2002 CRV cel code p1259

[George Horn]

Hey , I'm new here. Also a new owner of an old CRV, 2002, 134000 mi. CEL flashes immediatly after reset. Car stumbles bad on acceleration. Problem seem to clear when car warms up. Any thoughts? Thanks

[CRVspartan]

I had the same problem. Found lots of help in other posts. With the age of this post, you probably already fixed it, but future generations may benefit from this, so here goes.

You may have a faulty VTEC oil pressure switch, or if your lucky, it may just be plugged. I let my wife's 2002 EX 4AT with 160,000 get low on oil two weeks ago. Filled it back up; took 2 quarts. Then she complained that the check engine light (CEL) was on and that it "wasn't running right." I changed the oil the next weekend, because it was past time anyway (she started new job, driving longer, threw off my timing for change), and made sure the gas cap was tight. Used the neighbor's OBDII reader to clear the code, and sent her on her way. She said it still had trouble. I drove it and realized that it was worse than she was saying. The same lurching you experienced.

After reading many posts, I bought an oil pressure switch ($27 at my local Honda dealer). When I took the old one out, I decided to see if it would work by just spraying some WD-40 in it to clean it out, figuring that the low oil level issue from 2 weeks previous may have plugged it up. Sure enough, after spraying about $0.10 worth of WD-40 in the switch, I was able to replace it and, after pulling the fuse for the ECM (#6 in the under-hood fuse box) to reset the code 1259, I was able to start up and drive away with no problem.