1998 Ody - P1259 - Completely Out of Ideas.
08-20-2015, 12:17 PM
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1998 Ody - P1259 - Completely Out of Ideas.
Hello All!
So, I am a recentowner of a 1998 2.3 VTEC Ody that I've been trying to bring back from the dead.I bought it cheap with a blown head gasket and have been working on it forabout a month. I am new to Honda, but not new to wrenching. I was formallytrained with GM (7 years) and have spent the past 17 years with VW. Point being, I ain't new at this. Lol.
That being said...this thing is Kicking. My. A$$. Both myself and the internet are completelyout of ideas. I’ve read everything I canfind on this and no one seems to having the same type symptoms with this code. I also have access to Alldata and that hasgotten me no where.
I know this is long, just trying to be thorough. Sorry for the length, but Ihope it helps...
I found this ol'girl sitting in the mud and weeds behind a shop and since mywife and I have been looking for a little van as a hauler, I was like"PERFECT!" So we made a deal and they told me it needed a head gasketbut it ran. I jump-started her, pumped up the tires and drove her home (21miles) with cruise control and the A/C on! Lost a bit of coolant along the waybut she made it!
Got most of the way home and the check engine light came on with P1259 for theVTEC system. Did a little research, found a lot of people saying the VTECsolenoid and valve are common...The local Honda dealer had one in stock, (whichtells me they use them often enough), so I got one. Once the old one was off Isaw the little screen was clogged tight with junk. Put the new one on, clearedthe code, drove it around the block, no check engine light...we're good, right?
Nope, Come to find out it repeats under certain conditions.
Before we get to that, I tore the whole thing apart, replaced the head gasket,radiator (because they filled the cooling system with magic dust trying to sealit without fixing it), CLR'd the heater core over night, replaced all hoses,timing belt and all the trimmings, cleaned out the cooling jackets (magic dust)around the pistons, sent the head to the machine shop to be checked (testedgood), put her all back together and went for a ride all excited about my newvan...
And the Check engine light comes on...
Scanned the fault and P1259 is back after about 15 miles of driving. I've beendriving her back and forth to work the past couple weeks and I have noticed:
I've done my bestto search and read before making this post, but of all the P1259 threads, noone seems to be having the same symptoms as I do. I have read the suggestionsand tried everything I found from them. Here's what I have tested:
When this van is running, it is flawless. Plenty of power, smooth, everythingworks. Once the code sets, it's sluggish and bucks like a mule over 4,000 rpm.If you clear the code while driving, it runs perfect until the conditions aremet again (4th gear, +80% load)
I read somewhere that the rear center head bolt being lose will cause a drop inoil pressure after some temperature. I (re)checked the torque of all the head boltsand found that the rear center bolt IS loser than the others, however it IStorqued properly (22 lbs + ¼ turn x2). Should I tighten it down so the torquematches the other bolts? It is about an inch longer than the rest (more tostretch, maybe that's how its supposed to be?) and the fact that the van hadthis trouble before the head gasket replacement (before the head was offand retorqued), then my guess is, that's not it.
Thanks in advance for your help. I’mcompletely out of ideas. I am driving myself (and my wife) crazy withthis thing. I do not function well when I cannot figure something out.Especially after all the money I have into a van that I can only drive 10 milesat a time. (additionally: shocks, tires, etc) I really like this van and Ireally want it to work.
Don't know yet how much help I can really be to you all, but if you've got anyVW questions, I'm your man!
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