I drive a 99 Civic Ex with a b16a swap converted to obd1. I was driving my car last night and redlined first and shifted kinda hard to second, and as soon as I did VTEC disengaged and my speedometer stopped working, followed by the check engine light coming on. It wasn't on before this at all so I figured VSS. Drove it to a buddies house and pulled the following codes:

17-Vehicle Speed Sensor 20-Electric Load Detector 22-VTEC Oil Pressure Switch 41-Primary Oxygen Sensor Heater

I tried unplugging and plugging back in the VSS and it looked ok but I haven't taken it out yet. I reset the ECU and it just pulled the code 20. I started the car without the jumper and the CEL didn't light up until I started moving it, at which point code 17 came back and code 20 was still there, but doesn't trip the CEL by itself. As I was driving home my radio started shutting off and turning back on, and then turned off just as I pulled in the driveway and sure enough it wouldn't crank over when I turned it off, so now I have another issue with the charging system also? And to top it off the axle boot on the passenger side just ripped, not sure if it happened at the same time but it had to be very recently, would this have anything to do with the VSS? I do have LSD so I'm not sure if my car would still drive with a broken axle? I appreciate any help, thanks in advance.

 

check your battery connections or ground connections and or alt. connections.

your axle boot is mechanical, your vss is electrical. the two are not related.

your axle boot tearing doenst mean your axle broke.

 

It's probably that your ELD (Electric Load Detector) is damaged and now it's messed up the whole electrical system.

 

The ELD you have to replace the whole fuse box to replace correct? Should I go to the junkyard and pull one or is buying one from Honda a safer bet? Do you think this would solve my problems? I just went out this morning and it started, even though it wouldn't start when I got home last night. Drove down the road and back and it seemed ok, radio working and all, get to the driveway and it won't start again. All the connections/grounds seem fine.

 

Check Fuse #15 (7.5A) in the under-dash fuse box.

 

That fuse is good. Think a dead/bad battery could cause the symptoms I have? Low voltage causing sensors and so to go haywire/stop working? I replaced it like 4 years ago when i got the car but it's been a while. Will a car still start to die if the battery goes out while it's driving? I thought the alternator would power the car enough, but I do have a small amp and subwoofer and it was at night with the headlights on I suppose. I'll bring it in the morning to get tested, I worked all day so I didn't have time to get it checked.

 

Retest fuse 15 and read this TSB.

 

Thank you so much, that's exactly what it is, I must have somehow checked the wrong fuse before? Anyways would this cause the problem with the car starting to die too? Or is my battery dead also?

 

Have the battery charged -- it's probably low or dead. Then fix the short in the wire harness.

 

The battery was bad too, charged it all night and it barely cranked over so I had it tested and it was bad. I tried fixing it like the TSB, electrical tape and loom around it but it's still doing it, I keep blowing fuses. I can hardly see down there at all but the wires feel ok, I'm about to give up and bring it to Honda.

 

Did you locate the damage wires? You'll have the best access to the wire harness working from below with the front end on stands.

 

I couldn't find any damaged wires, so I had my Honda certified technician friend help tonight, and after 5 hours of work we still don't know what's wrong. We removed tape all over the harness and it all looks fine, we tried a different vss, nothing seems to be working. Still blows fuse 15 every time we turn the car on, and upon initial startup it just throws codes 20 and 41, which are ELD and HO2, but I would guess vss would come on when the car was moved. Anyone have any ideas on anything we may be missing? We're going to bust out the multimeter and start testing wires tomorrow night I guess, but just seeing if there's anything we may have overlooked. I'm about at my wits end with this car right now

 

Keep looking. The bad wires will be near the C115 connector. Did you remove the intake bracket?

 

We did not, but we did disconnect the harness and pull it out so we could see it clearly. It's a swapped b16 car too so it's not like the bulletin really applies specifically to my car but it could be I guess.

 

Got it fixed tonight, thanks for the help everyone! Turned out to be a wire going from the C101? (grey clip near the brake and clutch cylinders) clip to the under dash fuse box at fuse 15 that was open or shorting out. It was a pain to diagnose but at least we figured it out.

 

Congrats on the difficult fix.