Hello everybody,
This is my first time ever posting, and usually when I'm looking for information I'm able to find the answers through that nifty website they call "Google", however this specific problem seems to be one where I don't seem to ever find a definitive answer (either any answer at all, or I get 5 million different possible ones). The people on this forum though seem to be pretty dang smart and so I picked this one to go to for my question/issue. I've had this issue for about the past year, but it is completely sporadic. Please forgive me for the perhaps longish post, but this post has seriously been one in the making for a while now (like I said, I've looked I don't know how much cumulative time on Google looking for help/answers to this). Okay, after review, please do
bare with me through this post, I'm trying to give you
all the information about my car so that there's no dragging on of this thread trying to get information from me that I should've included from the get-go.
The issue:
- Randomly, my Check Engine Light (CEL) will turn on for periods at a time. In the past year, it has probably come on a total of 5-6 times, with no rhythm whatsoever, at/for otherwise just completely random intervals/times. What happens is odd; my check engine light will be off for about, say, 1-2 months, and then randomly one time I'll start up my car and it'll be on. My check engine light will usually stay on for say 2-6 weeks, then it'll just turn off by itself. If my dashboard were to disappear, I wouldn't even notice a
thing different in my car, the way it drives, etc. All performance is EXACTLY the same whether my car's 'Check Engine Light' (CEL) is on or off. My car's temperature gauge is the same throughout my drives; my RPM's are the same; my shifting is exactly the same, no delay or difference whatsoever, no "kick" when shifting, no nothing, my shifts are completely smooth (like I said, I seriously wouldn't even be able to tell if my CEL was on or off if I didn't see it there on my dash).
Background info:
- I have about 148,000 miles on my car
- About a month ago I finally had time while my CEL was on and took my car to the dealership to get the code readout on the CEL before it went out again and the gentleman gave me 2 codes (P0700 and another one that I can't seem to find, but I seem to remember it being only a few points higher than the P0700 (ex: P0704 or something)).
- I have a 1998 Honda Prelude (Base model; not the SH). It enjoys long drives by the beach and chevron with techron (okay maybe not the chevron part, but if my car was like KITT from Knight Rider maybe it would tell me this, who knows, the jury's still out on this one).
- The extent of my car knowledge is limited; I'm only familiar (to some extent) with things that have happened to my car. Never had anybody growing up teach me anything about cars unfortunately, although it is definitely something I've always wanted to learn.
- I replaced my Timing Belt about a year and a half ago/~10,000 miles ago (and by the way, in hindsight, I was stupid for waiting so long to get it replaced and would recommend to anyone reading this who was like me, to just listen to the dealership on this one, it could have seriously ended much worse; again, I know virtually nothing about cars other than what I've learned through experience). My hand was dealt to me here as my Timing Belt was lucky to not have completely snapped; my Auto Tensioner froze and it (my Timing Belt) skipped 6 teeth as I recall it, and as my mechanic who I used to go to before I moved told me, it probably only did not snap because it just so happened to occur when I was at a slow velocity (was stopping at a stop light) and not on the freeway.
- The same time that my Timing Belt was replaced, my Transmission Fluid was also flushed; my Water Pump was also replaced in this same time (of course).
- About 1 year ago, ~<7,500 miles ago, my transmission went out (
surprise!) and I had it completely re-built at a transmission shop.
- I have a "SS" [Sport Shifter/Sequential Sportshifter] Transmission (it seems that's what you guys call it on here; I've always known it as a 'Tiptronic' transmission, though I believe 'Tiptronic' was actually originally a trademark of Porsche if I recall correctly). My transmission being the 'special' Tiptronic/SS, gave me an extra 'special' bill when I had to have it completely rebuilt about 1 year ago.
- I'm a full-time Biology (Molecular & Cellular Biology) major at University and as such, have jack squat for money since our course workloads are hardly compatible with an even half-decent work schedule (we're considered lucky if we can even manage to get 12 hours of work a week in and not fall incredibly behind). I only point this out to highlight the financial aspects of my situation. I was lucky to (at the time) find a way to pay for the transmission rebuild job; if it happened again, I'd be completely screwed. I'm barely covering rent and the few other basic bills (insurance, etc.) as it is, and whether they'll even be able to get covered month-to-month is one big question mark.
- I recently (1 month ago) got my Ignition Switch and Ignition Interlock replaced; they were both
recalled. My car had a few times over the past year/year and a half randomly shut off while I was driving it, about 4-5 times in total, all but 1 of which occurred while I was on the freeway (by the way try this if you need a nice wakeup in the morning). The 1 time it happened when I was not on the freeway, I was on a bridge. So if you're reading this and own a 1998 Honda Prelude and have not had your Ignition Switch (and Ignition Interlock) replaced, take it into your local Honda Dealership, they'll replace them for FREE (they were both recalled by Honda due to bad design). I was completely lucky to have been next to the shoulder every time it happened while driving, if this happens to you in a middle lane, especially on the freeway (like what happened ~every time to me), you're going to be the reason they have to block off 3 lanes on the freeway; avoid the accident, take your car in for the recall replacement.
forgive me if this is a longish post, but I wanted to get everything out there in the FIRST post, rather than post some half-ass intro post and then wonder why nobody's able to help. In all my Googling, I've seen a gazillion posts where half the posts in the thread are just people trying to get more information out of the Original Poster; information he/she should've thought about before even posting anything. So please forgive me if this post seems longish, but there's quite literally every bit of information I could think of to include about my car (think about this 1 post as being multiple posts combined, for your convenience, all upfront, without the hassle of having to guess information out of me). I don't know what's up with the CEL, it could be
anything it seems (thus why I tried covering all bases, from the Timing Belt to the Transmission to the Recall, etc.), but if any of you could provide assistance here, I would
very much, sincerely appreciate it. If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to ask them, I would be glad to answer you (and don't worry, my replies should be much more concise since after this post the directions of the thread should become much more specific).
If you made it to this point of the post, thank you for bearing with me.
Linear Mode
