I'm not sure if its a standard time to light up but my engine light came on today. What is the best way to check and see what the reason would be for it turning on?

 

is it the check engine light or the service engine soon light?

if it is the check engine light autozone can pull the codes and tell you what the codes mean 4 fre

 

Ok, so I took it in to Autozone and the fella that ran the test says

Troubleshooting P1259, AAVTECH SYSTEM MALFUNCTION,
probable cause
AA1 Open or short circuit condition
AA2 VTECH Solenoid valve fault
AA3 VTECH Pressure switch fault
AA4 Blocked Oil Passage

So he recommended taking it to the Dealer or someone who knows what to do from here.

So before I take it to a dealer..what should I check and how?

 

well thats good news. the car will run fine without vtec so your in no rush. its probably just the filter for the vtec solenoid
how mechanically inclined are you? do you have tools available?

 

Fairly mechanical. I've worked on older cars from time to time. I can unbolt and replace with plenty of tools. What should I replace? or tweak?

 

according to your codes that were pulled the vtec solenoid is malfunctioning. the vtec solenoid is located(if your standing at the front bumper looking at the engine) on the head(top half of the engine) at the top left. it is held on by 3 10mm bolts. there should be an electrical connector. first thing is make sure the electrical connector is securely connected.

if it is then the next easy thing to do is to unplug the electrical connector and remove the three 10mm bolts holding the vtec switch to the head. you may spill a little oil thats ok. there is a gasket between the switch and the actual head. in the bottom part of the gasket there is a screen that protects contaminants that may be in the oil from getting into the vtec switch. use some kind of degreaser to remove any gunk or deposits from the screen and reinstall everything. now look at the fuse box under the hood. the top of the fuse box tells you which fuses are which. remove the fuse that says ecu or backup. reinstall the fuse after a few minutes. this clears the code. now go for a drive and hope the light stays off. if it comes back on then there is a problem with the pushrod inside the vtec switch. i have never had to go that far though so hopefully someone else can chime in and tell you whether it needs to be replaced or if its fixable.

these photos show the solenoid from the opposite side that you will be looking. like if you were standing on the windshield and looking at the engine
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=2000+...xnf2jCw&zoom=1
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=2000+...xnf2jCw&zoom=1

 

Maybe I have the wrong part pulled...?

I dont see a screen to clean.





heres a shot of the engine

 

thats half the part. the second half is right underneath it and the bolts go horizontal instead of vertical. the half you pulled is the solenoid. the bottom half is the switch. remove the o ring off the top half there and clean all the gunk out of the inside of it. do the same with the bottom once you get it off. clean the screen and make sure that the port going into the engine where the screen was is not clogged with gunk

make sure to reset the ecu afterwards by pulling the fuse. if your not sure which fuse is which or you wanna be positive the ecu resets just unplug the negative terminal on the battery and leave it unplugged for like ten minutes.

 

I've tried.

Even bought a 10 mm wrench with a ratchet head and still cant get access to the 3 bolts, when my socket was unable to squeeze into the space and maneuver. Its in a really tight spot and I think I stripped the top right bolt. Looks like I will be sending it to the shop tomorrow. Too much stuff in the way.

How much stuff do you remove to get access, and what type of tools do you use to access this job?

Thanks for helping me by the way!

 

yes these bolts can be a pain to get to. vise grips can be used to grab the stripped bolt. i never had to remove mine when i had my 96. my current accord does not have vtec . an open ended wrench could be helpful or possibly some universal joints. but i dont want you to go out of your way and buy a bunch of tools just to remove these bolts.

but i believe if the egr valve was removed that they may be a little easier to access. it is held on by 2 12mm bolts. perhaps it would be best to find a friend with some tools to help get to the part. a mechanic could do it easily though unless you can get a deal they will charge hourly. it is very common when removing car parts to have to remove other parts to get to them.

 

use the little comps that you can rent from autozone.

 

or pepboys or something, or take it to honda and get charged big bucks for it xD

 

After all this it turns out that the oil was low, as in none registering on the dipstick..which is what I feel like having not done the simple 1st step.

 

use a scaner