Hi all,

Long time S2K owner here and still love the car after 10 years of driving it.

This morning while driving to work I was stopped in traffic and felt the car begin to shudder. Traffic started moving and I waited a moment for it to go away and then the MIL started blinking and I remembered from forums that this was bad news. So I pulled over in the next parking lot I could find about 25 metres away and was about to shut the car off when the lamp stopped blinking. I thought it was okay so I put it in gear and moved the car only a few feet and it started again, and stopped again. This time I shut the car off. I started it again, and the lamp was out so I finished driving to work (about 5km). During the drive to work the car was idling rough and didn't accelerate from idle very well but performed fine at higher RPM.

In the underground at work I parked the car and noticed the car would alternate between a smooth idle and rough idle. The MIL is not lit. I shut off the car and now I'm wondering what the most prudent course of action is from here on.

I was thinking of having my buddy come by to check for codes. But will there be codes if the lamp is not lit and never went solid?

Any advice and suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks much,

Lyndon

 

You might still be able to pull codes. If you can't, you might be able to take it to a Honda dealership to see if they can retrieve the codes that were passed. I would double check in the engine bay to make sure all hoses are connected properly and maybe even double check the spark plugs and the entire intake.

Good luck!

 

You wont be able to pull past codes if the check engine light is not on. Someone correct me if Im wrong but the only time I have seen a car doing a flashing check engine light is when its misfiring. A misfire can be a big deal but 90% of the time its really nothing major. Most the time I see a misfire its because of old plugs or a vaccum leak. When is the last time you did a basic tune up? I would change the plug and start it up, open the hood, and listen for any whistling noises. This will show you if you have any vaccum leaks. If you dont feel comfortable doing this, take it to a shop but it is very basic stuff.

 

I'm not sure of this but if the code is pending, it may still show up on a scanner. Have it scanned anyway.

 

The last tune up was done about 4 years/40k ago (I only drive summers) and new plugs were installed then.

I did notice yesterday that the large rubber hose that connects the intake manifold to the air box (air flow tube?) was cracked in a couple places.

I can take it to my good friend who is a mechanic at a Toyota dealer but it means I have to drive the car. I'm hoping that since the light is out I can at least drive it there. Any warnings against this?

Thanks,

 

I drove the car to get the codes pulled. On the way the MIL lit up solid and stayed that way. The codes pulled were:

P0301 - Misfire Cyl. 1
P0302 - Misfire Cyl. 2
P0303 - Misfire Cyl. 3
P0304 - Misfire Cyl. 4
P0300 - Misfire in any cyl.
P1399 - Random Misfire

As expected, they are all misfire codes. After pulling the codes we cleared them. I drove the car back to work and the MIL hasn't come on since. The car is idling much smoother and getting better the more I drive.

While I'm glad its running better I don't want to stick my head in the sand. I can go read the service manual which I have at home and start looking at solutions, but if anybody has past experience I'd be glad to hear about it. I'll be doing a little more searching online also. Also, I was about to store the car for winter. Any advice on whether I can wait till spring to deal with this further?

Thanks for all the responses so far.

-Lyndon

 

Good luck. Probably not spark plugs, I really doubt all 4 would go bad at once.

 

Could be timing off, fuel problems...quite a few things actually. Let us know how it goes.

 

Since it seems like you've got misfires all over the place, I suspect fuel or timing problems. 1 plug, or 1 plug wire, wouldn't cause misfires across all 4 cylinders and the chances of all 4 plugs or all 4 wires being bad at the same time is pretty slim.

 

Considering I filled up about 10km before I started having these problems, you may be on to something. Will I need to ride this tank out? I was thinking of putting an additive in the fuel tank. For moisture I read from other members here that Seafoam has helped.