Hey everyone I'm new to the forum here. I just bought an 89' DX with 258,000+ miles on it. It smokes pretty bad but runs decently strong on good days. When I first bought it at WOT the tach would drop down to zero and the motor would just stall and stumble with no acceleration. I ran some seafoam through the motor and it started running alot better. Well it's been a few months and it's back to it's old tricks again. If you give it more than just a little throttle it gets to about 2,500 rpm and the tach drops to zero, the motor pops and stumbles untill you let up. After about 15 or 20 minutes of driving it throws the CEL but it's giving me crazy codes like, 3 long *pause* 21 short. And it'll change each time. It also gave me one that was something like, 1 long *pause* 11 short. If I turn the switch off and back on it goes away for awhile but shortly comes back. I plan on doing a motor swap eventually but for now I need it to run as best as possible, what would be causing the motor to do this? Any advice helps, thanks!

 

have you tried replacing the ecu with a known good one?

 

You cant be getting 21 or 11 short blinks.

When was the last time a tune up was done? Regular stuff like cap, rotor, spark plugs, fuel filter, etc?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Suck my DX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have you tried replacing the ecu with a known good one?</TD></TR></TABLE>
do it!
your ECU sounds like its old and confused

 

I know it sounds crazy but that's what it's giving me. I can make a video of it I suppose. I just bought it for $400 and as far as I know the previous owner did really do much with except drive it back and forth to work, not too much maintenence I'm guessing.

 

How much do they usually run for? $$$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slurp56 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You cant be getting 21 or 11 short blinks.

When was the last time a tune up was done? Regular stuff like cap, rotor, spark plugs, fuel filter, etc?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah you can...ive seen ECUs flip out before and do all sorts of crazy ****...

one time i even seen one selling drugs.

 

It's always sad to see ECU's make poor choices like that..

 

i blame the school system

but seriously, try a known good ecu and see if it gives you the same codes.

 

contact "slow rex will" here on HT....i just swapped a new engine into his crx and he has all his old dpfi stuff....maybe hell sell you his old ECU for a good price...

other than that, do a quick tune up while ur at it...fuel injector cleaner,oil,cap and rotor,and fuel filter,spark plugs...make sure the timing hasnt skipped and the timing belt is in decent shape....

 

Yeah thanks, will do. I'm pretty sure the belt is okay, it's cranking normally and has normal power untill it stalls. I figure it's something electrical because of the way the tach freaks out when it does it.

 

where are you located cus if your in socal i have a spare dx ecu

 

No, I'm up in washington state, how much would you be asking shipped?

 

does this car have a motor swap?

 

i dont know i need your postal code to fined out how much they charge

 

98422

 

do you live in
tacoma
Browns point
or
Dash Point??

 

Brown's Point is the name of the area but it's technically in Tacoma. I'd just go with Brown's Point I guess.

 

the cheapist there is to browns pint is 17.65
so i dont know thats a little steep you dont know any one
around you who would have one its not like your going to
keep it just to check you know what i mean

 

Yeah, well my Honda friend just got rid of all his stuff but I'm sure someone I know can help out I'll keep in touch and let you know if I need it still. Thanks man.

 

yeah man no problem just hit me up if you need any thing