Hey guys

I'm having a pretty strange issue with my CRX. I have had this problem sine i bought it a few weeks ago, i still cant figure out what is the matter.

When I got the car its TPS sensor was snapped all the way off. Problem number 1

The day after I was driving it, i was going down the road and all of a sudden the RPM's kept jumping around. It would dip and pop back up and do it all over again. It even started doing it at idle. Sometimes it can be idling at 700 and then idle goes to like 300 or so, and you give it some gas and its obvious its not firing on all cylinders till it gets back up to 700 rpms or so. I replaced the throttle body with a good TPS and its still not helping

The only thing that solves the problem so far is having something that is electrically demanding. In the daytime if i run the heater/blower above setting 2 the car runs fine all day long. At night if i run the lights it also does fine. Can anyone explain this? Because as soon as i shut the heater off or turn the lights off the car acts up again.

Thx for the help

 

Hrm, very odd. The only things I can think of is to check your alternator output to see if its too high and check/replace your ground wires. I've never heard of anything like that. Maybe someone else has had something similar so if anything, bump for you.

 

Its just very odd because it wont do it when the car is cold

It only happens after about 15 mins or so of operating time. I checked voltage at the battery while running at it was around 14 or so. I know when i first got the car the alt belt was loose so it was squeeking, so i tightened it--other than that I have no idea. An alt belt isnt rocket scientist material

 

check the basic's cap rotor, wires, then check compression, then make sure all ur injector plugs are secure and wires look good

 

i had the same problem about 10 months ago.
i changed the ground wire, spark plugs, plug wires, and dizzy... and it was fine.

but now im starting to get it again...

 

Well since I just cleared the code that i was getting from the TPS...i was driving today and about the usual time the car would start acting up. It did again....and the engine light popped ok. I'm thinking good.....some progress. I get to school hop under there and check the code. Code 17--Vehicle Speed Sensor. Where is this located........I may just go and try to clean the connectors and/or buy a new one.

 

BTW--Which ground wire did you replace?

If it is the one from the battery that bolts to the tranny in two different spots, i dont have one of the grounding points bolted to the tranny. I figured its already bolted once but who knows.

Also is the vehicle speed sensor located on the tranny?

 

i just changed the ground wire from head to frame... since the other grounds looked decent. this one was all corroded and fraying.

what motor do you have? if u have a stock motor on ur 88-91 civic, then there is no speed sensor. i currently have that problem also (code 17). its a cable from the speedometer to the tranny. it is probably snapped (like mine).
just get one from ur dealership or the junkyard and replace it.

 

Well now I am getting a code 20 (electric load) along with my 17 code

Any ideas?

And for some reason my temp guage and gas guage go up when i turn on my right turn signal only, and the signal seems to not work, and on the dash it even fades in and out like its struggling to keep it going

Anymore ideas?

 

omg..
lol i guess you should re-wire ur vehicle!

that shows corrosion. definately check ur grounds and replace the speedo cable.
then check what kind of codes you get.

 

Bump for you...that's some crazy stuff!

 

Best guess about the speedo cable is that I didnt secure it tight enough(there is a bracket that keeps in in place on the tranny) because I did a clutch job on it before I started driving it.

As far as the 20, i have no freaking clue.....I did look into the manual pages that I searched for on here, and I could have some potential bad areas. As far as grounding goes, I have made new ground wires for the chassis-head points and the tranny/bracket/negative battery lead. I also bought new terminal's (+/-) at autozone yesterday and put those on.

One thing I have noticed now is the turn signal will only fade in/out if the heater is on...If i have the heater turned off it will work fine.

One question-- If my battery is too small will it affect that? The battery that came with the car was dead so Im using my new battery that I had from my 86 HF which i believe is a little smaller. I also have a new alternator off that engine from the HF as well, I might try swapping out the alternator.....although it doesnt make sense because when the heater is on, the left turn signal always works perfect, unlike the right signal

my crx is poop

 

well, since it is an electrical problem... try to replace any electrical parts in your car. it can only be for the better for you car anyways.

about the "not firing on all cylinders", did u change spark plugs and wires?
when that happend to me, one of my plugs i pulled out was covered in engine oil..
so i replaced all plug gaskets (little rubber rings) and valvecover gasket (the valvecover was leaking at the time also)... then i replace all plugs, and plug wires. it ran smooth after that.

if you never replaced your alternator, replace it. battery size shouldn't matter.
check the wiring connections for the turn signals (in your dash and at the bulb), look for corrosion.

it sounds like a weak alternator..... i think i have a weak one as well since whenever i switch on the headlights or defroster, the motor dips down in rpm alot.

hope this helps

 

do u have a good chassy ground? double check that, i had the exact same problem ended up being the chassy ground.. a good 4 gauge wire should be plenty, i tryed a 8 gauge and it helpped, i added another 10 and it took care of it.. if its just cheapy wire that could be your problem.

 

Turns out the chassis-head ground wasnt all that great so we added another ground wire going directly to the block and I havent had any problems since