Honda Car Forum

Ok, story starts with some aftermarket spark plug wires (will never put them on
again.. ever) and getting to work with my car sputtering to open the hood and
find the wire that connects from the distributor cap to the coil (I think).
Ended up melting part of the coil so had to get a new one.

Now after getting the new coil there seems to be some weirdness going on. When
I'm driving, at seemingly random times, a clicking sound, not unlike the ABS
clicks comes from the glovebox direction and it seems to short the electronics
out for a split second, and I can see the lights dim and there's a very subtle
shot to the car's power. I checked the ABS fuses and the wires around the coil
area and everything seems to be alright with no bare wires or anything..

I'm curious if you guys have any ideas I should follow up on..

Also, after they put the coil in my belts seem to sqeaul a lot more than the
fairly short cold start squeal that it's been doing since I got the car in March.

I'm looking to trade the car in pretty quick before it starts to nickle and dime
me to death, so I just want to have it in good condition right now with nothing
too expensive to repair..

Thanks for any ideas

In article <vuo0n9k7m3tg41@corp.supernews.com>, Chris Driscoll
<ackNOSPAM@sio.midco.net> wrote:

> Ok, story starts with some aftermarket spark plug wires (will never put
them on
> again.. ever) and getting to work with my car sputtering to open the hood and
> find the wire that connects from the distributor cap to the coil (I think).
> Ended up melting part of the coil so had to get a new one.
>
> Now after getting the new coil there seems to be some weirdness going
on. When
> I'm driving, at seemingly random times, a clicking sound, not unlike the ABS
> clicks comes from the glovebox direction and it seems to short the
electronics
> out for a split second, and I can see the lights dim and there's a very
subtle
> shot to the car's power. I checked the ABS fuses and the wires around
the coil
> area and everything seems to be alright with no bare wires or anything..
>
> I'm curious if you guys have any ideas I should follow up on..
>
> Also, after they put the coil in my belts seem to sqeaul a lot more than the
> fairly short cold start squeal that it's been doing since I got the car
in March.
>
> I'm looking to trade the car in pretty quick before it starts to nickle
and dime
> me to death, so I just want to have it in good condition right now with
nothing
> too expensive to repair..
>
> Thanks for any ideas

I agree that it is probably a short that was probably caused by the
incident that that you mentioned. If you trade it in ASAP the next owner
will have to fix it. I advise you to trade it into the shop where you buy
the newer vehicle--that means they will have to fix the problem when the
next buyer has the same problem that you have. It's hard to find short
problems since everything usually works great when you try to track it
down or when a mechanic tries to track it down. I could only suggest that
you wait for the problem to happen again and pull over and stop and raise
the hood to see if yu can tell where the clicking sound is coming from.
Keep the engine running after you pull over. Place the emergency brake on
and transmission in PARK.

The thing is, it only clicks once then wont click for a while...

I had it running in my garage and waited to find out if I could hear anything,
but I'm not sure I could hear it outside of the car..

And yeah, I planned on trading it in to the place where I buy a different car..

I might let it run a bit again today and see if the problem pops up, and maybe
disconnect a wire I have coming from the battery to my fog lights and some led
lights and see if that helps.. Maybe some moisture keeps getting in contact
with some wires and that would be a good place to start I think..

Thanks for the input, Bill

Bill B. Johnson wrote:
> In article <vuo0n9k7m3tg41@corp.supernews.com>, Chris Driscoll
> <ackNOSPAM@sio.midco.net> wrote:
>
>
>>Ok, story starts with some aftermarket spark plug wires (will never put
>
> them on
>
>>again.. ever) and getting to work with my car sputtering to open the hood and
>>find the wire that connects from the distributor cap to the coil (I think).
>>Ended up melting part of the coil so had to get a new one.
>>
>>Now after getting the new coil there seems to be some weirdness going
>
> on. When
>
>>I'm driving, at seemingly random times, a clicking sound, not unlike the ABS
>>clicks comes from the glovebox direction and it seems to short the
>
> electronics
>
>>out for a split second, and I can see the lights dim and there's a very
>
> subtle
>
>>shot to the car's power. I checked the ABS fuses and the wires around
>
> the coil
>
>>area and everything seems to be alright with no bare wires or anything..
>>
>>I'm curious if you guys have any ideas I should follow up on..
>>
>>Also, after they put the coil in my belts seem to sqeaul a lot more than the
>>fairly short cold start squeal that it's been doing since I got the car
>
> in March.
>
>>I'm looking to trade the car in pretty quick before it starts to nickle
>
> and dime
>
>>me to death, so I just want to have it in good condition right now with
>
> nothing
>
>>too expensive to repair..
>>
>>Thanks for any ideas
>
>
> I agree that it is probably a short that was probably caused by the
> incident that that you mentioned. If you trade it in ASAP the next owner
> will have to fix it. I advise you to trade it into the shop where you buy
> the newer vehicle--that means they will have to fix the problem when the
> next buyer has the same problem that you have. It's hard to find short
> problems since everything usually works great when you try to track it
> down or when a mechanic tries to track it down. I could only suggest that
> you wait for the problem to happen again and pull over and stop and raise
> the hood to see if yu can tell where the clicking sound is coming from.
> Keep the engine running after you pull over. Place the emergency brake on
> and transmission in PARK.