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1999 Prelude SH - help diagnose

685 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  SidJustice 
#1 ·
Hello,

I just got my 1999 Prelude Type SH last week, it ran fine started up no problems. Had an oil cooler leak which i fixed. Took it out for a test drive, shut it off and it hasn't started since. All the lights on the dash turn on, new battery, rotor, distributor, starter, spark plugs and wires, ignition coil and ICM.

My engine cranks, has spark and fuel and i figured it it had compression was bad it wouldn't have run prior. I sprayed some starter fluid and its a second from turning on but no luck.

I took it to honda they said i need a new set of keys, ecu and immobilizer which everyone knows is an arm and leg. What i find weird is the immobilizer light flashes for a second when i insert the keys in but goes away.

Could this be in fact the immobilizers fault and i need those things or could it be something else?

Any information will be helpful.

Thank you in advance.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Content deleted, because, some little snowflake out there can't handle some garage talk. That, and wing9903 says they are too long to read.

 
#4 · (Edited)
Content deleted, because, some little snowflake out there can't handle some garage talk. That, and wing9903 says they are too long to read.

 
#5 ·
That sounds fishy. Did you take it to a Honda dealership?

The red key is a valuable item. Each immobilizer is paired to a red key (and visa versa). The red key is needed to program new keys. if you put it in the ignition, the car won't start, and it will wipe out your old keys.

The only way you would need a new immobilizer and keys is if: the immobilizer somehow fried itself, or if you lost the red key itself.

I have never looked inside of an immobilizer, so I can't say for sure, but, I am assuming it is has a circuit board and components inside. With the other cars I own, I am intimately familiar with old electronics and how they tend to cease working after a while. I suppose it is a possibility for the immobilizer itself to fail, like any other piece of electronics, but, given that I have never heard of this happening, I'd say it's very remote, especially when one considers there are older cars with the same units, that are working perfectly.

I have also never heard of the keys randomly losing their programming. I know they are not supposed to be submerged, or exposed to undue stresses because of the chip inside them, but, aside from that, I have never had issues with mine in fourteen years of ownership.


My advice would be to take the car to a different Honda dealership, and have another go at it. If it is genuinely a case of a failed immobilizer, they aren't articulating why it has failed, which makes me suspicious that they

a) Haven't diagnosed the problem and are just throwing (very expensive) parts at it.

or

b) They know it is a cheap and simple fix, but they want to make you bleed for it.
Hmm, The parts are on backorder until late april anyways. I got my hands on a second prelude base model for dirt cheap so ill just swap the ecu and immobilizer. From what i read it should be plug and play but ill lose atts in the meantime.
 
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