theczechone

Hi I am new to this forum but i was reffered here because someone might be able to help.
Just a little intro, about three weeks ago I got a 92 civic hatch dx, with a jdm B16A running a p30 ecu other than that mostly stock except for an aem short ram and a really annoying (raspy) exhaust. I replaced the dizzy rotor and cap, spark plugs and spark plug wires, and the fuel filter.
The car has been running well when i got it and since I got it, until last week. The car first started having problems idling and died on me twice when I came down to an idle. I had a little problem with the car bogging and feeling kinda sluggish during initial acceleration but this wouldn't happen very often so i wasn't that worried about it. This is when it turns worse the car started spitting and sputtering like it was missing horribly when driving. Well saturday i took off the dizzy cap and found that the rotor screw managed to back out and destroy both my rotor and cap.
I thought that this was my problem so i get excited for an easy fix. Well it was premature because the car still had the problem after I replaced the cap and rotor. The car will crank and idle fine for a while before the problem shows up and than starts missing and idling irradicaly if trying to give it gas it sound like a machine gun. I have tested the map sensor, replaced the plug wires, checked the timing it was about 1.3 degrees retarded, should still be ok but I set it at 1 degree advanced I run premium fuel at all times so it should be ok. This where it gets a little wierd when I drove for 50 miles this morning on the highway at 75-80 mph without any issues I pulled over to get a drink and as I left the gas station the problem was there, I turned on my a/c and the problem has seemed to go away. Drove the rest of the way with the a/c because if i turned it off than the rpm would go to zero and than just irradically started jumping .
Sorry about the useless title but I didn't know how else to describe it in short words.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for any input you can offer.
If this has been posted before, I couldn't find it I searched for like two hours so keep the "do a search" comments to yourself, personnaly I think they are pretty useless.

Please help

Former User

Try cleaning the IACV on the throttle body and adjusting the idle screw.

theczechone

I thought the IACV only controlled the idle speed, is the iacv valve also active while driving?

Former User

Yes, the IACV would only pertain to an idle problem.

Regarding the misfiring, I would check the coil and igniter unit in the distributor. The loose rotor screw may have done more distributor damage than you originally thought. Were all damaged parts in the distributor replaced?

theczechone

I have been thinking the same, that there was some more damage done by that screw. The only visual damage i could see was on the rotor, cap and the black cover that covers all the internals of dizzy(the cover was still in one piece just cracked). There was some grease in like redish orange color on the ICM. I have been thinking that if the ICM or anything else in the dizzy was bad the car wouldn't run at all, but that is just my assumption. Is know there is a way to check the ICM and the coil but the car runs fine initially, so i would guess it will test OK. I guess I don't know how to simulate how it would act after some time of use.

Former User

Many auto parts stores will test the coil and igniter unit for you.

You also need to replace the cracked black cover. The damaged cover may allow spark from the coil to jump around inside the distributor and thereby cause misfire and possibly damage the coil and igniter unit.

In addition, red dust in the distributor often indicates a bad distributor bearing.

In summary, you might just consider replacing the entire distributor.

theczechone

I was afraid of that... my car is obd1, what distributor do i get for my car, I mean from which model vehicle. I know the 2000 civic si runs a b16 but isn't that obd2?

theczechone

granted I didn't do the swap and i don't know a whole lot about hondas, I took a look at the ecu and noticed that there are alot of wires spliced in with cheap connectors are these wires supposed to be saughtered in and could this be my problem?

theczechone

Okay so i soldered the wires going to the ecu and now I have a cel, that i did not have before, its code 41 oxygen sensor heator could someone explain to me what could cause this? The car is still having the same problems, although if i turn on the a/c it runs well for a little while. Thanks for reading

dE.fUsEd

O2 Sensor is probably bad. This would explain why the car runs like **** the more you drive it (gets hot).

The wires on the ecu were probably there for vtec and the secondary o2 sensor if your engine was obd2 (your stock wiring harness wouldn't have them).

theczechone

I thought that there is a separate code for o2 sensor failure, thats why this code is kinda confusing to me. I want to be sure that the part is bad before I spend $150 on a new one. However I tottaly agree that the problem is with a sensor failing due to heat. The problem started showing up when the ambient temps increased. On daily basis we experience a heat index of 100 and higher, and it seems to be running a lot better when its cooler out so I am sure heat is somehow related.

Is there a way of testing the o2 sensor?

Former User

The O2 sensor has a built in heater because the sensor only works when it's really hot. Code 41 indicates a fault in the heater element circuit. Given that code 41 arose after you "fixed" the ECU wires, I would double check your soldering job, especially for the ORN/BLK wire that pins to terminal A6 in ECU connector A.

theczechone

So i figured out that the cel was cuz I soldered a wire into the wrong place.
But as I fixed this small issue I have no cel, and the problem still persists.
I used my friends LS ecu, and drove the same way as before with my p30
the car ran fine, with no issues. i was not able to use the ecu for as long as I'd like so there are still other possibilities.
Since I probably need a new ecu i want to look into getting out some more power, I searched and a site called phearable.net pops up a lot I looked at this site and can get an ecu for like $175 which is not a bad deal.
My question is, is this company reputable? and do they produce a quality product?
Thanks

empire6

i have some issues similar to this, does anyone know what it could be? i have a b16a swap on my civic but when it idles the check engine light comes on after a little bit so i get going and i turn off the car while it is still moving and the light will not come back on as long as the car does not come to an idle, but when i press on the gas pedal to speed up specially on up hills, the car hesitates. i have changed the following... spark plugs, spark plug wires, throttle position sensor, fuel filter, fuel pump, and have put in seafoam to clean the fuel system. also when the car is idling, at the same time the check engine light comes on the rpms drop a tiny bit but go back up and continue to run like before. i have an obd1 p30. i keep thinking that maybe its a sensor of some sort but i just dont know what would make the car hesitate only when i give it gas a forced way, except for an injector or the throttle position sensor. also i have checked for vacuum leaks all in the manifold and it had none. does anyone know if maybe i could find an adapter that would connect to the obd1 so i can connect a scanner? cuz i cannot figure the cel out!

fv8s

I would just get a p28 and chip it. p30's have a reputation for going to ****. a friend had the same issue you did (a miss on a cylinder), and it ending up being a faulty p30. the ecu was not grounding the injectors.