Recently my vehicle started jerking when I accelerate and it typically won’t go over 30mph. Doesn’t seem to want to accelerate. At first the VSA light came on but would turn off (it’s been snowing lately so I figured that was the reasoning). But now it’s staying on, the check engine light is consistently blinking and just before I made the post the TPMS light came on just as I was parking my car. After checking the pressure I drove it around the block and the TPMS light stayed on. I checked all my fuses (except for the big block ones because I don’t know how to test those) and they’re all working. I have some corrosion build up on the positive terminal on my battery. I called and made an appointment with a shop close by for next week. Before I go too deep in the world of, “All the things wrong with my car”, does anyone have an idea of what I’m dealing with and what it’s probably going to cost me in the end (ball park of course)? The guy I made the appointment with said this issue is common amongst older Hondas but didn’t bother elaborating.
I just got through this with my '13 Accord… Note I am not sure but your year car might have a recall or extended warranty to cover certain issues that might cause this issue, find that out first!
The flashing service engine light is called “limp mode” and basically is letting you drive the car to a safe place but not making it nice to drive any further, as the problem can cause more problems if you keep driving (more below).
The primary reason for this is an engine misfire. You can get a code reader and see what engine codes come up, but they will basically point you to which cylinder(s) are misfiring, and they might also point to a coil problem (ie the coils above each spark plug).
The other warning lights are likely being triggered from this problem, and once you fix them main problem is the middle. Your other new issues will disappear once the car is running right again.
A misfire can be caused by any of the following possible problems (and the following causes of said problems:
no spark (spark plug, coil, or unlikely but possibly a bad wire in the harness that connects the coil to the ECU);
No fuel (fuel injectors, fuel pump, fuel filter)
No compression (leak in cylinder from valves, head gasket, cylinder wall damage, etc).
My car started “drinking” oil (burning) about a week or so before I went into limp mode. I didn’t see the oil but it wasn’t leaking out anywhere, just disappeared. My problem ended up being a very slight seal problem in cylinder #4 that was letting oil into the cylinder and pressure/ combustion out. I found a mechanic that diagnosed it quick and for free (I already did allot of pre-diagnosis myself and from another mechanic that decided not to take the job because he didn’t want to open the engine!) Using an endoscope camera that he stuck into the cylinder through the spark plug hole- you could literally see the oil dripping down the cylinder wall! He charged me $2100 to get me back on the road. He also threw in a timing chain tensioner for free… But I think I got a slightly good deal, if you have head gasket or valve damage then plan on spending somewhere between 2000-3000 for the repair!.
If you have a 4 cylinder car, you can easily remove the spark plugs (6cyl will probably be hard to reach the 2nd bank of 3). You can buy a Bluetooth code reader for under $20 and use torque lite (or similar) free app on Android to see/clear codes. (iPhones didn’t used to work with the bt adapter, you would need a wifi adapter unless they changed it) After seeing which cylinder(s) have problems, swap coils between bad cylinder and a good cylinder to rule out that possibility, and you can also try swapping spark plugs (or just buy new ones- the “right” ones run about $30each).
If a coil, it’ll probably cost you about 120 give or take for a new one and depending on the cylinder (6) is super easy to put a new one in yourself.
Otherwise it’ll be much harder / costlier to fix; compression test will help diagnose it but you want a mechanic with the endoscope camera or they won’t know anything until they open the engine which is an hours long job!
Oh one more thing- driving in limo mode is putting unburned fuel and possibly oil through your exhaust which will eventually kill the catalytic converter, and that is a super expensive replacement if you and up needing to replace that, too! Good luck!
Thank you very much for your response. It was incredibly helpful and informative. Considering my limited knowledge and experience, it all made total sense. Again, thanks!