Have a '91 Accord owned since it was new, with only 65k miles on it now. Engine and Auto trans have had fluid changes regularly. The last time the car was started the S indicator light on the dash started flashing. The owners manual says "this indicates a possible malfunction in the transmission; avoid rapid acceleration and have the transmission checked by a Honda dealer as soon as possible". Trans fluid level is fine. The car has been parked after seeing the flashing "S". Was wondering if anyone could give me any more information as to what might be going on? Is it fluid pressure this indicator is measuring or something else? Is there any kind of chance it's just a bad sender? Thanks in advance.

 

Alot of times it's just the tcu going bad.They are notorious for it here is a pic of a bad circuit board on a tcu



If you can take yours out and inspect it.If it has a burnt spot on the board like this one then it's bad.In the pic you can see where one of the capacitors fried and leaked that black stuff all over the board.


Modified by Dmc1 at 5:12 PM 3/2/2006

 

As DCM1 said, you've a bad TCM - a not uncommon failure for 4th Gen Hondas. The typical failure is a failed Capacitor (as Illustrated). This causes power interuption issues and sets the S lamp to start flashing.
They are relatively inexpensive to replace and are located under the carpeting, in front of the passanger's feet.

http://stores.ebay.com/AUTO-CO...QtZkm

$149.00

P

 

i think the best thing to do is to chk the code , post it here , it will give us more info on what is going on,,
I would not replace anything until properly diagnosed..

 

Actually I have a good one for sale $67 shipped if your interested.

I sold one to Ralphalot last week he should be posting up his results soon.

But like honda master said we need to make sure the tcu is the needed part.


Modified by Dmc1 at 6:18 PM 3/2/2006

 

How many of these things have you got???
Trying to start a business?

LOL

P

 

As mentioned before the "S" on the dash was flashing and kept flashing until I turned off the ignition, which got me worried. I have now started the car 3 more times driving a couple of blocks each time and don't see the flashing "S" anymore. The car "seems" to be running fine. I ran a jumper and got the code 15 which my Chilton book says is Ignition Output Signal. Does this seem right ? If I wanted to look at the TCU, am guessing it's under the large steel plate under the passengers feet?

 

Yeah it's under that plate it's 4 10mm bolts to take the plate loose then you have to unplug the ecu and the tcu the tcu is the smaller of the two on the right side.
it has two plugs going into it that are a little tricky to get undone their is a tab on the top of each plug I use a small flat screwdriver to push them down and then unplug each one just be careful not to break them.

 

Thanks for the information Dmc1. Guess I'll take a look at the TCU this weekend. Am still wondering why I am getting a code 15, and what that has to do with the TCU and the "S" that was flashing and now has stopped?

 

if the S lite blinks code 15 you got an issue with the mainshaft speed sensor , chk the connection and the wires ,, you could also have a bad sensor as well..

 

Hey Desert Honda.Nice to see you.I miss your avatar

 

My Chilton Manual (not that I always trust them) says a code 15 on a '91 Accord is Ignition Output Signal. Is this incorrect? Believe I will clear the codes and see if it comes up again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1accord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> My Chilton Manual (not that I always trust them) says a code 15 on a '91 Accord is Ignition Output Signal. Is this incorrect? Believe I will clear the codes and see if it comes up again.</TD></TR></TABLE>

are you reading the tranny code 15 ? or the engine code 15??

which lite blinks code 15 &gt;&gt;?? the S lite or chk engine lite ???

 

#15 Tranny code is for Speed Sensor (transmission code). If your car is operating normally, I would wait, and see if the light comes back on again.

 

My Bad. Was apparently looking at the Engine code chart (They just call it "fault code chart" in Chiltons, couldn't see any other charts ). We were counting flashes on the check engine light after a jumper was put on under the dash. Am guessing we picked up an old code 15 for the engine that may have been recorded some time ago. The "S" only flashed the one time when we were 2 blocks from home so we came back and turned the car off. It's been driven 3 or 4 short trips since then (after all codes had been cleared) and the "S" has not flashed since. At the time it happened we didn't realize we should have been counting the flashes of the "S" . So far so good I guess! For future reference, Is there a switch or a jumper connection that will cause the "S" light to flash it's code a second time after the engine is shut down?