flipper7

Hi All,

I'm a newby at car fixing and am trying to diagnose why my car (1991 Honda Accord EX w/ 200K miles) won't start or shift out of park. I shorted the service port and the 'S' light blinked 1, 2 and 7 and 8 times. Here is a description of the codes:

1 blink: Possible cause: disconnected lock-up control solenoid valve A connector; short or open in lock-up control solenoid valve A wire; faulty lock-up control solenoid valve A; Symptom: lock-up clutch does not engage; lock-up clutch does not disengage

2 blinks: Same as above except for solenoid valve B; Symptom for this one is lock-up clutch does not engage

7 blinks: Possible cause : disconnected shift control solenoid valve A connector; short of open in shift control solenoid valve A wire; faulty shift control solenoid valve A; Symptoms: fails to shift between 1st and 4th, 2nd and 4th or 2nd and 3rd of fails to ship (stuck in 4th gear)

8 blinks: Same as 7 blinks except for shift control solenoid valve B; Symptom: fails to shift (stuck in 1st or 4th)

Here is what I've done:

1) brake lights work so it isn't a problem with the brake light switch being faulty 2) all relevant fuses seem OK 3) loosened a bolt on the fuel rail to ensure gas was getting to the injectors 4) went through the 4 Honda manual flow charts for S codes 1,2,7 and 8 all which checked out and leave me at the point where I'm supposed to substitute a working TCU and see if that fixes the problem 5) connected the lock-up solenoid directly to the battery and ensured each valve clicked 6) connected the shift control solenoid directly to the battery and found that A valve clicked but the B valve had a more of a sticky click than the other three 7) verified that all the continuity checks for the shift position console switch worked 8) took out the TCU and it looked great; didn't find any leaking resistors and all the pins looked good 9) checked that the battery has plenty of voltage when the engine is cranked

So it looks like I may have a bad TCU or a bad shift control solenoid or both. But since I am new to this kind of work I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas about what might be going on. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

Mangotreemechanic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by flipper7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hi All,

I'm a newby at car fixing and am trying to diagnose why my car (1991 Honda Accord EX w/ 200K miles) won't start or shift out of park. I shorted the service port and the 'S' light blinked 1, 2 and 7 and 8 times. Here is a description of the codes: ... </TD></TR></TABLE>
You are starting out right. The codes are telling you where to look. Bear in mind that the code means the item OR any connection in that circuit. Check all connections. If connections are good, then check the item (solenoid or such). The car was running okay before, right? Let us know what happens.

flipper7

Thanks Mangotreemechanic. I checked that there was continuity between the TCU and both solenoids, so no problem with the wires or connectors. I also attached both solenoids directly to the battery and they clicked. So all this points to a bad TCU. But is it possible that the car would not start if one has a bad TCU? The car was running great previously, no sign of any problem.

Carrillo93AcoRd

I'm having a similar problem... Driving and all of a sudden it blinks d4
Rapidly and it seem like I lost power but then it powered up without shutting off. Got home and powered down. Curious what the problem was, so I tried starting my car and nothing. It just revs n shuts down. Won't stay on. Can it be my lock solenoid?? I tested it and it's bad.