My wife commutes 62 miles to work each day. This morning she said she was going along everything was OK & all of a sudden the CEL came on & then the car died. She said she had headlights, heater fan & radio. So she coasted to the side of the road. She was out of cellphone range, so she said she sat a few minutes & decided to see if it would start & it cranked but no start. She said, she sat a few more moments & tried again & it fired right up & she was closer to home than work & turned around & headed back home. But after a few miles she said it was running fine so she turned around & went to work. She called me & I told her to take it to a shop I know. They called me & said their OBD I code reader wouldn't go back to 1990. They said it was running fine, & they didn't see anything that stood out.

CAN SOMEBODY POSSIBLE SHINE SOME LIGHT ON THIS? I had a new MAIN RELAY put in a year or so ago, 50,000 miles maybe.
THANKS GUYS. I NEED SOME IDEAS OR THOUGHT PLEASE

 

The 1988 to 1991 models have an OBD0 sytem. No code reader is required.

To check the codes, pull down the carpet where the passenger's feet would be. There is a window there with a red LED behind it. Turn on the key but don't start. If there is a code, the LED will blink a number of times, pause, and blink again. Count the number of blinks in the group between pauses. It can be between one and twenty. If there is more than one code stored it will blink different number of times, eventually the whole sequence will repeat.

There is a single short blink when the key is first turned on. That is not a code. If the LED only does the single blink and then stays out, no codes are stored. All codes are erased when the battery is disconnected or power to the ECU is otherwise lost.

 

Thanks for that info. When she gets home I will try & find the window & see what I find. As far as I know the battery has not been disconnected.
Thanks again I check that out & see what comes.
Is there a code chart on this site for the 88-91 Civics?