynes for 91 Accord.

my '91 EX Auto-Trans started this in Oct 05. After frantic searches of all the fora, and finding that my Speedo was working (which seemed the most common ailment was the speedo NOT working/fluctuating wildly from low to high-speeds), I checked fluid, and added to cross-hatches on the dip-stick. Drove to work, approx 15 mi, and LIGHT WENT OFF. No light until 31Dec05. Now, it's back on. I have to put auto in 2 to start off, and slip to D3 at 2500rpm, and it shifts to what appears/feels to be D4. Oddly, it flickers at idle in morning and shifter in 2. When speed gets to 5 mph, the light goes to solid-light.

I can let the idle pull the car in 2 on flat ground. The light flickers and dims. I shorted the computer plug, but doesn't blink any codes on D4 or S-light. A Honda Specialty garage-tech told me that when the codes don't flash, that's a TCU problem.

hondadude

BLKFLSH The poster is having Trans codes...not engine codes