Hello all

My 1990 Civic DX 4 door died all of a sudden while I was driving. It shut off and will not start again.

While waiting for the tow truck to arrive I pulled up the carpet and counted 20 blinks on the ECUs LED. I pulled out my handy Haynes computer manual and noticed that code 20 is Electric load detector: open circuit or ground possible in ECU wiring.

Does anyone have any ideas what I should look for when troubleshooting this? What is the electric load detector and where is it located?

Thanks a lot

 

did you check the main fuse for the car? start there. then as bill would say break out the multi meter and get to work.

 

Well after going thru the flowchart of the FSM I narrowed it down to the ELD (main fuse) and the ECU. Both tested okay.

I checked the distributor next. I pulled off the cap and noticed that the screw that holds the rotor on the shaft backed itself out over time allowing the shaft the spin freely without the rotor turning.

I screwed the rotor back on and all is good again.

I still dont know why it threw a code 20 though. Go figure.

Thanks anyways