Hey, folks.

I finally got the fuel tank sender fixed and reinstalled in obnoxiously humid weather last night. Filled it with fuel (gauge still not working right, sigh).

About 2 minutes after I filled it, I got a CEL. Pulled codes and it's got:

Socket 2:
223: no signal from idle valve

132: voltage out of range

Socket 6:
143: no signal from knock sensor

Sounds to me like the wiring might be swapped between the IAC and Knock sensor. I remember that being impossible on the Bosch valves, but Regina only has 2 wires to the idle valve. The battery voltage could be from long cranking or something else, but I don't want to drive it with the two switched. I had to borrow a car and drive across town, so I can't put hands on it right now but I wanted to confirm that it's possible. I'm also posting this because search engine results didn't pull anything up but I swear I remember this being possible.

I know I replaced the IAC once before and I think the self-test worked but it's been some time. I hope this isn't a wiring issue.

Cheers!

Hi Will,

I've got the 89 740 book and don't see the IAC
But the 93 940 B230F Regina does.
Easy to check if they keep the same color codes:

IAC has Red/Black & Black wires at the harness
KS has Green & Black

1-3-2 Battery volts too high or low
Get a meter on your battery with the engine running.
see 14.0 VDC

What's wrong with the fuel gauge? Is it dead?
I need the 90 740 wiring book, do you know of a valid link?

Keep cool, keep hydrated with beer, Bill

Aw, yeah! You da man, Bill. Thank you! That will help so much.

I may have a copy of the electrical greenbook. I think I got it from somewhere called something like OzVolvo based in Australia. I also just found an order form in my old documents holder for every greenbook! 20 bucks each haha.

If I can find somewhere to host them, maybe Dropbox, I can post the ones I have.

After the week I had, I would love some beer but I don't know that I have time. The civic I've been driving while I finished grad school blew its head gasket into the coolant yesterday while I was on a grocery run - first stop was going to be the parts store for 5 inches of submersible fuel hose. Good thing it was before I had a bunch of cold food in the car.

Cheers!

Hi Will,

Not a fun week for your cars.

Regarding your fuel gauge, is it kaput? Even with the new fuel sensor?

If so I'll help you troubleshoot it. What's your email in case Brickboard gags.

Bill

Double post

Hey, Bill.

Yeah, it's been a rough week in the car department. I've got to be at work 7am to 730pm the next 3 days but I may take you up on the troubleshooting later or if work is slow.

I think maybe the angle is just slightly off but it felt like it was right. The gauge is working, I think. It sits at 1/8 of a tank for about 10 or 15 minutes before slowly climbing up to where it should be. I wonder if it's a matter of the float not being as buoyant as it once was or if it's rotated a bit and not quite vertical.

The knock sensor connector had just fallen off, which is a bit odd. Maybe a job for zipties for the moment. The IAC worked in the self-test, and it seems to be okay for the most part.

It seems like I have some electrical gremlins. I'm going to be reterminating the important terminals on the positive battery lead at some point, so maybe this means I should sooner. The horn is also a bit flakey - I hope that isn't another clockspring issue.

I'm going to get some dinner and put my feet up. Maybe I'll order the head gasket kit for this Honda.

I hope you've been doing well. You can always drop me a line at the brickboard email - bigwilliex at ye Olde Hotmail.com works too.

I'm really raly glad that the Honda made it this long - I just graduated with my MS in Materials Science and (Materials) Engineering, and I've had some interviews already. It would have been tough if the Honda had pooped out 6 weeks ago!

Cheers
Will

If the engine in that Honda is in the D17 family, they are well known to pop the head gasket between a combustion chamber and the water jacket. I had one that went at about 90k on a gently driven, dealer maintained car. I don't know if it's a design defect, or just a bad batch of gaskets, but I've not heard of one failing twice on the same car. I decided to avoid OEM in this case, and went with the full Mahle kit. Of which, the head gasket was marked made in Japan (unsure if that's good or bad in this case). The job is pretty easy. If you can avoid disconnecting the positive lead from the alternator (as some mechanics suggest), do it that way. I thought that was lazy, and disconnected the alternator, only to break the terminal post. I spent probably as much time fixing that mistake, than I spent on the entire rest of the job. I don't have a fancy radiator funnel, so I filled the system with the front of the car on ramps, and it burped just fine. Oh, and best of all, my head wasn't warped, so I didn't have to surface it.

Another lesson I learned the hard way: if you're going to do the timing belt at the same time, remove the CPS without disconnecting the harness. I don't know why, but they tend to fail shortly after that. Mine did, and the car went into limp mode, and wouldn't rev past 2k. Got me home, though.

Go out now and douse the exhaust studs in PB blaster, and have fun :-).

That seems like exactly what happened - coolant is darn near bubbling. It's a d17a2 engine and this will e the 2nd one, but it's due at 208k miles. I think it blew just a hair last summer but only now got to be a big issue.

Hmmm. I hadn't considered the head not being warped. Interesting possibility. I read somewhere that the max warp allowed is .002 in, so I'm going to have a shop check rather than do it myself. I don't know if there's a limit to how many times you can deck the head on these. My goal for today is to get it removed without breaking anything.

You have very good tips about this engine! I killed the crank position sensor when I did the timing belt about 2 years ago, and I did have the alternator positive come loose when I replace the alternator with an aftermarket one. When my crank position sensor died, the car just shut off four or five times randomly. Sounds like yours was doing a lot better than mine was when it went bad. I went outside and cracked all the cursing bolts loose last night- that is, I cracked loose the exhaust manifold and downpipe bolts. I did it with a warm engine and to be honest the worst bolt of all was the one holding the cover on down near the AC fans. Not sure exactly why the downpipe has a heat shield on it, but I guess I'll put it back.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Hi Will,

Check charging Volts at the battery first, make sure your voltage regulator
isn't on the warpath and going too high.

Horn: Check for ratty horn connections first.
Get a tube of Penetrox-A for connectors.

Get connector parts from www.davebarton.com
His site is loaded with wiring how-to's.

Keep cool, Bill

I think it's probably the 7 year old battery causing me a bit of low voltage if anything, but I have been sitting on a new voltage regulator for the next time I need one. I'll give that a try too. I found there is about a 0.4V drop between battery and cigarette lighter based on a USB charger that happens to have a voltage readout on it. I'll need to confirm that with a meter though.

I remember there being a link to get a sample tube of the penetrox greased but I have no idea where it is now. Do you have one?

I've got some new main pump terminals from Dave's site. I wish I could still buy some more of the Volvo labeled prancing moose decals too... but yes he has a lot of very specialized connectors. He may be the only one besides the dealer to have them!

Keeping cool until I step outdoors at least haha
Will

Hi Will,

Measure your battery engine off and running @2K RPM
measure directly to the battery anodes and not the clamps
see 12.6V off 14.0V running

I suppose you were too busy running down the foul bouquet in your car?
Now that you found Jimmy Hoffa in the trunk and got rid of him, maybe you'll
see what's going on at the battery?
Hint: clean all the piggy back terminals at the positive terminal.
Use conductive grease.

DeOxit had the free sample, check their site for a tiny sample.
You should spring for an 8 Oz tube of Penetrox-A for your connectors about $19 shipped at Ebay.
Wilson noticed his CPS failed after disconnecting to do a head job, sounds like a corroded connector and not the CPS itself that crapped out.

Keep cool, Bill