This 1996 Honda Civic came in with a complaint of the battery going dead. I checked and sure enough it was not charging and based on experience I checked to see if the speedometer was working. It was not. Knowing that this is a common fault with Civics, I checked to see if fuse #15 was blown in the interior fuse box and it was. Time to rack the car up. The following pictures are from underneath the car looking up past the driver’s side half shaft assembly.
The wires above the bracket that braces the intake to the block commonly rub through the insulation until a short circuit is made.
The bracket is easy to remove, just two bolts.
If you will double click on the following picture you can see where the Black/Yellow wire is melted.
This picture shows where the wire has shorted out against the bracket and left a rusty arc mark.
If you double click on the following picture you can see the bare copper wire exposed on the Black/Yellow wire. I took a short piece of electrical tape and wrapped it around the one wire.
Then I wrapped the harness with friction tape.
I also wrapped the bracket with friction tape. I installed the bracket and a new wire tie for the harness attached to it. Replaced the fuse and checked the system. All okay.
Update: Although the harness rubbing on the bracket in this article is a very common problem on these vehicles, there have been several reports in the comments that Civic owners are finding shorted oxygen sensors as another cause of fuse #15 blowing. So you may want to check the wiring around the oxygen sensors to make sure they are not shorting out on the exhaust. If no problem is found there disconnect the oxygen sensor wiring to see if the short will go away.
Your instrument cluster lights will be a completely different problem. Is fuse #15 still blowing or is it okay now? Did you separate and insulate any shorted wired above the bracket? Did you re install the bracket? It is very important for support of the intake.
I have same issues posted. I’ve replaced the VSS, put in a new instrument cluster and yesterday removed the bracket shown in this post, still no instrument lights and no speedo. Fuse 15 was blown, replaced it too…what else can I check?
You could always check your fuses to make sure that they are all okay but this problem with blowing fuse #15 at the harness under the intake only applied to late 90’s and very early 00’s Civics.
Sparky,
Would this also apply to a 2007 Civic EX Automatic? Mine just recently started to do this with the engine reving up and the speedometer jumping but only when I drive in the rain.
Also, If I go downhill the engine revs up really high like it has a problem switching.
My wife’s 1996 Civic has had the check engine light on for a while, and from time to time the speedometer would jump around. She also failed emissions inspection with codes of P0500, P1298, P0135, P0141. With the car on a set of ramps I was able to get under it and find where the wiring harness had come in contact with the metal bracket, just like in the photos. It takes a 12mm socket to remove the 2 bolts that hold the metal bracket, and it really helps to have a long extension (or several shorter ones snapped together) to reach the higher bolt. That way you can turn the wrench without obstructions. I moved the bracket and found the wire that was shorting, then fixed it with tape. I wrapped the metal bracket and the harness with tape, and put the bracket back in place. But, after clearing the codes they came right back! I had forgotten to look for the blown fuse. Replaced the #15 fuse and cleared the codes again. This time the codes did not come back. Now I’m just waiting for the I/M status to show “ready”. We have driven the car around quite a bit, but the I/M still shows a not-ready state. I hope it won’t take too long. This thread has been awesome. Excellent info.