I took my boosted GSR to the dyno last week. After sorting out some other problems the guys at Tempest started tuning, slowly bringing in boost. After a few pulls they came to the conclusion that the vtec was not engaging. They stopped tuning for obvious reasons.

Joe checked everything electrical from the ECU to the solenoid. Everything checked out.

I pulled the valve cover off and cam caps to look to see if the "vtec pins" (ill just call them that lol) were in place and they were. The pin that is more flush to the surface of the head is closer to firewall.... The pin that patrudes above the surface of the head is closer to the front of the car. Im assuming this configuration is correct bc it matches a junk GSR head that i have. But keep in mind the head that is currently on my car is a B16 head.

The only thing that i saw out of the ordinary is that... when i took the center cam cap off the oring was very very very very slightlllyyyyyyyy torn. There was no way for me to tell if the fragment of the torn oring was blocking any oil pressure. But ive been informed that wouldnt effect vtec engagement. But feel free to correct me if im wrong.

Also im pretty sure that there isnt a plug on the bottom side of the head to run this head on a ls/vtec set up. I am thinking this because the vtec solenoid was full of oil.

But to make it fun lets add another variable. When i put the top end together is used GSR cam caps on the B16 head. Now even if this isnt affecting the vtec i KNOW "now" that i need to swap these back over the B16 ones i have. (ouch, learning experience)

SO the main questions are "Why isnt my vtec working?" and "Do you think the improper cam caps are the problem?"

I will appreciate any help/guidance.

 

did you try getting the vtec solenoid to activate by applying a 12v + to it ?

 

good ole push button

 

I've run into numerous issues with vtec not engaging while cars are on my dyno.. First thing I always do is install an oil pressure gauge into the port on the front of the head.. Oil pressure should always be above 45 psi or so when the vtec solenoid is energized.. After that, check the pins in the head, check the cam timing, and the list goes on..

 

did you check the screen on the vtec solenoid gasket??? make sure its not clogged..

 

+1

 

+2. A kid near me put cotton ***** in his friends solenoid and he was stressing what was wrong

 

1. Yes Joe tested the solenoid and it was in proper working order.

2. Yes Joe also pulled the solenoid housing off and cleaned it out with brake cleaner.

3. The pins were in the holes. I referenced to another junk gsr head to see if they were in the correct holes. But i have a B16 head.

4. Does any one have any idea if using the GSR cam caps on the B16 will affect vtec engagement???

Again thanks for the help so far.

 

The wrong b-series vtec cam caps shouldn't have much to do with vtec engagement, but they could cause damage to the cam itself..

 

oil pressure gauge would be the next step IMO like stated above. most all vtec issues i have seen have been a result of low oil pressure, which 9 times out of 10 turns out to be a internal leak in the motor somewhere.

 

I will be meeting up with the guy that i sold my b16 cam caps to (along with my spare gsr head) Ill be installing them with a new center cap o ring. thanks for the info on that.

Ill be checking oil pressure at the head soon also. Ill google it up im sure theres a diy on checking the pressure on here somewhere. lol

PS thanks for chiming in Joe. My goal is to be ready for the dyno by thrusday. But the Air Force is getting every bit of time and energy out of me before they send me to the sand box. haha

 

do you know if your block has the oil restrictor that resides in the intake side(opposed to the exhuast side) on the deck of the block ?

 

I do not recall if the restrictor was there.... but i do know exactly what you are refering to. Looks like i will pulling the head off tonight and ordering a new head gasket in the morning. Wow i want to get this figured out!

 

Well i took off the head and im pretty sure the restrictor is there. The only thing that i can think of that i have found so far is the small fragment of oring i found "possibly" blocking oil in the center cam cap. But i really dought that is the problem.

Ill include some pics to hopefully help yall help me.

 

in this pic you can see the restrictor. It has thread in the hole but im guessing those are just for removal purposes.







Here you can see the "vtec pins" that are under the cam cap closest to the crank pulley.

 

how do the cyl walls and stuff look? while you got it apart i'd check out the rings and valve seals to see if you can get that smoking issue sorted out. even if you get vtec to work, that is going to be your next hurdle, its surely not going to get any better or fix its self. it would be a shame to put it all back together and have to take it right back apart again.

 

there is a plug on the left side of the head underneath the camshaft on the intake side that i have seen 2 or 3 times get left out...is that plug there? if its factory, its a copper/brass color

 

yeah just checked and the plug you are refering to is there.





The cylinder walls are all identical to this and the head is a fresh head with dual valve springs, ported and polished... i would only Hope they would of put new valve seals in it. eehhhhh lol

 

Tuner Error

 

lol i would hope not lol But i REALLY dought IT! HAHA

 

hahaha you bastard. however you fail! brad is tuning this one, 99% of aem cars are trouble and he is the man with it. this one was a perfect example. "brand new" AEM ecu was no good. wasted a good 2-3 hours chasing what we thought was electrical problems. put the ecu into another car and it did the same thing. put one of my personal AEM boxes in it, and everything was fine.



even though you say the block and head are all new/good....you still have a pretty serious issue that needs to be addressed. that thing is burning a TON of oil. i dont remember if you have an oil pressure gauge in the car?

 

"brand new" haha i like that quote lol

No i dont have a oil pressure guage. Im guessing i need to get that new head gasket and put everything back together and see what the oil pressure is at the head and at the point of the oem psi sensor.

Joe- did you get my PM about the exhaust port?

 

you should be able to pressureize the "chamber" that the vtec sol, supply's oil to.. if some machine shop had that head apart and forgot/ misplaced some of the pins which slide inside the rocker arms you will have problems. you can use some sort of compressed air to do this to the head. and if you have any sort of oil leak or something fishy going on, it should stick out like a sore thumb.

 

I just dropped of the head at the machine shop, should have it back to tomorrow. I notice a lot of oil residue on the #1 exhaust port. Im suspecting maybe bad valve seal or guide.

But i just remembered something.... I bought this motor while i was the desert last time. I also was ordering parts and gaskets for it again while i was still in the desert. I was told it was a 84mm motor. Well i googled the part number that is stamped on top of the piston. After you see the part number youll recognize why i became suspicious of the bore size. lol
So all this time i was using a 84mm head gasket on a 85mm cylinder. I dont think this will affect vtec engagement considering the only thing different is how big the "hole'' is in the gasket. But i could be wrong.

I also went and ordered a new oring and dowel for the bottom of the center cam cap.

 

Dave....


i will defiantly try the technique you are talking about. It is a possibilty that this could of happened bc the head is fresh out of the machine shop. I will do this as soon as i get the head back from the machine shop. (not the same machine shop where the head work was done)



-Joe