rockpiler

My Mom's 94 Del Sol Vtech (74,000 miles) is currently sitting at the local Honda dealership due to a dead computer or ECU as I see it's called. It's been in the shop now for 22 days with no end in sight. A replacement unit was installed and promptly fried out when the car was started. The service manager's next step was to brainstorm with a Honda tech in Atlanta who is supposedly the guru with this issue. That was 2 days ago and still no result.

It should be noted that my Dad has been a very loyal customer to this dealership for 15 years. He bought a 2000 Accord from them and is planning to buy a new car from them shortly. Both vehicles have been serviced exclusively by this dealer all these years, and every time the Del Sol is there for routine stuff the service guys ask when the car will be for sale.

It seems pretty ridiculous to me that the car has been there for 3 weeks now without fixing the problem. Can anyone offer any suggestions or possible solutions, as well as any opinions on what the dealership should do to make up for their inability to fix the problem?

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

It's over 20 years old, not much you can do except ask them when they might expect it to be completely repaired.

Electrical gremlins aren't always the easiest things to diagnose BTW. I highly doubt that anyone will be effective at helping you diagnose anything on that car unless you have the car back in your possession AND already have a good understanding of electrical circuits.

Caoboy

Their inability may be because it's an older chassis, and something like the ECU frying would most likely be related to a wiring issue...and while us plebes who work on our own vehicles may just cut and splice wires and fix it that way, they are most likely figuring out where the short is and if they can even source a new old stock harness. Or even if it IS that.

v4lu3s

You are lucky they are not charging by the hour for electrical troubleshooting. Its entirely plausible that because you are NOT paying they are not in a huge rush since if you are not paying by the hour the tech isn't getting paid either...and usually problems like this are given to more experienced techs who can make far more doing other work. If it was me id ask what it will cost to make the car a priority...or take it elsewhere

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

OP, I'm about to give you an answer you might not like, but it's the truth. This subforum exists for one reason - to help people do DIY repairs and upgrades on their 92-00 Civics and Del Sols. What you're asking us to do, is give you information to tell your chosen shop how to do their job. That's not what we do. There are many, many reasons behind it not being what we do.

Let your shop do their job. If you don't trust them to do their job, then take the car somewhere else, or take it home and try to diagnose it yourself. If you take it home, we'll be more than happy to try helping you. Don't get shitty with them when it takes time, and definitely don't go expecting them to give you anything for it. Electrical work is hard as **** to diagnose, especially when as soon as you plug in, the entire ECU is frying.

tony_2018

OP EPIC fail, learn how to troubleshoot and you'll see why its a process not to **** with if you don't know what you're doing.

joey1320

OP - as a technician in a German dealership, with major electrical issues being one of the most known problems for these cars, I can assure you that finding an electrical gremlin is a very long and tedious problem, specially if you are not used to it - like on Hondas.

Also, its difficult to place one techician on the car for a full day - repeatedly - when there are other cars that also need attention and can be repaired in one day. This is even more so if the techs are not under a 40hr guaranteed.

Unfortunately what usually happens is the "nightmare car" gets pushed to the corner of the shop while the techs and service advisors try to make $$ to support their families.

The tech, if he followed the steps provided by the repair plan, is now in a "what the **** now" moment, after replacing the ECU and getting that one fried. Besides that he may even be financially responsible for the replacement of the ECU, since be didn't diagnose the car correctly and the ECU is done for.

So you may(or not) have a tech who doesn't have aa weekly guarantee, with a fried ECU already under his belt - which he's more than likely responsible to pay for, and still trying to find an electrical issue on a 20 year old car - sounds like a total shifty situation to be in.

Yes I understand your/mom's situation but you have to look at the other side of the coin here.

Best of luck!

hondur

iTrader: (1)

Could be the fuse box. Its actually pretty likely that there's a higher amperage fuse installed somewhere it shouldn't be! Thats a great place to look that I believe alot of people would over look. Not that a fuze is bad but theres a higher amp fuse where there shouldn't be.

Beyond that, there's probably a short on the engine room harness. Checking wiring is tedious but its not difficult or all that time consuming. A plastic clip electrical connector could've broken and is now shorting out. This could happen while changing parts or even during a routine oil change.

If thats not it you'd have to take the dash out and check out the dash harness..

Was the car ever in an accident? Was a distributor or alternator recently changed? It could be as simple as water leaking into the ECU. Or a short caused by wires getting kinked or crushed while changing a part.

P.s. im pretty suprised that a dealership will even work on a Del Sol. But there's no excuse to take 22 days at a business with 10+ employees

delsolintegra

The original ECU for that car is the P30 which is a rare hard to find unit made especially for that model car. Even the dealership probably has a hard time sourcing one. And the dealership is probably committed to only using that specific OEM ECU.

In the aftermarket world a more common P28 ECU can be chipped to run that engine. If you found a talented non dealer mechanic who was willing to chase a short he could use chipped P28's in the meantime to diagnose the problem.

I have a 94 del sol vtec with a ls vtec engine (B18 with a Type R head) which I run on a chipped P28 ECU.

I still have my original P30 ECU which I am not willing to sell but I understand how rare they are.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

it is very unlikely that it is fuse related, at all. my guess is on alternator, the connection to it, or a main power wire shorting to ground

delsolintegra

I would recommend contacting phearable.net and getting a estimate for a chipped P28 to perform as a P30. He also could possibly repair your P30 ECU.

Then I would describe your car's problem to him and maybe he could suggest a solution for a possible electrical short location.

Then ask him for a mechanic in your area who could possibly isolate the problem. He has a network of customers across the country.

He is located near Tampa, Florida.

Caoboy

You are recommending something that is not necessary.

He is already at the dealer, and is complaining about how the dealer is taking too long.

There is literally nothing we can do. NARC is right about this. He needs to go talk to the dealer, not an unrelated third party (us) who is giving advice that would void anything the dealer may or may not do.

rockpiler

First, my thanks to all who took the time to reply, inform, and advise. It's much appreciated.

I also appreciate that this site is the realm of mechanics and DIYers with a vast amount of experience with Hondas that I do not. My experience is limited to changing the oil of the three Hondas I've owned to this point. That said, I'm approaching my sixth decade on this planet and have dealt with more than a few trips to the shop for my ride. I also had a neighbor some years back who was a tech at an independent shop that specialized in repair of Japanese vehicles. I always found our conversations about car repair to be both informative and interesting. Through him and occasional light research I am aware that electronic/electrical problems in cars can be very difficult to diagnose and repair.

So for the record I'd like to say my original post was not to condemn the dealership and its techs. I felt my question regarding the length of time the shop has had the car without result was legit, and I thought this site had the best minds to offer info and advice. After reading all the replies, I think I was right.

I can also assure those who may have presumed I was pissed off and had an ax to grind with the dealership, or that I was riding them with bad attitude...absolutely not. The only impatience displayed was in my post and one phone call my Dad made a day after he had been promised an update. More specifically, to NotARaCist: I was not asking that anyone give me information to tell the shop how to do their job. And no one has been shitty with them or plans on it. Sorry if you think I was evacuating my bladder into the Community Bowl of Froot Loops. Rest assured my brief excursion to your turf is history.

Again, my thanks and appreciation for all the replies.

delsolintegra

I predict a dealer provided P30 ECU would cost $800 to a $1000. Part only.

And since they already fried one they would try to recoup some of the additional cost for the one they lost.

I would get a written estimate from them before they proceed any further.

They will probably make you an offer to trade it in and some young sharp mechanic at the dealership will offer to buy your car.

Your car has a bit of value in the aftermarket world especially with the low mileage but it is a 21 year old car in the real world.

The route I suggested is what I would do but than I like to play with civics

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Read the last sentence in your post, and try telling me again that I didn't peg exactly what you want. The dealership has your car. Regardless of what we tell you, what will you do with that information? Either you'll use it to grumble to yourself, which is a waste of our time, or you'll try to use it to tell the techs how to do their job, which is not only a waste of our time, but also insulting to the professionals you gave your car to. That very last sentence of yours just reeks of entitlement.

You gave them an old car, with an extremely complicated issue to fix. On top of that, I promise you, yours isn't the only car they're working on. You do not get the attention of every technician in the shop, nor do you get the undivided attention of one technician. I'm not going to sit here and explain to you how the vast majority of auto techs get paid, but suffice to say that the person working on your car wouldn't be making a paycheck if they put 10 hours a day into your car. You need to sit back, relax, and let them do their job. If you are unable to do that, you need to pick up your car and either take it to another shop, or use the resources here to help you fix your car yourself. Those are your two options.

tony_2018

Took my friend 3 weeks to clean up a wiring hazard in another del sol. Day and night. Oh yeah. I made sure he got for paid for those hrs.

Former User

This thread lacks tech and is now locked.