ECO mode HONDA PRELUDE 1992 Owners Manual

Child Safety

Restraining an Infant Who
Weighs Less Than 9 kg
(20 Ibs)
An infant up to about 9 kg (20 Ibs) must be restrained in an infant seat
or a convertible seat designed for a
baby. Because children that size must ride in a reclining position, be
sure the infant seat always faces
the REAR of the car as shown. We recommend that, whenever
possible, you put the infant seat in
the rear seat and secure it to the
car with a lap/shoulder belt. You
must use a locking clip with a lap/
shoulder belt (see page 22).

Special Precaution for Si 4 WS model

We strongly recommend that you do not put an infant seat in the

front passenger's seat. In a severe
frontal collision, the inflating

airbag can hit the infant seat with

considerable force. The infant seat

can be dislodged, causing serious

injury to the infant.
Restraining a Child Who
Weighs Betwee n
9 and 18 kg

(20 and 40 Ibs)
Toddler seats are designed for
children who weigh between 9 and 18 kg (20 and 40 Ibs).
The preferred place to put a
toddler seat is in the rear seat. Use
the car's lap/shoulder belt to secure
the seat to the car. You must use a
locking clip on the car's lap/ shoulder belt (see page 22).

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Controls Near the Steering Wheel

Headlights

The rotating switch on the left
lever controls the lights. Turning this switch to the first position
turns on the parking lights, tail
lights, instrument panel lights, side-marker lights, and rear license
plate lights. Turning the switch to the second position turns on
the headlights. If you leave the lights on with the
ignition switch in ACCESSORY (I)
or LOCK (0), you will hear a
reminder chime when you open the
driver's door.
To change between low beams and
high beams, pull back on the turn signal lever until you hear a click,
then let go. The high beam indica-
tor will light (see page 35). To flash the high beams, pull back
and hold the turn signal lever.
Release the lever and the high
beams will go off.
The high beams will stay on for as
long as you hold the lever, no matter what position the headlight
switch is in.

Daytime Running Lights

(Canadian Models)

With the headlight switch off, the
high beam headlights come on with
reduced brightness when you turn
the ignition switch to ON (II) and
release the parking brake. They
remain on until you turn the
ignition off, even if you set the
parking brake.
The headlights revert to normal
operation when you turn them on
with the switch.

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Controls Near the Steering Wheel

Windshield Wipers
The right lever controls the wind-
shield wipers and washers. The
rotary switch at the end of the
lever has three positions:

INT — intermittent

LO — low speed

HI — high speed

In intermittent, the wipers operate

every few seconds. In low speed

and high speed, the wipers run

continuously.
To operate the wipers in mist mode,

push the control lever down. The

wipers run at high speed until you
release the lever. This gives you a
quick way to clear the windshield. Windshield Washers
To clean the windshield, pull back
on the wiper control lever. The
washers spray until you release the
lever.
The wipers run at low speed while
you're pulling the lever, then
complete one more sweep of the
windshield after you release it.

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Heating and Cooling

How to Use the System
This section covers the best way to
use the system for ventilation, cooling, dehumidifying, defrosting
and heating. In most cases, the
mode and air source selections are
only recommendations. You may
prefer different settings.
Use the Recirculation mode to heat
or cool the interior more quickly, or
to keep out smoke and dust.
Leaving the system in recirculation
mode with the A/C off can cause
the windows to fog up. Switch to
the Fresh Air mode as soon as the
interior reaches a comfortable
temperature or the outside smoky,
dusty condition clears.
The engine must be running for the

heater and air conditioner to pro-

vide hot and cold air. The heater
uses engine coolant to warm the air.

If the engine is cold, it will be sever-

al minutes before you feel warm air

circulating.

The air conditioner does not de-

pend on engine temperature. It can produce cold air almost immedi-

ately.

Controlling Air Flow direction
Air flows into the interior at three
levels: Toward the floor
through the dash vents
toward the windshield and side windows You select the air
flow level or combination of levels
with th

e five mode buttons. Ventilation
Your car has a flow-through
ventilation system. Air enters the car through vents in front of the
windshield. I

t circulates through
the interior then exits through
vents nea
r the rear window. This
system provides fresh air even
when th

e car is standing still. To
bring i

n outside air, select the
Fresh Air mode. Set the fan at a
comfortable speed
.

CONTINUED

Comfort an

d Convenience Features

and
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Caring for the Cassette Player

The cassette drive picks up dirt
and oxides whenever you play a
tape. This builds up over time and
causes the sound quality to degrade.
To prevent this, you should clean
the cassette drive after every 30
hours of use. Your dealer has a cleaning kit available for this

purpose.
To remind you, a small red light
labelled CLEAN comes on every 30
hours of tape use. If you are
already regularly cleaning the tape
drive at least every 30 hours,
simply push the CLEAN light for
five seconds to turn it off.
If you do not clean the cassette
drive regularly, it may eventually
become impossible to remove the deposits with a normal cleaning kit.
The cassette player automatically ejects cassettes that do not play
normally. If it ejects a cassette
before it begins to play, it is
probably defective and should not
be inserted again. You may have a cassette suddenly stop playing,
reverse directions once or twice
and then eject. This is normally an
indication the tape is wound
unevenly. It should play normally after being manually rewound. Use 100-minute or shorter cas-
settes. Cassettes longer than 100
minutes use thinner tape that may
break or jam the drive.
Look at a cassette before you insert
it. If the tape is loose, tighten it by
turning one of the hubs with a pencil or your finger.
If the label is peeling off, do not put
it in the player. It may cause the
cassette to jam in the drive mecha-
nism when you try to eject it.
Do not leave cassettes sitting
where they are exposed to high heat or humidity, such as on top of
the dashboard or in the player. If a
cassette is exposed to extreme heat
or cold, let it reach a moderate
temperature before putting it in the
player.
Comfort and Convenience Features

S model
Si and SR models
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Break-in Period, Gasoline

Break-in Period

Help assure your car's future
reliability and performance by
paying extra attention to how you
drive during the first 1,000 km (600

miles).

During thi
s period:
Avoid full-throttle starts and
rapid acceleration.
If you need to add oil, use the
engine oil recommended in this
owner's manual.
Avoid hard braking. New brakes need to be broken-in by moderate
use for the first 300 km (200

miles).

You should follow these same re-
commendations with an overhauled
or exchanged engine, or when the
brakes are relined. Gasoline
Your Honda is designed to operate
most effectively on unleaded

gasoline.

Using gasoline containing lead will
damage your car's emission
controls. Thi s
contributes to air
pollution and can void certain parts
of your warranty.

(S model)

Use an unleaded gasoline with a
pump octane number of 86 or
higher.
Use of a lower octane gasoline can
cause a persistent, heavy metallic
rapping noise that can lead to
engine damage.

(All other models)

Use a
premium unleaded gasoline
with a pump octane number of
91
or higher .
I
f you are unable to find premium
unleaded, you may substitute an
unleaded regular gasoline. The engine will compensate for the
lower octane, but you may notice a
slight decrease in power as a result.

Oxygenated Fuels

Some conventional gasolines are

being blended with alcohol or an
ether compound to increase the

gasoline's octane. These gasolines
are collectively referred to as

oxygenated fuels. Some areas of

the United States and Canada use
oxygenated fuels to help meet clean
air standards.

If you use an oxygenated fuel, be

sure it meets the minimum octane

rating requirement as recom-

mended.

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Fuel Economy

The condition of your car and your
driving habits are the two most
important things that affect the
fuel mileage you get.

Vehicle Condition

Always maintain your car accord-
ing to the maintenance schedule.
This will keep it in top operating
condition.
An important part of that mainte-
nance is the Periodic Checks
(see page
133). For example an
underinflated tire causes more "rolling resistance," which uses
fuel. It also wears out faster, so check the tire pressure at least

monthly. In winter, the build-up of

snow on your car's underside adds

weight and rolling resistance.

Frequent cleaning helps your fuel

mileage and reduces the chance of

corrosion.
Driving
Habit
s

You can improve fuel economy by
driving moderately. Rapid acceler-
ation, abrupt cornering, and hard
braking use more fuel. Always
drive in the highest gear that al-
lows the engine to run and acceler-
ate smoothly. Depending on traffic
conditions, try to maintain a con-
stant speed. Every time you slow
down and speed up, your car uses
extra fuel. Use the cruise control,
when appropriate, to increase fuel
economy.

A cold engine uses more fuel than a
warm engine. It is not necessary to "warm-up" a cold engine by letting
it idle for a long time. You can
drive away in about a minute, no
matter how cold it is outside. The
engine will warm up faster, and you
get better fuel economy. To cut
down on the number of "cold starts,"
try to combine several short trips
into one. The air conditioner puts an extra
load on the engine which makes it
use more fuel. Turn off the A/C to
cut down on air conditioner use.
Use the flow-through ventilation
when the outside air temperature is moderate.

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Anti-lock Brake System

The Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) is standard equipment on the
Prelude Si, Si 4WS sold in the U.S.
and SR, SR 4WS sold in Canada. It
is not available on any other models.
The ABS works by measuring how
fast the wheels are turning during
braking and comparing their speed.If any wheel is rotating much
slower than the others (on the
verge of locking up and skidding),
the system reduces hydraulicpressure to that wheel's brake
caliper. When that wheel's speed
matches the other wheels, the
system applies normal hydraulic pressure. This can take place
several times per second at each
wheel. You feel the ABS working as rapid pulsations in the brake

pedal.
Each wheel has a wheel speed
sensor assembly. As the wheel
rotates, the sensor sends electrical
pulses to the ABS control unit. The
pulse frequency varies with the
wheel speed.
The electrical output of the ABScontrol unit is connected to the
modulator/solenoid unit. During
braking, the ABS control unit monitors the pulse frequencies
from the four wheels. When the control unit detects a wheel locking
up, it energizes the appropriate
solenoid in the modulator/solenoid
unit. There are three solenoids: one
for each front wheel, and one for
the rear wheels. The energized solenoid reduces hydraulic pres-
sure to one side of a modulator
valve. This, in turn, reduces hydrau- lic pressure in the brake line going
to the affected wheel. When that
wheel speeds up because of the re- duced braking effort, the control unit de-energizes the solenoid. This
builds hydraulic pressure on the
modulator valve. The pressure in-
creases in the hydraulic line to the

wheel.

For the system to react quickly, the
modulator/solenoid unit must have
brake fluid under high pressure.
This is supplied by an accumulator
that is pressurized by an electric pump. A pressure-sensing switch
on the accumulator controls this
pump.
The control unit also contains error detection circuitry. It monitors the
operation of the wheel sensors, solenoids, pump, and electronics. If
the control unit detects any faults,
it shuts off power to the pump
motor and solenoids. The light on
the instrument panel comes on.
The brakes then work like a conventional system without anti-
lock capabilities.

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Supplemental Restraint System

The Honda
Supplemental Restraint
System (SRS) is standard on all
Preludes sold in the U.S. and the
SR, SR 4WS sold in Canada.
The SRS includes the steering
wheel airbag assembly, sensors in the dashboard, and a control unit
with sensors behind the center

console.

(On Si 4WS model)
The system also has a dashboard-
mounted airbag assembly for the

passenger.

The sensors are decelerometers,
set to trigger in a frontal impact that generates more force than a 10
mile per hour barrier crash. For the
SRS to activate, at least two sen-
sors must trigger. This duplication
is to prevent accidental activation. When the control unit receives
trigger signals from at least two
sensors, it sends voltage to the
airbag. The control unit stores this
charge in capacitors to insure
reliability even if a severe impact damages the car's battery or
electrical connections.
The electrical charge sent to the
airbag assembly ignites its propel-
lant, which burns instantaneously.
The gas produced by the burning propellant inflates the airbag in
about 40 milliseconds (1/25 of a

second).

The airbag is vented so it stays inflated for only an instant and
does not block the driver's vision.
Smoke from the burned propellant
comes out of the airbag and into
the car's interior. This is normal
and does not mean there is a fire.
The airbag collapses onto the driver's lap. The airbag unit can inflate only one
time. After use, your Honda dealer
must check the complete Supple-
mental Restraint System and re-
place the airbag assembly.
To ensure long-term reliability, the
SRS uses gold-plated electrical
connections throughout. Exposed
components are sealed with epoxy.
The control unit monitors the SRS circuitry whenever the ignition is
ON (II). If the control unit senses
any faults, it turns on the SRS
indicator light on the instrument
panel. Take the car to your Honda
dealer to diagnose and repair the system as soon as possible.
The SRS needs no regular mainte-
nance other than an inspection by
your Honda dealer ten years after

manufacture.

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