2006 Honda Accord w/leather 4 cylinder
240,xxx miles

so I just got an oil change after stupidly letting my car tell me the oil was to 15 percent. My check engine light has been on since I bought the car about 20,000 miles ago. This is the first problem I am facing since my purchase about a year later! I am the second owner and the first owner meticulously took care of her vehicle and maintained it to the manuals specifications.

im a total noob when it comes to cars and any help would be deeply appreciated! I love this car and most of all not having a car payment! I’ll attach a YouTube link of a video I shot of it tonight. It was the best idea I had to help you experts give me feedback or advice.

from my perspective and in the video I start the car, it cranks fine, i have tried wiggling the key to see if it is a bad ignition switch and the car doesn’t cut off with that motion. BUT the car idles good at first and then slowly lowers and raises back up with the rpm gauge, sometimes it will dip so low it will cut off or come close to it. The lights dim and everything. When I BARELY tap the gas it raises the RPM’s like I’m giving the gas pedal a heavy tap. Instead I am actually just trying to slowly raise the RPMs but the car reacts sharply like I’m really giving the gas pedal some heavy foot action. I’m the video of you watch the rpms jump you will see what I mean.

video is about 1.5 minutes and I could use any help or opinions possible. I plan on taking the vehicle to an auto store tomorrow to get the car read and see what codes pop up. I will report back here with that info.

i really want to say thanks in advance in helping a total TOTAL noob out.

Link below


i hope I created this thread correctly. If not I would be glad to change my format.

codes pictured here

 

Not much you can tell without the codes. The first thing I thought of when I saw the light was the o2 sensor. Hopefully that's all it is depending on how long it was driven on a bad sensor if thats what it is. I'm also thinking maybe vacuum leaks.

Changing oil at 10% is not bad. These cars are great with oil life. I use full synthetic and usually wait until it hit zero before I change my oil. I also get my oil analyzed yearly to make sure my engine is in good shape. If the previous owner took as good of car as you say then you have no issues running it to 10%.

Also you said you've put 20k on the car. When you bought it did you change the spark plugs and fluids. With that many miles it should of been done when purchased. Let us know what codes you are getting so we can assist further.

 

Good documentation from 1st time Accord owner. Welcome
Check engine light on - can drive a car for fifty thousand miles, no sweat - I do it.

Get back to the first owner for the name/phone number of the shop where she had the car maintained - contact them asking for the maintenance records.
Politely offer to pay $5 or $10 for copying the service documents. If you're to be a long term owner - this info is so helpful.

Hopefully someone here can give you a magic bullet...
If not, I'd take these service records and go to the Honda dealer near you and establish a service relationship.

A maintained prior one owner vehicle can go huge miles.

 

Letting the oil go to 10% shouldn't be any trouble. I've also had used oil analyzed often enough to convince me that the system is trustworthy (even a hundred miles beyond zero for one of my kids Civics).

However, that oil-life system DOES NOT measure the oil level. You still have to check the dipstick for proper oil level at least every few-hundred miles.

For the check-engine light, it all depends on what the error really is that caused the light to come on. Where are you? Most places, you can go to a car-parts store and they'll read the error for you. But get the error number (something like P1234); that's much more useful than the store-guy's description of what's wrong. That'll tell you whether the previous owner was guessing about it caused by the O2 sensor.

Do you want us to help you learn some normal maintenance stuff? Or just point out what we think might need to be done?

Try to find out how old the spark plugs are (your car doesn't have sparkplug wires, there's an individual coil on top of each plug).

But again, most important, get the error code from the check-engine light.

 

Sorry about the delay of game. I had to work way too late last night and all the auto parts stores were closed by the time I was able to roll by them. Today I also had a long day but I was able to get into an auto zone before closing time. I’m going to attach a picture of the check engine read that they were able to provide me with. Of course I’m going to do some homework on my own and contact my more mechanically savvy friends but I really appreciate the community here and all of your expertise and advice.

Sorry about the delay of game. I had to work way too late last night and all the auto parts stores were closed by the time I was able to roll by them. Today I also had a long day but I was able to get into an auto zone before closing time. I’m going to attach a picture of the check engine read that they were able to provide me with. Of course I’m going to do some homework on my own and contact my more mechanically savvy friends but I really appreciate the community here and all of your expertise and advice. Picture is below what do you all think?? And again thank you so much for your help. Lastly as a reminder about the vehicle with the knowledge of the O2 sensor making the check engine light pop up but it looks like I have a second reading as well

 

Updated original post with codes I would love any and all help with opinions on what my first move should be

 

I would start by pinching vacuum lines or doing a smoke test.has the front motor mount ever been replaced?

 

The P0171 means that you either have excess air getting into the engine (vacuum leak), or you are not getting enough fuel.

The easiest way to narrow down the problem is by using a scanner that can read fuel trims. You let the engine warm up, then look at the sum of the long and short term fuel trim at idle. Then you increase the engine rpm and add the long and short term fuel trims.

Zero fuel trim means that your engine computer is adding the correct amount of fuel according to the conditions read by all the sensors. A positive fuel trim means the engine computer is adding extra fuel. A "good" fuel trim range is -5 to +5. Anything close to + or - 20% is excessive.




The P0141 is for a broken heater circuit on the secondary O2 sensor in the catalytic converter. A bad heater circuit on the secondary will not cause performance problems with your car. Follow the wire from the catalytic converter, and the electrical connector should be under the passenger seat. Use a volt meter to test the resistance between the 2 identical colored wires going to the O2 sensor. If the circuit is open, then that sensor should be replaced. I'd recommend getting a Desno brand sensor.

 

Here's the breather hose they are probably referring to for the P0171. It's near the alternator & you'll probably have to remove the plastic beauty cover in order to see it. Your car should have the #2 PCV valve (the row with #1 is for a different version of the car).



You or your mechanically-inclined friends can look at the hose #3 for cracks, brittle, loose, or anything like that. Unscrew the PCV valve #2 from the engine and check it. It should rattle when you shake it, and it shouldn't be all full of sludgy-oily gunk. Clean it or just replace it because it might not be too costly.

There's other ways to check for vacuum leaks, but ANY rubber hoses should be checked for cracking or brittle/loose or falling apart in any way.

 

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE HELP! We got the whip fixed! It was a disconnected hose.. I feel like the mechanics leaned on it or disconnected it during an oil change. After a very close inspection I saw it was totally disconnected!

ill take a pic of where this happened. But again you all I really appreciate the helpfulness of this community!