QuestionI need to know how to read the codes for a 93 Honda Accord. Can you help me?
AnswerSusan, you can start by taking the vehicle to any local auto parts store. They should do this service for free. Unfortunately there equipment may only be able to be used on 1996 and newer vehicles OBD-2 systems. Your vehicle is an OBD-1 system. And, if you do not trust the 16yo with minimal mechanical and vehicle diagnosis experience you can perform this by yourself in your own garage. All it requires is some patience, a little bending, and a paper clip!
The OBD-1 connector is located behind the passenger side kick panel in front of the door, underneath the dash. The panel is pretty snug - it is held in by at least three clips and tucked under the trim that runs along the bottom of the door frame. Remove this panel by getting the panel tip out from underneath the doorframe trim and then getting your hands behind the panel near the clips and pulling it straight out. Clips are metal and it requires a pretty good bit of force.
After you have the kick panel off, you will see a black plastic tube holding cables running up along the door frame. The OBD-1 connector is taped to this tube with blue electrical tape. The connector has two wires going into it and nothing connected to it. It is also blue in color.
OBD-1 Connector Location:
Using a paperclip, jump the two wires by inserting the two ends of the paperclip into the two connection points of the connector. After doing this, I turned the ignition to the 'ON' position, but, did not start the car. The indicators on the dash displayed codes by flashing several times. It is a good idea to have a pencil and paper handy in the event you are given several codes. A long flash represents a value of 10, short quick flashes represent values of 1.
