Intermittent CEL

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 2004 Honda Accord EX 4 cyl. with 156k miles.

A couple days ago, the CEL came on. It drove fine, but if I accelerated it wouldn’t shift smoothly. It felt like it was hitting the rev limiter.

I took it to get scanned, but the reader didn’t work. On my way to another shop, the light went off.

Today, the light came back on with the same symptoms. No shops were open, so I disconnected the battery hoping to reset things, and it worked! No other issues on the way to work. Smooth shifts, smooth idle, simply normal.

Obviously there’s an issue. Getting it scanned is a pain; AutoZone and the like cant scan in CA any more. Any thoughts on the culprit? I’m guessing O2 sensor.

2

@Twotired a faulty O2 sensor wouldn’t really explain all of your symptoms.
Don’t you have a friend/colleague with a code reader or scanner?
On some cars the data link connector is on the same circuit as the cigarette lighter or the radio. If that fuse is blown, you won’t get communication on the DLC.

Good luck!

3

Unfortunately, no one with a scanner. I found a place that will scan it but the dang light went off and there’s no issue.

I’m thinking that if it was the transmission, the issue would be more consistent and would manifest again once the comp was reset.

Any other thoughts as to what it could be?