It started with a VSS error

[PeteMTBer]

Hi everyone.

The other day on my way to work my engine management light came on so thought I would have a go at reading the error codes myself following the guide.

It came up with CEL 17 - Vehicle speed sensor

As I was at work and a 30 mile journey home looming, I reset the ecu by pulling the fuse for a few minutes.
Popped it back in, started the car, let it idle until up to temp and set off on my way.

Car ran fine all way home. A few smaller journeys later, so about 50 miles since resetting the ecu, the speedo stopped functioning and a few miles after that the em light came back on again.

Checked the code again and as suspected it came up with the VSS.

After reading up on the fact that it was most likely the speed converter, I removed my intake and had a look for the little black box on top of the gearbox.

I checked the wiring, and visually it looked ok. Wasn't too badly insulated from the elements and no corrosion.

After putting it back together and resetting ecu again, the EM light came on again after a minutes drive.

So the next thing to try was eliminating the converter. Removed the box and reconnected the wires, matching up the colours. For the record I soldered them rather than twist them.

Reset ecu, started her up and it was still the same. CEL 17 - VSS. and no speedo

I left it for a few hours pondering what to do with her next.

The next time I fired her up my battery light stayed on as well as the EM light. Also the car felt very restrictive, hard to describe but spongey throttle? Like when you put a CRZ into eco mode.
Now this was just swapping my cars round on the drive. I did not take it for a drive.

I checked the CEL codes again and this is where I got worried and thought i'd best post up here.

As before, it came up with CEL 17 - VSS, but then to my horror it threw another 4 codes at me!

20 - Electrical load detector (high or low voltage)
41 - Air fuel ratio sensor 1
57 - Camshaft position sensor or Variable valve timing control
65 - Secondary heated o2 sensor 2 heater circuit malfunction

Could this be a case of bad battery that suddenly threw up the extra codes? As in a total coincidence? The Teg is not my daily driver and I have not replaced the battery in the 3 years I've had her.


Sorry for the long windedness of the story. I think that's all the info in there.

Any help would be much appreciated. I can possibly get hold of an OBD2 code reader on Friday to get the full P codes.

Many thanks in advance,

Pete

 

[davidpingu]

Unlikely that all those things would go wrong. Car goes in to a sort of limp mode with eml so could have something to do with those codes. Battery I'd say is good place to start as it's relatively cheap.

I had a speedo problem a few weeks ago and removed the converter but it wasn't that. In my case the sensor wasn't clamped down in to the gearbox properly and the plastic mount just disintegrated when removing the sensor. Paid about £60 for a second hand sensor and that fixed it for me.

Normally I'd say if it's not the converter then it can't be anything other than your sensor but perhaps best to eliminate the battery first if you're getting all those other codes.

Hope that helps!

 

[davidpingu]

Also there's no need to reset the car ecu. Once fixed the cel will go out by itself

 

[PeteMTBer]

Thanks for that! I did think it would be unlikely and that surely I cant have that amount of bad luck all at once!
Over the 3 years I've had it, it' s only ever asked for a rocker cover gasket.

I'll sort the battery out and then look at getting a speed sensor. Are they the same as another model such as the civic?

I only just noticed the post in the technical section that was posted yesterday about the same problem.

 

[davidpingu]

The sensor I believe is DC5 specific. I got mine from jap performance parts.

Hope you get it sorted mate

 

[PeteMTBer]

Thanks for your help David.

I have now confirmed that the alternator isn't charging the battery as the battery voltage stays exactly the same when I start the car.

Got to source a VSS and try that. If alls well once that has been swapped out, i'll pop the speed converter back in and hope that's ok too.

Think i'l ltry and get a new VSS rather than second hand, as there will always be that doubt if the problem still exists once swapped that the second hand one may be faulty also.

 

[davidpingu]

Where did you read the voltage from? Just so you know a new sensor usually needs to go on back order so it means a wait of a couple weeks.

 

[PeteMTBer]

Just read it from the battery. Was at 11.98v and stayed constant when I started the car. Should I have done this another way? I seem to remember my old EK4 civic used to jump up to 13-14v once started.
I've sent Dave @ Steels an email and am awaiting a response about he vss. Any other places I should be trying?
Fortunately its not my daily driver so can afford to wait 2 weeks. Not that I want to wait that long without the Teg! Especially when its not guaranteed to fix the issue. Or is that just my pessimism?

 

[davidpingu]

I'm no expert when it comes to electrics but was under the impression that a 12v battery will always read 12v or under as you're reading it's output. To measure the alternator I think you need to place the probes on the actual alternator connections. Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Do you have the workshop manual? If not download it and it will tell you in there.

Steels is without doubt the best place for a new sensor. Tell them you are on here for a 10% discount.

From the readings you gave, your battery sounds ok. Perhaps disconnect it for 10 mins to reset the ecu and re-read the codes?

Batterys can be funny things sometimes though and cause all sorts of issues!

 

[Mark_teg]

You can read the voltage at the battery or alternator, it won't matter.
Should read around 14v with engine running if alternator is charging.

 

[davidpingu]

Cheers Mark. I said I wasn't good with electrics

That explains a lot of your issues then mate. New battery would perhaps be first on the list as the car will still normally drive without reading speed ok apart from no vtec. With a dodgy battery I've heard of people being left stranded!

 

[PeteMTBer]

Thanks Mark for confirming about the voltage. Also thanks David for all your help.

I forgot to mention that I charged the battery before testing again.

Progress has been made today! Woo hoo!

I got a reply from Dave @ steels with my quote for a VSS. £103 but with estimated delivery time of 6-8weeks! Yikes.

I thought I would check over the fuses again. I had checked this prior to removing the speed converter. Low and behold, fuse No.4 had blown.
Swapped out the fuse and now the alternator is charging the battery and the battery light has gone out. Cleared the codes and now no EML light!!

So its back up and running, speedo reading fine although in kms, vtec engaging. I'm going to run it for 100kms or so before I then try and put the converter back in to see what happens.

Fingers crossed, but looks like at most its going to be the converter.

I'll report back to let you know the outcome.

Thanks guys!

 

[C&S Evo7]

the speedo convertor is the most common fault on imported dc5's that have been here a few years i have never changed a VSS except from physical damage, (the sam goes for the engine sensors) they are exceptionally reliable.

honda wiring problems are very rare, it is nearly always something that was added afterwards