91 Accord - speedo comes & goes, flashing S, check engine light

I have a 91 Honda Accord. This is the latest in the car's lifelong ambition to have everything go wrong at least once.

As I was driving (highway speeds) the speedometer acted up - it went a little higher (maybe), fluctuated, went to zero, then came back. Well, another thing to look into, I thought. We stopped and ate.

Then, coming back home, it started doing it again. At the same time, the S light started blinking. Then the speedometer seemed to correct, but the S light kept flashing. As it flashed, the engine's power was diminishing. Then the check engine light came on, and the power came back (like a kick in the pants). The S light kept flashing, and we made it the short distance back to home.

Doing a little research made it seem like the problem was the vehicle speed sensor. When I got the codes, though:

Check Engine - 43 S (TCU) - 4

That doesn't seem to make sense. Some websites show 43 as a fuel delivery problem??

BTW, I don't know if it has any bearing, but the cars battery went low a couple of days ago and we had a friend jump it (I wasn't there). The battery seemed to go dead for no reason, although my wife thinks she might have gotten the seat belt buckle jammed in the door.

Thanks for any insight, R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers
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The S indicator will keep flashing until you turn off the engine. It will not reappear if the fault has been cleared since it was first set.

The whole story has the aroma of an electrical problem. A skittish power supply could manifest itself by throwing some codes from the engine or transmission computers.

I'll bet you have an intermittent electrical connection somewhere. When was the last time you checked and cleaned the battery terminals? Perhaps you have a loose ground connection somewhere. When you drive at night, do the headlights dim? Does the horn work?

Does the charging circuit work?

Has the problem reappeared since that fateful drive?

Reply to
Charles

This just happened today. It is my wife's car, and she won't drive it unless I can convince here the problem is gone for good.

The bad connection theory intrigues me. My garage has some bags & buckets of bird seed. Mice have gotten in. Just the other day I noticed some empty sunflower seed jackets on my battery (the other car).

It could be as simple as that, although those things can be hard to track down.

Thanks, R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

It might take some scientific investigation and the careful recording of evidence. Get a schematic of the car's electrical system. Determine what circuits are in common with the failed items. The more simultaneous failures, the closer to the battery you get. That's why I mentioned the lights and the horn.

Stress the electrical system by putting on additional load. Rear window defogger on, blower on. Don't rev the engine. If everything's working adding load shouldn't dim the headlights. You might have a high resistance connection somewhere which will be exacerbated by the extra current flowing. Fix whatever bursts into flames.

Reply to
Charles

This look like a problem with the minus wire somewhere , please check it from the battery to the chassis (could be here)

Kim

"R Flowers" skrev i en meddelelse news:yNKdnX5ZXJn1fw7anZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@insightbb.com...

Reply to
Kim Bonnesen

Here's how this turned out: I replaced the vehicle speed sensor, and that has apparently corrected the problem My theory regarding the trouble code of

43 (fuel delivery problem) is: As the VSS sent an improper signal to the computer, the computer began to cut down on the fuel supply. Then as I pressed the gas pedal for more fuel, it might have gone into some failure mode that gave up trying to tune the fuel delivery. I don't know much about the computer/fuel interactions, though.

Thanks to all those who responded.

-- R Flowers

Reply to
R Flowers

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