Are there more than one way to reset the ECU? I've just read that pulling the radio fuse for 10 seconds does it? Is that true? I have an engine light and ATTS light that came on yesterday. I've never had this happen to me before. Do you all think I should get the codes that the car is giving before I do reset the ECU?

We had rain here for the last few days. Yes rain in Feb in one of the coldest places on the planet in the winter So the water froze and the streets are full of these frozen ruts that you could not imagine and it seemed like Konis were not happy at all and I hit bottom a couple times and that's when the lights came on. Any ideas as to what might have happened? Mabye a sensor was unplugged or something?

 

Okay I might have found another problem. I checked my oil and it was a little low so I topped it off but what I noticed was under the oil cap the oil looked milky like the color or a late or a light cofee color

I then checked my rad and it looks fine, not milky at all....

 

Pull battery cable for a few minutes too. The radio fuse should do the trick too

Do an oil change. Check the oil in the drain pan you collect. If it is milky you could have a headgasket leak. Has your coolant level dropped at all? Do you smell a sweet smell while driving? Do you see any white smoke while driving? Those are all indications to a headgasket leak.

You can pull a code from partsource I think cant you? Do you have a local partsource? I don't know where "The Great White" is.

 

lol, it's the great white north. I don't want to come off as some racist

I'm in Winnipeg and I think we have a partsource here. I've also read that water on the crack might not burn off fast enough on a quick trip in the cold. I don't know. I hope it's not my headgasket. If it were my headgasket then shouldn't my antifreeze be a different color? The level was fine as well. It was right at the top of the rad.

I didn't notice any excessive white smoke at all and I kept an eye on the temps when I was getting more oil and it was fine.

I was going to pull the codes this thing is giving me but I can't find the connector to jump. Do you know where this is?

Edit: Well I just called Partsource and they said they don't pull codes

 

there's a blue 2-pin connector next to the obd connector, which is on the right-hand side of the center console, next to the radio (there's a grey carpet piece you remove to get to it).

 

oh ****..hey your obd2. You need a code reader to pull cels

"Water on the crack"? ...u on crack? lol jk

Usually the oil gets contaminated with coolant. Not sure why.

Maybe find someone who will help you do a leak down test.

 

no you don't. trust me, i've done it plenty of times; just follow my instructions above. jump the connector with a short piece of wire, turn the ignition to on and count the long and short blinks.

 

Thanks man. I was looking on the left side and couldn't find it

So I got engine code 71 and ATTS code 42. I reset the ECU by simply unplugging the radio fuse under the hood and the codes are gone

The water I found under my oil cap did have water mixed with the oil but apparently that's normal when driving in cold weather. Short trips without warming the engine fully causes the condensation from the valve cover (lol, I meant to say Crank before, not crack ) to not burn off which is why I thought something was wrong there. The dipstick has normal looking oil on it so I'm all good. I've just never seen that before and it freaked me out a little.

 

quick search says cel 71 is misfire in cylinder 1. if you have some decent mileage (or i guess it would be "meterage" up there) you may be due for a tune-up, at least plugs and wires anyway, but given the conditions you were talking about, may have been a chance event that caused the misfire. i'll have to check the atts code 42 in my helms when i get home, but that might be one of the pgm-fi errors (that may have gotten set when the ecu sensed the misfire). anytime the cel comes on, the atts system will deactivate and put the atts light on as well.

 

Thanks for the help

Would an impact maybe cause the CELL's to come on? I hit an ice rutt really hard which is when I noticed the lights come on. I did find the error code 71 but 42 I could not find anywhere on the net.

You might be right about the tune up. I have stock spark wires and distributor but the plugs have been replaced. I knew I should have gotten all of that done when I had the timing belt done but I ran out of money.

 

just to follow up, as i suspected, atts code 42 is a pgm-fi communication error; likely caused by the misfire that triggered the cel. i wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again in the near future.

 

hey gstrudler, you don't need a code reader to read all obd2 ecus from 96 and up??
Well what I should really ask is there's no hondas that need a code reader than??

 

not that i'm aware of as long as you have a 2p connector to jump. i've pulled cel, abs and atts codes just jumping the connector on my obd2 '97 a bunch of times (having the actual honda connector to jump the 2p connector is very handy, btw).

 

I just used a simple grounding connector like the one shown here (forked yellow dillywhopper)