- Joined
- 10 November 2002
- Messages
- 1,124
Turned out to be the NM Speed Sensor - Solved! by Larryb
I was driving to work down the interstate when the power steering suddenly clicked off and the EPS warning light came on. Soon, the speedometer started bouncing around. When the speedo started bouncing around this apparently pissed off the automatic transmission because the "D" light in the dash cluster started blinking. Finally, as I was making a left turn, a puff of smoke rolls out from under the dash underneath the steering column. I was ready to bail onto the shoulder and let her burn, but it didn't catch fire. I made it to work, and after parking restarted the car. Everything except the EPS light seemed okay. That night, the car died right outside of work and I had to have a rollback take the car to the dealership. (I showed up at the dealership and they were still working in the service department at 1 am, which is nice because I can drop off my car in the afternoon and pick it up at midnight, which matches my work schedule.)
So the next day they call with an estimate of $350 for a new ignition wiring harness. The old one was very poorly wired together due to an added and removed aftermarket alarm system, before I owned the car. I was like, no problem, go ahead and do the 90k service and timing belt/water pump also as the car had aprox. 88,400 miles on it.
So after a coupla days they call back and tell me that apparently the crank pulley had not been properly tightly bolted to the crank when the timing belt was replaced before I owned the car, and that the wiggling crank pulley had worn off the portion of the crank lobe where the shear pin is located. They advise me that they are having a machinist look at the crank for an estimated $600 repair, or they will have to replace the crank for $5700 (gulp).
So the machinist decides he can fix it, for a revised estimate of $750. Go ahead. A lot better than a $5700 crankshaft or worse, a blown engine. They end up drilling two holes in the end of the crank and installing two pins in place of the single shear pin. I am completely satisified with this outcome.
So finally the service rep calls and ends up quoting me a final figure of over FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS for the work, which included the crankshaft mod, timing belt, water pump, ignition harness, 90k service, right turn signal lense, new tow hook cover, and an oem stereo install (I provided the radio, which incidentally I purchased on NSXPrime; thanks JaySpec7.) This is clearly a premium price but that isn't really the problem.
The problem is, when I picked up the car, the EPS light was still on! I tried resetting it myself four different times and the EPS wouldn't come back. The previous times I have reset it, it has always started working again. This time it seems like the EPS isn't getting a power feed at all, but the speedo and D-light are normal. So I take the car back in and tell the service rep that the EPS wasn't working, and that it had been working before the electrical problems that day, so could they fix it? Maybe the power feed was inadvertently overlooked or something? The rep tells me that he knows it isn't working, that the car had been there before for an EPS diagnosis. Which is true, they spent several hours troubleshooting an occasional EPS failure a coupla years ago. But now the EPS isn't working at all, not just an occasional dropout months apart like before. Also, what totally baffles me is that the tech acted like it was normal to return a customer's car with something not working. Why would I bring it in if I didn't want everything fixed? I never asked to just repair certain things. And before I picked the car up, he never mentioned that, oh by the way, the EPS isn't working. If I would've known that I would've just told him to keep it.
Finally I become exasperated with our perplexing discussion and tell him not to do anything to it; I will come and pick the car up. So I pick the car up, and the EPS is working normally. Electrical gremlins doing their dastardly work. But on the way home from the dealership, the EPS light comes on, the speedo dies temporarily, and the D-light on the tranny starts flashing. Sigh. So I am asking 'Prime members for advice. The automatic transmission shifts normal, seems normal, etc. Any thoughts, like the grounding strap or speedometer pick up or transmission lash or anything that comes to mind? Again, I emphasize that I am not upset about the bill, and feel that the work that was performed is satisfactory, and that the crank repair approaches being ingenious. I just want to rid myself of the electrical gremlins.
At least I have tunes! BrianK's sub and speaker repair are performing admirably (no popping and cracking) with the pathetic oem radio. And I threw away my harmonica. My lips were getting really chapped...
I was driving to work down the interstate when the power steering suddenly clicked off and the EPS warning light came on. Soon, the speedometer started bouncing around. When the speedo started bouncing around this apparently pissed off the automatic transmission because the "D" light in the dash cluster started blinking. Finally, as I was making a left turn, a puff of smoke rolls out from under the dash underneath the steering column. I was ready to bail onto the shoulder and let her burn, but it didn't catch fire. I made it to work, and after parking restarted the car. Everything except the EPS light seemed okay. That night, the car died right outside of work and I had to have a rollback take the car to the dealership. (I showed up at the dealership and they were still working in the service department at 1 am, which is nice because I can drop off my car in the afternoon and pick it up at midnight, which matches my work schedule.)
So the next day they call with an estimate of $350 for a new ignition wiring harness. The old one was very poorly wired together due to an added and removed aftermarket alarm system, before I owned the car. I was like, no problem, go ahead and do the 90k service and timing belt/water pump also as the car had aprox. 88,400 miles on it.
So after a coupla days they call back and tell me that apparently the crank pulley had not been properly tightly bolted to the crank when the timing belt was replaced before I owned the car, and that the wiggling crank pulley had worn off the portion of the crank lobe where the shear pin is located. They advise me that they are having a machinist look at the crank for an estimated $600 repair, or they will have to replace the crank for $5700 (gulp).
So the machinist decides he can fix it, for a revised estimate of $750. Go ahead. A lot better than a $5700 crankshaft or worse, a blown engine. They end up drilling two holes in the end of the crank and installing two pins in place of the single shear pin. I am completely satisified with this outcome.
So finally the service rep calls and ends up quoting me a final figure of over FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS for the work, which included the crankshaft mod, timing belt, water pump, ignition harness, 90k service, right turn signal lense, new tow hook cover, and an oem stereo install (I provided the radio, which incidentally I purchased on NSXPrime; thanks JaySpec7.) This is clearly a premium price but that isn't really the problem.
The problem is, when I picked up the car, the EPS light was still on! I tried resetting it myself four different times and the EPS wouldn't come back. The previous times I have reset it, it has always started working again. This time it seems like the EPS isn't getting a power feed at all, but the speedo and D-light are normal. So I take the car back in and tell the service rep that the EPS wasn't working, and that it had been working before the electrical problems that day, so could they fix it? Maybe the power feed was inadvertently overlooked or something? The rep tells me that he knows it isn't working, that the car had been there before for an EPS diagnosis. Which is true, they spent several hours troubleshooting an occasional EPS failure a coupla years ago. But now the EPS isn't working at all, not just an occasional dropout months apart like before. Also, what totally baffles me is that the tech acted like it was normal to return a customer's car with something not working. Why would I bring it in if I didn't want everything fixed? I never asked to just repair certain things. And before I picked the car up, he never mentioned that, oh by the way, the EPS isn't working. If I would've known that I would've just told him to keep it.
Finally I become exasperated with our perplexing discussion and tell him not to do anything to it; I will come and pick the car up. So I pick the car up, and the EPS is working normally. Electrical gremlins doing their dastardly work. But on the way home from the dealership, the EPS light comes on, the speedo dies temporarily, and the D-light on the tranny starts flashing. Sigh. So I am asking 'Prime members for advice. The automatic transmission shifts normal, seems normal, etc. Any thoughts, like the grounding strap or speedometer pick up or transmission lash or anything that comes to mind? Again, I emphasize that I am not upset about the bill, and feel that the work that was performed is satisfactory, and that the crank repair approaches being ingenious. I just want to rid myself of the electrical gremlins.
At least I have tunes! BrianK's sub and speaker repair are performing admirably (no popping and cracking) with the pathetic oem radio. And I threw away my harmonica. My lips were getting really chapped...
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. Speed Sensor is around $200
