ok my friend has a 98 civic and it is having problems in the electrical system. a mechanic looked at it and he thinks that the eld is out. first what is an eld and second is their any way to bypass it so he doesnt have to pay out $200 for a whole new fuse box? ive seen some diagrams on here but i wasnt sure if they would work with his car. any help would be greatly appreciated

 

The ELD is the Electrical Load Detector. The ECU (engine computer) looks at the output of the ELD to determine how much power is flowing thus how hard the alternator is working. That is then used to compensate the idle speed. It's kind of a minor effect.

So, what kind of electrical symptoms are occurring? Failure of the ELD alone usually doesn't cause anything other than the CEL coming on. Also a lot of ELD codes are bogus and resolve themselves.

 

well it is having charging issues. we replaced the alternator and the battery cables and the mechanic thinks it could be the eld. honestly i have no idea what an eld even is

 

If you have a 98 with varying / pulsing voltage output from the alternator and failing to charge fully, often it's a fuse 15 problem.

Fuse 15 was a bug in those model years. It starts when the wires on the back of the engine supplying the low-power circuits in the alternator rub through and short out. Fuse #15 under the dash will usually blow.

 

well it was something to do with the alternator not charging. i thought the eld controls that not counting the built in regulator in the alternator. if your right though what is the repair for all that?

 

You can search for it , it is well known including an official service bulletin from Honda. Basically one would inspect the wires and repair if necessary. They really can only be reached from underneath the car. Then replace the fuse if it is blown.

 

o ok thanks alot for the help. we will check it out and see if that is it but after reading the bulletin it sounds exactly like it. just for everyone else here is a link to the bulletin and instructions on how to repair.

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/tsb/civic/x99-029e.pdf