Weekend from hell

edlentz said:

We took our E and two dogs from MidMichigan to Brookville Indiana to visit a wolf habitat. This was last Saturday morning. The habitat was in the country and we had a pretty rough road for awhile. We had a rock kick up and knock the underside of the car pretty good. Had that before and didn't think much of it. Had a good visit, drove around later to sight see, all good. Next morning (Sunday) we head out headed north for home. We get about 90 miles out doing 70 on I70 and there is a funny scraping noise, then the engine stops!! Holy crap! I get under the hood and I see a group of wires near the crank pulley that are shredded. Finding a place to get it fixed on Sunday morning is about impossible, I found a guy that was open and was willing to see if he could get us running. He reconnected the wires and nothing. The engine would turn over but that was all. He called a mechanic friend that works on Hondas in Jordan (yeah the country). His friend said it must be a crankshaft sensor issue and to change that out. By that time it was time for him to close. He offered to get a new sensor in the morning if I wanted and he was sure that would take care of the issue. We went to a hotel for the night. Next day we got there and he ordered the part and when it got there he put it in. Again, no start. Called his friend again, check for spark and fuel. Both a negative, check all the relays. Finally he said " you better get it to a dealer I can't find it". He left the new sensor installed. After all this he wouldn't take a dime for many hours of work. We had it towed to the dealer. Second time the dogs got a ride in a car that isn't running on the back of a tow. Dealer mechanic found a new connector plug for the sensor and fixed that, still no start. Dealer open until 7pm. At 6:30 the service advisor came up to us and said they were stumped and we would need to get a hotel for the night, he would give us a loaner at no cost. He went back to the shop and came back with a big grin, they got it started!! Turns out the two 15 amp fuses for the Imobilizer were blown. Thus no spark or gas. Still had a CEL but the advisor said it was probably an issue with the computer not talking to other systems. They said it was OK to drive. We went to check out and again NO CHARGE! After 2.5 hours in the shop. So we get on the road and in first gear (5 SPD) I get to about 10 mph and she is bucking like crazy. I figure out that If I keep her under 3000 rpm we are OK. So we babied it home at 58 MPH. Probably shouldn't have driven home but was jsut tired. Tomorrow I have an appt to get the crank relearn done. Not at a dealer but at a shop that is confident they can do it, but reluctant because of what can happen. They will only do it for driveability issues. I think I qualify. This is the first time we have hd any issues with our E, and she is still a loced member of the family. So tomorrow I hope to get her back to normal.

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te1966 said:

The engine bucking is most likely a problem with the engine's VTEC system.We call this limp mode, where your engine will only rev to about 2700 RPM.

Find out the code(s) that triggered your check engine light. You most likely will find either P2646 or P2647. Once you know the code, do a search on this site. You will find volumes of information on this subject here.

Hope this helps.

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complexrascal said:

Wow you really had an adventure. I hope that your element gets back in good health soon!!!

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