99 Civic Check Engine Light

Tools are something that ALWAYS pay for themselves.
If you fix something once, you have wisely spent your money. Lend it to a
friend, , he'll owe you one.

Dan


"SoCalMike" > wrote in message
...
> disallow wrote:
> > Hi there,
> >
> > Got my sister's car with the CEL on, she doesn't
> > maintain it that well... All of the ignition
> > stuff looked wore out, so I replaced Cap, rotor,
> > Wires, and plugs. However, the light came back
> > on.
> >
> > What is the procedure to check for the ECU
> > trouble code if I don't have a scanning tool?
>
> might be worth the $99 for an actron scanner. its good for all cars from
> '96 on up.
>
> aside from that, autozone might check it for free.
> >
> > Any other ideas other than checking the code
> > that I may have overlooked?
>
> you pretty much need the code, and we can take it from there
>
> i had a CEL on my 98 civic, and the scanner told me not only that is was
> the O2 sensor, but which one, and what part was malfunctioning. beats
> spending $99 at the dealer for a diagnosis.

"TeGGer®" wrote:

> > The circuit to make it blink out codes is still in there, at least
> > according to the FSM for the 99-00 Acura TL. Pin 1 in the diagnostic
> > connector is the SCS line. The blink codes are listed in the book.
> > It says it will blink them out if the SCS line is jumped by the Honda
> > PGM tool.
>
> Now *that's* the kind of info I'm looking for!
>
> What does the PGM tool look like? (Don't tell me it's a paper clip!)

According to the service manual for the '96 - '00 Civic (pages 11-7 and
11-81), the old MIL blink routine can be used instead of a scan tool.
Again, according to the manual, there is the regular OBD2 Data Link
Connector under the steering wheel, and there is a Service Check
Connector tucked away by the ECU (right side of passenger foot well).
The Service Check Connector has two pins only, and you short them with a
paper clip then turn on the ignition.

On the service check connector, one wire is ground, the other is an
input to the ECU. This latter wire is NOT duplicated on the OBD2
connector (although the wiring diagrams for that section are very poorly
scanned in my manual, there could easily be lines missing).

VW Golf and Jetta from around 1990 had a great setup: The check engine
light was in a push button on the dash. To read the codes, you just
pushed the button and read the flashes.

I have a US 1997 Civic LX sedan owned since new.
Jumpered the connector in my pass. footwell and read CEL 2x with
success. Once for loose gascap (it was actually tight, but was a
cheesy aftermarket one which i tossed) and once for failed O2 sensor.
Correct both times.
Not sure but Civic might have changed in 1998.

Jeff

so which table did you use to interpret the flashes? In the shop manual?

t