1999 1.8 puzzler

[garymac]

The wife has a 1999 Accord which has got a problem. The other day she was driving along quite normally when the car lost all power. She said that the light on the dashboard, a little key symbol, lit up. She managed to limp to a nearby village and called the AA. The chap inspected it and test drove it and the car behaved normally.

I have a couple of questions relating to this.

1 The AA man could not find the port so that he could plug in the diagnostic kit into the car. Can anyone let me know where it is so that if it happens again I can tell whoever comes out.

2 Any ideas what the problem may be with the loss of power and the little key light coming on?

Many thanks

 

[Dan Robinson]

Sounds like an immobiliser problem to me bud.

 

[garymac]

Cheers I had a feeling that would be the case

 

[Attaboy]

1. Passenger side, in the footwell, a blue connector.

2. Could be immobiliser, but it might be worn ignition barrel, a known fault on this model Accord. Worth fixing because you don't want it cutting out when you're turning right and a 32 tonner is coming the other way.

 

[garymac]

I rang Springfield Honda in Newcastle this morning. Extremely helpful!! Was told where the OBD connector was and when I mentioned the common fault as Attaboy detailed they confirmed what the symtons of this fault would be without me having to tell them. It is a failure of the switch on the back of the ignition barrel. Remove cowling and locate the 2 bolts undo switch and replace. £58 from main dealer. Could have been a lot worse I suppose.

 

[Dan Robinson]

its nice when it's simple innit?

 

[Attaboy]

Ah, so it's the switch, not the barrel itself.