95k24hatch

I just did a B20vtec in my 91 sedan, after installing it and getting it up and running I took it for a test drive naturally and vtec is not working!

that's my probem, now for some info on the car.

Last season I did the Obd0 to Obd1 conversion and traded my 94 accord with 340K miles for a 93 da integra to do the swap, so I swapped in the B18A and drove the car thru the winter. I wasn't satisfied with the power I was makeing so I decided to pick up a B20Z long block with 99K miles for $300 and a GSR head with 110K the head already had been tapped for ls vtec, and factory oil passed plugged, I bought some arp studs and new head gasket for B20, oil filter sandwich ears oil line, and did the wireing for vtec as labled that came with the sub jumper harness off of the obd0 to obd1. The ecu I'm useing came with the head I bought its a chipped P06 chipped for vtec I checked all the modds made to it online, but I'm not shure what kind of tune its running?, the motor runs very good and smooth, AFR'S are good according to my wide band AFG.
The thing is when i checked my wiring for the solenoid and oil pressure switch my jumper harness had the oil pressure signal going to A4 and the solenoid going to D6, and thats backwards the oil pressure switch should be going to D6 and the solenoid should be going to A4, so i switched them and then my car wont start, i jumper the 2 together and it starts. the reason i tryed jumpering them together is cause i read somewhere that if you do this eliminates the pressure switch like when u have a jdm vtec motor in your car and useing a usdm ecu that needs the signal, anyway neither of this fixed my vtec problem.
I know that vtec needs all of the signals to the ecu to work properly l believe they all are temp, tac, vss, oil press, and knock sensor. correct me if i'm wrong. i have the knock sensor wired in too, the only one i figure that i night not have is the vss signal because my vss is cable driven, is this true?
i have pulled appart the vtec solenoid and cleaned both screens off, i have wired power directly to the solenoid and it is clicking, i have pulled off the solenoid and started the car momentarily to see if it has oil flow and it does, the only thing that i cant say is how much pressure because i haven't checked it with a gauge yet, i know its supposed to have a min or 55psi or the recommended 60.

The wired thing that it does is i have tried to power the solenoid while the car is running and at about 2k rpm when i power it i hear the valve train clicking like its trying to lock into place but it boggs down and goes into limp mode?
My inital thought was their wasn't enough oil pressure so the ecu saw that from the pressure switch and sent it in to limp mode right?
so i thought ill rev it to 5k and do it again, but when i tried that it again boggs down and goes into limp mode.
Another thing can anyone tell me if your vtec cars are supposed to not start or stop running if you unplug the vtec oil pressure switch? because mine does, i dont know if its the ecu or what? does a factory p28 or p72 do this?

And also i borrowed my buddies stock p28 to see if it was the ecu but again no vtec.

i have read the thread Reasons why your vtec may not be working
http://www.b20vtec.com/.../616314-re...t-working.html

The only thing i havent gotten to check is the actual oil pressure numbers and i haven't done the air pressure test to see if it is mechanically working
And no my oil is not low or is the oil pan dented, My next plan of action is wed and thurs i'm pulling the rocker assembly appart and makeing double shure its all assembled correctly, also makeing shure that little rubber o-ring in the center of the cam cap is seated correctly, also ill check the oil pressure.

I'm basically posting to see if any one else has had any similar problems with ls vtec or b20 vtec's in their ef's so i can get a jump start on this diagnosis,

Thanks
Caleb

95k24hatch

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62984040@N03/5729735857/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62984040@N03/5729735919/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62984040@N03/5730286354/
some pictures of the car seeing how i cant figure out how to get them directly on this post

95k24hatch

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6298404...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6298404...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6298404...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6298404...in/photostream

alex14

you need to get your VSS hooked up.

95k24hatch

I have a cable vss it is hooked up, are you saying that i need a electronic vss for shure?

alex14

If the ECU is designed for a electronic VSS, it needs one to get the reading.

EJ1_CRIS_909

Not true! Just make sure its plugged in and clipped and u should be fine.... You dont need no newer VSS. The cable ones get a electronic reading too...

95k24hatch

Ok cool in that case I think ill prob go with a vtec controller to bypass all the factory signals untill I can afford to buy a new guage cluster pigtale and vss and pigtale, what do you think about my car bogging down and going into limp mode when I manually power the vtec solinoid?

EJ1_CRIS_909

95k24hatch

Haha ok well that's what I thought but alex14 says other wise, because don't the 88-91 civics have a speed govenor? That would indicate they have speed reading to the ecu and in no vtec swap walk thrus have I read about haveing to swap to a electronic one... but this really isn't the main problem I'm concerned about I just want to know what the heck is up with my engine bogging down and going into limp mode when I manually power the solinoid, I hope all will be revieled this morning when I pull the valve train appart and check oil psi numbers

EJ1_CRIS_909

When u pull the valve cover, does it look like its getting sufficient oil across the head?

Also, the vtec pressure switch, when unplugged will not cause the car to not start. I had ran my single cam v hatch with a obd1 conversion up to higher rpms with a CEL for the 2 vtec codes, an O2 sensor code, AND it was a automatic p06 ecu (old owner didnt do the ecu conversion right).... I ran it for a week b4 fixing it and always started right up and everything. So it has to be something else.

Maybe ur ECU? I would try a DOHC VTEC ecu and see if that helps any instead of the single cam Ecu's. It may be a chipped p06, but if u dont know the tune, it could be tuned for anything. The person that sold u it may have told u its for b20v, but ppl nowadays will say anything to sell ****.

Danielsb20crx

DUDE it sounds like you got wireing issues you should not bog if you pop vtec in any form i had a cheap *** friend that used a pm6 non vtec ecu on his b16 swap ran fine he just had to manuelly kick vtec with a switch but i would dissconnect all vtec wires going to computer like sol,pressure sensors even knock sensor wire the vtec into a switch drive the car even with the cel light on and try to pop vtec and if it still bogs you have a serious problem with the motor but if not im pretty sure its wireing

95k24hatch

Ok point taken about the ecu issue i ill just have to borrow my buddies P72, I did hook up a oil pressure guage to the front oil port and the guage didn't even read 2psi which is what the guage reads in increments of 2 so while it was running I started to unscrew the guage and oil flow'd out of the port but it was a pretty weak flow, so I guess I'm pulling the cam assembly apart and makeing shure the center O-ring is propperly inplace and make double shure all my cam caps are in the right place.. I don't really kno what to Think.. meby my oil line is not flowwing enough from the oil sandwich? Or it could be something in the head.. ill find out tomorrow I guess.

95k24hatch

ok so i took off the cam caps today, everything was in order the o-ring in place... EXCEPT the cap cap tops or what ever they are called but the two long pieces of aluminum that sit on the caps were in the wrong order, they have no markings on them and are identicle except for the oil galley holes on the bottoms, i looked at the bottoms and low and behold their were impressions of the slots that line up with the cap cap oil slots on top, so i switched them around, and the oil pressure port i was reading fron the one on the front of the head, does not give pressure reading untill the vtec solenoid is powered so my oil reading was wrong and i do in fact have proper oil pressure. but the kicker is i still have the same bogging problem as i did before, so i had a idea, ill just uplug my chipped p06 and plug in my pr4, well the car wont start and my main relay clicks like crazy, so i unplugged my vtec sub harness making it the exact same wiring that i had on my ls motor and it still clicks like crazy and wont start? this does not make sense in my head why is the main relay clicking and my fuel pump not powered when their is nothing differently plugged in on my engine harness when i have the vtec sub-harness unplugged?

95k24hatch

so the conclusion still is i have to get a proper working stock p28 or p72 ecu and do my testing off of that, unless anyone else has any suggestions? i'm all ears

lazy14

isnt a p28 a single cam ecu? i know they are good to chip but didnt think it would run a dual cam, i sold mine dammit. from the sounds of it you have traced everything from wires to oil flow, maybe a bad dizzy? are you getn signal to ur vtec sylenoid? maybe check ur oil pressure switch n see if its givin proper signal, sorry if i sound new to this cuz i am, i know chevys not hondas, im buildn my first civic now n tryn to learn more n more, ill talk to a few people today and see what they say

95k24hatch

Yes single cam ecus will run dual cam motors, the oil pressure switch is fine I have changed it out twice, I also did some more testing today with a stock p28, the motor has the same symptoms with this working vtec ecu, also when a oil pressure switch is unplugged from a running vtec motor this sholud not cause the car to die and not start I ran this test on a good running vtec delsol, so it is my conclusion that the problem I have is in the egay OBD0 to OBD1 jumper harness I bought, I got away with it on my ls swap but this vtec conversion has brought out the failure in this cheap part, let this be a lesson to others, you might get away with running cheap parts for a while but eventually they catch up with you, so my next step is a quality conversion harness. Does any one know where I can buy a GOOD conversion harness For OBD0 to OBD1 that won't break the bank?

95k24hatch

And its cool man every one has to start somewhere in the learning process, I'm shure you cam bring some of you chevy knowledge to us honda heads and put it to good use on something we may never have thought to do. Good luck building your first honda, if you need any help ill be glad to assist in any way I can.

gnxpro24

iTrader: (1)

my mom drives an accord with an i-vtec dohc K24 in it. made the mistake of putting synthetic oil in it so the car has had troubles ever since. it will go into limp mode and bog out at 3k. it has been fixed several times by cleaning out the vtec solenoid. I guess the lack of oil change due to the oil being synthetic caused the solenoid to clog with dirt

95k24hatch

Synthectic oil isn't the problem as long as you use the correct weight and do you oil changes when the oil getts dirty, I don't use anything but synthetic oil but I never extend my oil change milege intervals I still do them every 3K. I have cleaned and recleaned and checked for propper opperation in my vtec solenoid, it is opperating correctly my problem is faulty wireing in my jumper harness. I appreciate the input tho.

95k24hatch

Ok case solved I now have vtec working, I retract my statements about the jumper harness I bought off ebay, I ended up emailing the guy who made it and he had me call him, all tho he wasn't able to diagnose the problem over the phone he gave me some good sugestions and led me to the source of the problem. Their was a ground wire on my vtec sub harness labled ground vtm, which is the pressure switch, alltho I had this grounded to the chassis it also had to be tied in to the sub harness, so if you are planning on buying a OBD0 to OBD1 jumper, I would recomend phanectric's product, thank you everyone for their help and I hope this can help someone else out with their problem.

jdmboyef9

LMFAO!!! Never do this!!!! A VTEC switch will make it kick on but your ecu does not compensate with added fuel and ignition. If anything your car will get slower. Without a vtec basemap the engine will lean out and the ignition timing will go out of wack

95k24hatch

Yes I agree

Danielsb20crx