accordSIRcoupe

First off, i would like to say hello to all and this is a fantastic and useful website so thank you to the site designers/owners/ moderators etc. and i hope to meet sum like minded people with a love for similar cars.

I am having some problems with my car (i think anyway)

here are the details so far:

my car is an automatic and even going through the gears manually the revs are limited to 6000rpm (even when engine is hot) i also recently realised that since owning the car i have never definitively felt/ heard vtec engage. i have no CEL's altho i have a warning light of some sort for the catalytic converter or something showing up intermittantly (usually under hard acceleration etc) i unplugged the vtec soleniod today and the CEL came on and the revs were limited to 5000rpm? from what ive read when vtec isnt engaging the revs are limited to 6000rpm - not 5000rpm. also i thought the stock rev limiter (even for accord sir's and autos) was set at 7800rpm and vtec is supposed to engage at 5200rpm or so. my questions are:

1. Do you think for the last year or 2 ive been unknowingly driving without vtec?

2. Are the revs supposed to be limited at 6000rpm in an h22a automatic?

3. Would it be possible i have a non h22a honda accord ECU in my h22a accord?

4. would changing/ chipping the ECU fix it?

5. What temp should the gauge say when its hot as mine never goes above about 2/5ths or just under mid-way. is that normal?

6. Could a clogged catalytic converter be causing this? if so, how do i test to confirm? and would there be a CEL for it?

additional details:

my car definitely still feels powerful (my last car was a shitty standard 1.8l galant viento tho so i dont hav much to compare to, lol) altho the wheels are hard to spin unless its when or you are decelerating/ drop down gears or turning etc.

if vtec hits at all it feels like it might be about 4200 rpm or so but i think thats just normal acceleration/ powerband.

Also, i took the vtec solinoid/ pressure sensor housing off the engine and cleaned it yesterday and the filters were fine and it had plenty of oil.

ive been under the car and the sump or oil tray or whatever didnt have any dents in it.

I also reattached a ground(or sumthing) wire that was loose on the catalytic converter but that didnt change anything.

I took off the earth wire just below the vtec solinoid on the engine block and gave it a quick sand/clean just in case. (turns out in the manual thats called g101 and is used by the ecu, vtec solinoid etc)

I havnt taken the solinoid off and checked that it works (clicks with 12v and a ground attached) but i will try to do that tommorrow.

The car has never felt as grunty as it should to me, (being sumwhere between 182-187hp when new) but i think it can sill beat my brothers 92 bmw 525 (like 2 tons tho, lol) 2.5l inline dohc 192hp engine.

My cousin has been in my car and keeps saying that it doesnt seem to have the same grunt as his mates similar accord and that vtec doesnt seem strong..


Thanks for any help im kinda stuck.

You dont have to read all of this just the numbered questions really, you'll get the gyst.

I apologise heaps in advance for all the writing this post has.

holmesnmanny

What is your complete ecu number ? Is your car/engine stock ?

accordSIRcoupe

yeah, its completely stock. sorry dont have the ecu number. was going to check that 2morro.(was getting suspicious it could have a non sir accord(f22b) ECU in it or sumthing.
Also, can you confirm that even an auto should redline at 7800rpm or so and that vtec engages about 5200rpm? (so i can first determine if i even have a problem to start with)

holmesnmanny

if your car is stock then what does the cluster redline at ? that should answer your question

accordSIRcoupe

whats a cluster? thanks heaps for helping btw.

accordSIRcoupe

oh, do you mean the tachometre gauge on the dash? yea it redlines at about 7450 and goes up to 8. does that mean that my car definitely shouldnt be rev cutting at 6000rpm? cheers

holmesnmanny

your tachometer...what does it redline at ?

holmesnmanny

Why would your car have a different ecu in it if it's completely stock ?

accordSIRcoupe

yea, good point - it was just a thought. because the ordinary accords have vtec at 3500-4500rpm or sumthing and rev-cut or redline at 6000rpm (similar to what mines doing altho im pretty sure mine has no vtec). but yea its very unlikely and i dunno why i said it, lol. maybe the ecu got replaced with the wrong one at sum point? nah i think we should ignore that possibility.

holmesnmanny

what does your engine code say ? it's on the block next to the tranny

should be f20b or something like that

accordSIRcoupe

i already gave the engine number in my initial description but i dont blame you not noticing it - there are alot of more or less pointless words in there, lol- actually u are right i didnt really reference it properly. my engine number to be exact is:H22A3000190 - it has the same engine stock as the honda preludes (H22A) which is indicated by SIR (Honda Accord SiR). its a rare car not sold in US that im aware of although it has a badge on it saying built in USA. its a 2.2L DOHC VTEC 4 cylinder engine producing about 185HP. i hope this helps. thanks again for helping

accordSIRcoupe

:UPDATE:

I just tested the vtec solinoid by connecting 12v to it and it clicked fine so im guessing thats fine? what is going on? lol.

accordSIRcoupe

:2ND UPDATE: i took my ECU out and the numbers are:37820-P0F-902 i think thats what you were after? the other numbers are: CY-EH1353A and in big letters side ways: F90. Im guessing that means my ECU is a P0F not a P28, P13 etc so its not chippable/ tuneable unless i get a p28 or sumthing.

p.s - any help would be appreciated!

accordSIRcoupe

also, i had a quick look inside (i didnt touch anything tho) everything looked clean - didnt look like there were any damaged components etc. but then again. a while ago my digital heater control panel broke and it looked fine inside but replaced it and everything worked so obviously it was broken even tho it didnt look it...

accordSIRcoupe

I just unplugged some unimportant-ish sensors one at a time and each gave a CEL. then i unplugged the coolant temp sensor from the thermostat housing and no CEL? the temp gauge still went up as engine got warm - what exactly is this sensor for? does anyone know. also, if it was broken could that effect vtec engagement? cheers

accordSIRcoupe

:BUMP:

Any help/comments/ideas of any sort would be great.

holmesnmanny

ok, ya somehow i missed it says h22a lol

I gotta be honest I'm not sure about jdm auto h22a redlines. However you should definitely be going higher than 6000 rpms..can you make a video ?

also you might get more help in the prelude forum for this as they have more people that have this chassis in that forum.

accordSIRcoupe

i cant really make a video as im on dial up and it would take forever to upload. i guess i could find sum free wifi to upload it. in regards to the prelude forum how would i relocate the thread to there? cheers

holmesnmanny

just make another thread there it's no big deal

importzero

i also have a h22 on an automatic on my accord with the pof ecu and vtec is there u just have to rev it pretty hard but if ur driving normal it will never activate. But on my car sometime it bog on me while im driving if i let go of the acc. it goes back to normal, i know alot of people dont have the pof ecu and heard that it is hard to chip also

also where is the video u uploaded so i can see it thanks

accordSIRcoupe

i neva uploaded a vid, sorry im on dial up. ut you are just the person ive been looking for the last few weeks( if not few years- since i bought the car) you are the one person who can answer me some definitive questions. (since youve got an auto)

1. what rpm do you feel vtec kick in? (if you even feel it that is?)
2. what does your car rev to? (when does the rev limiter kick in?)
3. does your car/vtec feel powerful even tho its an auto?
4. if you floor it in drive will it rev as high as in 1st/2nd?
5. what does D3 do? is it just drive without 4th gear?
6. i know i already basically asked this but, do you hear/ feel vtec engage and is it obvious?


many thanks and much appreciated if you can answer ANY of my questions.

accordSIRcoupe

if vtec only engages under WOT then maybe my TPS (throttle position sensor) is off and isnt detecting when ive got foot to the floor.. could this be it? (but that wouldnt limit my revs when in 1st/2nd would it) id better test it at some point anway. i checked the cable and with the pedal to the floor there is no slack so the cables ok anyway..

accordSIRcoupe

ok, this could be the break in the case we need, with just a little help.. even though the MIL does not come on while driving (it does come on for a few seconds when ignition is turned on) i checked to see if there were any MIL codes (should have done this ages ago) the MIL blinked 3 times rapidly then one long blink and repeated. this i believe means code 13. when i checked code 13 it said it was the Barometric pressure sensor. Now i have 3 questions: could this lead to an early rev-limit of 6000rpm and would it disable vtec? also, would replacing the ECM fix this issue as the barometric pressure sensor is located inside the ECM. (I know sum1 who swapped out their auto transmission in their accord sir (same as mine) for a manual. they still have the auto ECM and are willing to part with it for $30.. they would be happy for me to test it first but i cant really as they live quite far away..)

cheers for any help. we are slowly getting there.

accordSIRcoupe

holmesnmanny

yes, whenever you get a barometric pressure code the only fix is to replace the ecu