Ok, I know this is a very long post, but I would really appreciate it is you guys took the time to read through it and try and help me solve my problem. I guess i'm hoping that someone had previously experienced this problem, and knows what the problem is...or can help me out in any way.....


Alright, so last night something happened that I'm flipping over. Ok, so i'm gonna mention anything/everything that I think could be the reason for the problem that occured. First things first, I have a 1997 Honda Prelude Type SH. I have some simple bolt on mods. Recently I failed emissions which is probably because I have reason to believe my cat is bad. It rattles when the car is cold at about 2k rpms. Mechanic claims the failed emissions to be because cold air intake/ and exhaust system/ bad cat. Ok so moving on, my ATTS light seems to come on freqeuntly, and stays on throughout my trip in my car. If I turn the car off, and then back on, it sometimes goes away, but most of the time, comes right back on after a few seconds the car has been on. Also, if i'm driving my car and I exceed over 80 mph, my ABS light comes on aswell, and I loose ABS....although, to solve this problem, i simple turn the car off, and back on, and the ABS light does not appear again until i exceed 80mphs again. Now these two are things that have been happening for a while, pretty much since I purchased the car in a year ago. Now getting to what happened just tonight, I was driving home, and my ABS and ATTS light was on, which is normal. Then all of the sudden, my brake light and my battery light come on and my seat belt light indicating that I am not wearing it goes away, and my speedometer stops working. My RPM gauge still works tho. The ABS and ATTS light still appear bright, HOWEVER, the two lights that come up in the dash (battery/brake) are not fully lite, they are dim, and my indiglow gauges also get a little dim. The car is still driving normally. I then check all my fuses, and find that in the interior fuse box, a fuse labled: ECU/ EAT ECU 15A is blown out. So I replace this fuse for a brand new 15A fuse, and then turn the car on. Everything seems normal. ABS light is gone because i restarted the car, and the ATTS light comes on naturally. Then after a few seconds, the same danm thing happens. Brake light/battery light/speedometer stops/other lights do not show up/gaugues get dim. I check the fuse, and the same one is blown out again. I repeat the same steps again, replacing the fuse, and then this time, when I turn the car on, its ok until I put it in gear and let the clutch out, and then it happens. I repeat replacing the fuse again, and this time it happens just right after I turn it on, not even having to put it in gear. So thats what I'm really confused about. What should i do? Help me out. Thanks very much for reading through this, I know it is very long, but i really appreciate the help. I love my car, and just want this **** fixed. Thanks. Mick

 

You have some kind of electrical problem somwhere ( probably a short to gound somewhere)

 

im not a mechanic, so i cant go deep. but i am an electrician so i can point out the simple things you may have already tried. first, make sure there is no exposed wiring under your hood. it sounds to me like you have a short somewhere, and the most common cause of that is a wire is getting touched by metal somewhere. make sure you follow your wiring path in the car as much as you can and see if there is a line exposed. just a thought.

oh, one other thing to point out...my mother had a similar problem with her car, and come to find out it was a dime that got stuck in the dash lighter, moral is check everywhere you may have metal.

 

Yes definately one of your electrical devices is wired wrong. Just do not take to honda they will charge you close to a bill and unplug all you ****.;

 

since both your ABS and ATTS are dependent upon wheel speed sensors, i would start there FIRST and foremost, my money is on either a defective wheel speed sensor or a wiring problem to one of them

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boosted97Lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">since both your ABS and ATTS are dependent upon wheel speed sensors, i would start there FIRST and foremost, my money is on either a defective wheel speed sensor or a wiring problem to one of them</TD></TR></TABLE>

good call. the short that you are all talking about is due to a component being fried in your system. allowing too much current to flow through the car. now if you can get a hold of the schematics of the electrical system you can trace it back. go from your fuse box checking the resistance to ground. it should read open or something above 2 ohms. if it is less (which it will read due to your problems) then you want to step it back.go to the next junction in the car. read it there. continue this until the problem is found. that will lead you to whatever is wrong. it will be a huge pain in the *** but it will work. i.e., if you check the resistance after the wheel speed sensors and it reads short, but before the wheel speed sensor it reads open. then the short to ground will be the wheel speed sensor. if that does not fix it then kirchov was wrong and the world as we know it will be spinning off axis as we speak. have fun.

 

i agree that it is probably a short somewhwere, just trouble shoot the electrical system like shakes said. but if your abs and atts lights have been doing that for a year it might not be related to that. just get a schematic and trace back from the fuse you keep blowing, you'll find the problem

 

your going to need alot of fuses lol

 

I appreciate all your guys help. Its making finding the problem a little easier. However, I;m confused about the whole following the fuse processs...and checking to see what the voltz/ ampage/ohms electricity things some of you were talking about. Also, somethign that I just learned about a minute ago, right after i replace the fuse with a good one, and turn on the car, the check engine light comes on first, and then later after i put the car into gear and remove the clutch, the check engine light goes away, and the battery/brake/seatbeltlightdisappears/speedometer stops working happens. A major thing I forgot to mention was that in my dash, when the brake light and battery light are dim, that is when my ebrake it down. When it is up, the ebrake light gets bright, and the battery light goes away. However, all throughout this time, the seatbelt indicator and my speedometer still does not work. What do you guys think??


Modified by bigmicmasta at 6:49 AM 5/19/2003

 

have you recently replaced any bulbs, light fixtures, anything like that? what is the last thing that you did to the vehicle?

 

yea, i replaced a headlight bulb that blew out, and I also replaced a tail light bulb that blew out as well. This was like 2 weeks ago.