2009 Civic Si network issues

lmorris · April 4, 2018

My brother in laws 2009 Civic Si, 2.0L 6 spd, coupe, has become my project now. The car has some very odd issues. After a bit of driving his rear wheels heat up. Sometimes it's both rear wheels, sometimes only one. This coincides with some network issues as well, all warning lights on cluster, audio system acting up(volume increases on it's own, switches through modes on it's own, sometimes just shutting down completely or no sound at all). I have experienced the network issues and at first thought it was possibly cause by the sticking switch pack on his steering wheel. The heating issue with the rear brakes I did not, although it did feel like the rear brakes were slightly grabbing at first, then felt normal as I drove into work, which is a thirty minute highway drive. I figured if it was dragging brakes, this would show up for sure. Nothing except for the network. I've checked and confirmed the E-brake is releasing properly. The hydraulic system seems to be working to. Backed off the adjustment on the E-brake just to be sure. Drove home and it was fine. My brother in law picks up the car, drives 10 minutes through the city to his house and texts me that his rear tires are hot again.

He has had the car into Honda and a couple of Honda specialized shops and no-one seems to be able to pinpoint the cause.

I have limited access to diagnostic tools here for this car. We have the Snap-on Solace scanner. I am starting to think the ABS module may be the source of my issues.

Any thoughts on the subject are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Fredsvt · April 4, 2018

Have him disable the VSA system by holding the vsa button and see if the brakes still heat up. He should hear a beep and the VSA light will stay on. Normally, if the system is active, it's quite obvious and lights blink in the cluster.

The rear calipers on these and other Hondas are problematic at times. All late model Hondas do have a lot of rear brake bias on light braking, they do tend to wear rear brake pads at a faster rate than most cars.

Are there any aftermarket add ons to the factory audio?

Have there been any codes stored in the FCAN (PCM, cluster, VSA) or the Body network? IIRC the audio system shouldn't be on the fast network.

lmorris · April 4, 2018

Thanks for the info. We are trading cars for a few days. I will try the VSA first. This had both rear calipers replaced when the problem with the brakes started.

8WA Sman · April 5, 2018

What exact lights are coming on? I can't seem to connect the brakes & electrical to the same source unless maybe a crazy alternator but I would think there would be other drivability stuff going on.

lmorris · April 5, 2018

15 hours ago, 8WA Sman said:

What exact lights are coming on? I can't seem to connect the brakes & electrical to the same source unless maybe a crazy alternator but I would think there would be other drivability stuff going on.

CEL,IVS, I think ABS.