blinking "S" light on 90 Accord ???
 

1990 Accord LX
175,000 miles
Tranny fluid changes every 10,000 (since it's so easy)

My "S" (sport shift light) has been coming on occasionally. I never use sport shift so the button is always off. When the light comes on, it will blink constantly until the ignition is turned off and back on, I guess resetting it. In searching the forum, a few posts reference tranny problems. I'm not getting a check engine light.

There is no noticeable change in how the car shifts or rides when the light starts blinking. I can even drive with the light flashing for hours and still no difference. After months of this intermittent blinking of the "s" light, I have found a pattern. It seems to come on only during low speed driving - mostly when slowing down almost to a stop then giving it gas to speed up.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen on a 90-93 Accord?

I had a 90 EX as well and I had a similar problem except my car would slip in and out of gear. It wound up beeing the speed sensor on the transmisson. It cost me about $600 to have the Honda dealership to replace it. It cleared the problem up but I got rid of it and got a 95 EX.

Definitely Speed Sensor..... I priced the part at AutoZone for about $139... I found an used one for $38 on eBay and it did the trick.

Love to save money...

S light usually comes on due to internal tranny trouble.

just go to the junk yard and buy one for about 40 bucks....installation is really simple.....just remove the intake and look right down on top of the transmission you will see the sensor....remove 2 nuts...unplug the harness..and take the sensor out...watch out for the little metal thing inside that may fall out....i've changed a 90 and 91 accord....really simple...

Thanks for the responses. I replaced the speed sensor at 85,000 miles back in 1999. My speedometer went crazy and the car spit out a faulty speed sensor code. Wasn't hard to diagnose that time since everything seemed to be related.

Not having any speedo problems this time around with 175,600 miles. Just that damn blinking light at very low speeds. I guess it's possible the speed sensor could be going bad again. The last one I picked up was around $90 at a Honda dealership. Nothing seems to be affected by this though. If the check engine light eventually comes on with the blinking "S" light I may consider action since I'll have a code to work with.

Hate to say this but for now I am putting a piece of black tape over the light and ignoring it. Maybe when something more significant happens I'll look into it. $90 is too much to spend on a blinking light.

Thanks

LOL @ black tape,.. I wish I thought of that because that blinking drove me... I started to route to wiring schematics so I could unplug the damn thing.

But you shouldn't ignore it for too long,... The transmission will start to hold gears longer because it doesn't know what speed you're at to shift.

But if it's definitely your speed sensor, go to AutoZone at least there, you'll get a lifetime warranty.