1998 Honda Civic Help!

BROCJOB

MEMBER
1998 HONDA CIVIC
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
192,000 MILES

I encountered and interesting problem with this last rain. While driving home in the rain, I had the cruise set and all of the sudden the cruise went off and the check engine light came on and the speedometer started freaking out. After getting home, I restarted the car and also noticed the interior and exterior lights surging dim to bright. Do you have any idea what the problem may be?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 AT 9:04 AM

2 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Hi brocjob,

The speedometer freaking out could be due to a faulty Vehicle Speed Sensor and when it fails, it would trigger the CEL. Autozone provides free scanning services, get it done to retrieve the trouble codes and let me know what they are.

As to the lights diming and surging, get the alternator charging rate tested, it can be done at autozone as well. Check the drive bekt tensions and adjustment.

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Wednesday, May 19th, 2021 AT 2:08 PM

THEBEANE

MEMBER
1 POST

I came across this with my 98 Civic a few years ago. It should have 3 or 4 problem codes, and when I googled all of those together, I found someone who had a webpage for that exact problem. Its a very cheap fix. There's a wire harness behind/below your intake manifold that is rubbing against a steel bracket and its shorted out, causing that problem. I don't remember which fuse it was, but if you check your fuses under your dash you'll also notice one has blown.

Because of its location I couldn't easily get to the harness without tearing alot of stuff out. I could, however, get to the bracket, so I unbolted it and wrapped it about 1/8" thick with electrical tape and put it back on. Looking back, putting a split piece of radiator hose or something slipped around it would've been better, but this has worked fine for me for about 4 years.

Hope you see this fast enough.

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Wednesday, May 19th, 2021 AT 2:08 PM