TupperWare

So first off, I have looked through basically every B20 won't fire post known to man. But none come close to my conditions. My friend bought a EG coupe with a B20B in it with a blown trans. I knew the previous owner so we know the car was fine. Did the swap, car started just fine. Took it out for a rip, then I get in and do a launch. Then the car basically goes into limp mode. Wouldn't let me rev past 4k rpm, and made little to no power. I then noticed it sounded like a subaru so I assumed it was running on 3 cylinders. It was idling really low and would sometimes die out. I drove it home parked it, then 2 days later try to find out what went wrong to the car not starting. The car will sometimes just keep cranking and not fire, then fire then instantly die even if I give it gas or try to keep it running with starting fluid, or it will start and run and idle fine for about a minute. Then sometimes it will start and you can keep it above 2k with throttle and it will stay alive for a little then die out. It has spark every time I check, I hear the fuel pump prime and can feel it running all the way until it dies out. I've swapped fuses, replaced the main relay and still nothing. I'm at a complete loss right now. The next thing I could think of it the fuel filter could be clogged, or spark some how going in and out. I'm kinda new to Hondas I mainly work on 240s so some help would really be appreciated.

The car is also OBD0 so there is no map sensor (I think) My friend said his D series did the exact thing and it was the crank angle sensor but from what I've read OBD0 bypasses the sensor and runs off the distributor.

TupperWare

Anyone? My friend said a bad coil could do this but can anyone confirm?

Caoboy

First, check the ECU for codes. It will have a flashing LED if there are. Long blinks are the first digit, short are the second digit.

​​​​​​

TupperWare

I checked the ECU and there's no LED, probably because it was originally an OBD1/2 but about 20 minutes ago I fired the car up and ran perfectly fine for 15 minutes, and turned it off and on a few times and was perfect as if we could have went out and drove it.

Caoboy

Whoops sorry, I was thinking it was obd0 for some reason.

​​​​​​do you have a CEL on in the gauge cluster? If so you need to pull the codes still, to give you a starting point. The ECU doesn't go into limp mode (not reving over 4k is limp mode) without a cel being on.

​​​​​

Caoboy

Also list as much info about your car as you can in order to help diagnose any issues you are having.

What ecu are you using?

What intake manifold?

​​​​​​

TupperWare

I'm not sure what ECU it is but it is chipped I want to say P28 but not sure, and it's some sort of stock manifold, it doesn't have a map sensor on the throttle body. Pretty it's a US spec B20B. That's really all I have, there was also no check engine light even when it started miss firing. And with the chipped ECU it turns it into a shift light so that could have conflict with it?

Caoboy

That's probably what happened, the CEL was removed when it was chipped. That's no bueno if you are trying to diagnose what is going wrong!

You can run a b20 on a p75 ECU (obd1 integra LS) stock and be able to pull codes.

Your vehicle would not be obd0 if it is running a p28.

No MAP on the TB makes me think you have a 90-93 LS intake manifold. Pictures of your engine bay would help.

TupperWare

I think the ECU was converted to obd0 though, there's really funky wiring at the ECU. I'll try to get a picture here in a few.

Caoboy

This is literally a 'plug and play' swap. There should be no funky wiring.

TupperWare

Hm, there's there's a wire form the harness and form the ECU cut and splices together. Then there's 2 wire from the ECU that's just completely cut.

TupperWare

I'm upset I couldn't figure this out earlier.... but it's a fuel pump...

TupperWare

So the fuel pump wasn't the problem. I kinda gave up after it, I put a walbro 255 in it and didn't fix it. I pulled out the fuel filter and blew it out and a ton of gas came out of it. Does that mean it's clogged? Because should it all just flow out? I'm gonna get a new one but if that doesn't work I'm gonna try an ignition switch.

TupperWare

Bump

Caoboy

Stop guessing, start troubleshooting.

Yes you need a MAP sensor.

First things first I'd convert it back to OBD1 (literally no good reason to downgrade to obd0) and then pop in a P75 ecu. Going from there I'd troubleshoot what codes pop up.

ISUBIEXI

Could be the Ignitor, I had similar symptoms many many times. First the car will start to basically hit a rev limit, struggle to rev past certain RPM then, just entirely fail to start.

My opinion,
-Try to start the Car, check the plugs. are they all wet? do they smell like fuel? This is a good indication that you have good fuel, you may still have fuel issues but I would check other things first.
-Compression test the engine since your pulling the plugs anyway, make sure to pull the plugs on the injectors and hold the gas pedal down when you do the test 5-8 turns is more than enough. If you have good compression you can somewhat rule out internal issues.(rings, pistons, bottom end)
-Check to make sure you have spark, do you have a spark tester? You should have bright consistent spark.(I have seen good spark and still had bad ignitor, coil or dist sensors)
-Pull your Valve cover, set motor to TDC, the white single timing mark on the crank pulley should line up with the timing mark on the lower cover, the cam gears should both line up with all 4 horizontal lines lined up. Just be sure to check this, I have read many posts where someone has spent weeks or more troubleshooting just to find they jumped a tooth. You don't need to pull the timing covers, I believe you can see the marks from the back side of the cam gears.
-My next step would be to swap the dist. Could easily be a bad sensor in the dist.

There are plenty of other things to check but that's just a list of the basics that I would do, post the results and it should help to narrow down the issue.

tony_2018

distributor destroyed, tried swapping that?

How fucked up is this to not have a CEL light for diagnostics? If the previous owner was that much of a pro to consider removing it than by all means contact them to help you.

TupperWare

I can't convert it back to obd1 because I don't know how to and just simply don't really know how to wire. And obviously doesn't need a MAP sensor because it doesn't have one, or a plug for it. I also don't have a P75 at my disposal. And I have been trouble shooting since I've got the car. I wouldn't come here unless I'm desperate for help because I have tried everything in my ability. I pulled and plugs and changed them they were a little wet. My compression tester is broken but I know it has compression. I have set the motor to TDC and it's all lined up. Let me clarify again, IT RUNS when I spray starter fluid. But when I stop spraying it dies out.

ISUBIEXI

Very odd that it runs when you spray fluid. That obviously points to a fuel issue, did you replace the fuel filter? You may want to pick up a fuel pressure gauge and connect it to the fuel rail to be sure you have enough fuel pressure. How do the plugs smell? strong like fuel or weak? Maybe you have water or something else in your tank. You can pull your injectors and check the little filters inside, maybe they are plugged, it would be strange that they are all plugged tho.

A chipped ECU should still throw codes, even if the shift light is enabled. Sometimes these ignition problems don't throw codes right away. You should still have a jumper for the cel under the glove box. do something that would cause a Cel, I cant think of anything off the top of my head. I would say unplug the Map but apparently you don't have one with OBD0. Will unplugging the TPS cause a CEL? Actually, I would assume pulling the dist plugs would cause a cel. I pulled the ECT sensor plug(under the Throttle Body) and it threw a cel. Actually... that was my D16.

Its possible that your issue is with the Fuel maps on the ECU. If its set to run too rich or lean it could definitely create a problem.


If the engine cranks but does not fire the plugs should be pretty wet if you pull them right away. Honestly it sounds like a ignition problem to me. I don't know much about OBD 0, obd1 uses the map sensor to measure vacuum to set fuel maps so that would be critical if its obd1.
Whenever I have issues its almost always the dist, swap the distributor. OBD0 distributor is $110 new on amazon. Includes ignitor, coil, cap and rotor. You can get an ignitor or coil cheaper but when it turns out to be a bad sensor it would be cheaper to just get the dist. Its always good to have a spare laying around anyway.

Where are you located?

TupperWare

When I pulled the plugs they were a little wet. I didn't really look all that hard at it. I couldn't smell anything because I had a cold at the time and I couldn't smell anything lol. I haven't heard of jumping the cel I'll look more into that. And I can't really do anything to the car at the moment because the garage is completely full of cars. And I'm in Portland Oregon.