Honda seeking attention

[ITtina]

Helloooooooo

I have a engine maintenance warning light appeared ( I was going up a 1 in 4 hill in Devon when it appeared) its the sign that looks like an engine funnily enough! (or a haggis) can anyone recommend somewhere thats not going to cost me a blumming fortune to sort it?

ta very muchly

[SB - Nigel]

Is the light still on?

Have you looked in your Owners Handbook?

Should you still be driving the car?

C'mon Tina you don't have to be a car technician to read a handbook or regularly check under the bonnet - levels and condition of brake fluid, engine oil and coolant etc.

Only two things that usually make a Honda unreliable - careless owner and careless garage

Edited by SB - Nigel on Tuesday 8th July 20:32

[SB - Nigel]

You could try the Honda forum if the light is still on and you can't find the answer in the handbook

[Wacky Racer]

Sounds like an engine management system warning light....usually nothing serious, best ask a local garage....

[ITtina]

SB - Nigel said:

Is the light still on?

Have you looked in your Owners Handbook?

Should you still be driving the car?

C'mon Tina you don't have to be a car technician to read a handbook or regularly check under the bonnet - levels and condition of brake fluid, engine oil and coolant etc.

Only two things that usually make a Honda unreliable - careless owner and careless garage

Edited by SB - Nigel on Tuesday 8th July 20:32

Yeah i know what you mean, it says emmisions, Im scared to take it to a Honda dealer, just wondered if any of you local experts know of a good reasonably priced garage or a mate who knows how to fix it. the light is amber and goes on and off actually not on constantly

[DaveMitsLancer]

sounds like an emission sensor is playing up.. does it tend to come on when you have been accelerating?

If it was me, i would take it to honda..

you wont be given the option though of an aftermarket sensor if you go to honda i dont think

when the one went in my MR2 Roadster i had a £50 difference bewteen the aftermarket one and the toyota one. i still chose the toyota one though.

Edited by DaveMitsLancer on Wednesday 9th July 11:08

[SB - Nigel]

ITtina said:

. . . it says emmisions, Im scared to take it to a Honda dealer, just wondered if any of you local experts know of a good reasonably priced garage or a mate who knows how to fix it. the light is amber and goes on and off actually not on constantly

OK could well be sensor or unlikely is your exhaust a bit noisy?

You have had the car serviced haven't you?

Honda are not cheap and their parts are dear but you will need somewhere with the diagnostic equipment to be sure of rectifing the fault correctly

A no cost option if it's possible is to diconnect and reconnect the wire connectors to the exhaust sensor a few times to clean up their connections (IF this worked get the connectioned cleaned properly)

Make a note of which way round the wires go a be a bit careful as they may be difficult to remove the first time

You can find the sensor and do the above (if you're not sure PM me and you can bring the car round and I'll show you how you can do it)

[jumplead]

If you know where the ODB2 port is I have a device that can read off the error codes for you (and reset them if you wanted). May just be something as simple as a dirty O2 sender. Honda main stealer will probably charge you £50+VAT just for plugging in the diagnostics tool.

I managed to get the light come on in my housemates Civic when we were at full throttle in top gear for a period of time. Turned out to be a dodgy lambda sensor and cost him best part of £350 to get fixed.

[SB - Nigel]

jumplead said:

If you know where the ODB2 port is I have a device that can read off the error codes for you (and reset them if you wanted). May just be something as simple as a dirty O2 sender. Honda main stealer will probably charge you £50+VAT just for plugging in the diagnostics tool.

There you go an offer you can't refuse

Think about whether you want to reset without resolving tho' and it would be dishonest to do this if you were thinking about selling the car, not that I'm suggesting either of you would do that

ETA: I assume you can spin out the sensor to clean it too (?)

Edited by SB - Nigel on Wednesday 9th July 13:48

[ITtina]

Thanks everyone, I took it to my local garage and they said "unspecified" error code, cant see anything wrong so just cleared it and we will see how it goes from there.

[Trackside]

ITtina said:

Thanks everyone, I took it to my local garage and they said "unspecified" error code, cant see anything wrong so just cleared it and we will see how it goes from there.

Whereas if you took it to a Honda main dealer, the error code would probably mean something to them as they would have dedicated Honda-programmed diagnostic equipment. Therefore your local garage have possibly just switched off the warning lamp and cleared the fault from the ECU, potentially leaving the problem there.

If it should come on again, book it in with a Honda dealer. Okay, it may cost a bit more initially, but surely the peace of mind you'd get from a qualified and dedicated Honda techie actually finding a fault to repair would be worth the extra? Chances are they see plenty of Civics with the same code and will know what it is immediately.

Not all main 'stealers' are crap, y'know!

[ITtina]

Trackside said:

ITtina said:

Thanks everyone, I took it to my local garage and they said "unspecified" error code, cant see anything wrong so just cleared it and we will see how it goes from there.

Whereas if you took it to a Honda main dealer, the error code would probably mean something to them as they would have dedicated Honda-programmed diagnostic equipment. Therefore your local garage have possibly just switched off the warning lamp and cleared the fault from the ECU, potentially leaving the problem there.

If it should come on again, book it in with a Honda dealer. Okay, it may cost a bit more initially, but surely the peace of mind you'd get from a qualified and dedicated Honda techie actually finding a fault to repair would be worth the extra? Chances are they see plenty of Civics with the same code and will know what it is immediately.

Not all main 'stealers' are crap, y'know!

yes your quite right, but money is the issue at the moment, if it occurs again I will take it to a Honda dealer/specialist.

[ITtina]

update - light came back on, took it to avondale honda, said emmission sensor and it will beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee £266.75 plus VAT, blimey how lucky am I I am have dosh to pay for a change. well not for long.

[DaveMitsLancer]

Yay i was right lol