centralman

Requesting all possible help here ... Many thanks in advance

I am from Vancouver, BC and I bought a Canadian model 99 Civic SiG recently from out of town which did an engine swap with a JDM B18B. All is fine. Car runs with no problem.

The problem is ... the car needs to pass aircare (Emission Test in Vancouver, BC) for insurance renewal in Metro Vancouver region ... and when I took it there it was rejected.

For a 98 or newer vehicle in Metro Vancouver, they don't do a tailpipe test, they only do an OBD II Scan, and they reject my car cos they say their computer cannot communicate with my car.

So I dug deeper, apparently the car is using an old OBD I type ECU for integra. Any help here as in how I can make the vehicle pass aircare?

Many thanks ... Kinda in limbo at the moment ...

civic_driver

Well, if the specs I got online are correct, the motor is OBD I so no wonder it uses an OBD I ECU. The only way to pass is to swap an OBD II motor or have them test your car the OBD I way (here in the US, California to be more specific, that's illegal, if the car came with an OBD II motor, you have to have an OBD II or later motor in order to pass you; I guess the same applies in Vancouver).

centralman

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking, the B18B engine was for integras from 1994-2001, surely for the latter year models (eg 98 or later) they must be using the OBD II ECU to control it ... Can I just do a ECU swap, not the whole motor plus ECU swap cos that would be prohibitively expensive ...

civic_driver

Yeah, if you can find an OBD II ECU for that motor (I don't know much about that motor and what year integras it came from) it should work as long as it doesn't require you to install additional sensors and stuff like that.

centralman

Thanks, I will dig deeper into it.

I noticed some sites are selling so called "OBD 2 to OBD 1" or "OBD 1 to OBD 2" Conversion harness, would those work?

TravisCadello

dude that sux ***! i would hate to be in your case. here in houston Tx i pull up to the emitions shop and tell the guy to give me legit papers and put the tag on my car for 100 even. im out of their in 10 minutes. and i run up in their with open headers lol.

civic_driver

No, just the harnesses won't work. You have to add/remove harness, sensors, ECU, parts, etc. If you can find an OBD2 ECU that was meant for your motor (i.e. stock) it should work, otherwise it probably won't as it requires too many changes.

It's best if you can get an opinion from someone who has more insight into converting OBD1 to OBD2 and vice versa, since I haven't done any conversions myself.

centralman

Yeah I know what you mean man. The car otherwise runs fine and is nice to drive. But I want to do it the proper way since as the car gets older it will require AirCare yearly ... And as long as I live inside Metro Vancouver I need to have my car AirCared ... I know the only two places you need to do that in Canada is that either you live in Metro Vancouver or Metro Toronto ... Imagine that!

centralman

Many thanks to you anyhow. I would like very much if someone could help me out on this one ...