BlackoutVTi

-Engine-
Ok, so I've got myself a JDM D15B VTEC in my hatch with a little problem.

-Old ECU-
I had a P08 running the engine a while ago, and it worked great. A little skywire from the VTEC pressure switch wire to the VTEC solenoid wire, and VTEC was functioning perfectly (No press switch on JDM VTEC solenoid).

-Smogging ECU-
Around January however, I went through some smog issues, and had to swap out the D15B's one wire o2 sensor for a four wire o2 sensor. This ceased the usefulness of my P08. I swapped to a P06 for the smog, passed, and then headed back on the path to re-acquire my VTEC.

-New ECU-
I acquired a P28, and chipped it with P08 basemaps from phearable.net

-The Problem-
When the car is at operating temperatures (for VTEC to engage), at VTEC RPM I get a CEL.
I analyzed it, and it's a Code 21, for the VTEC spool solenoid.

I'd like some suggestions on where to start. I've done some searching, and believe me, I'm usually pretty good at it, but have come up with little useful information. Has anyone else had this problem and it turns out to be some simple little fix? Or am I going to want to go through the motions to find a replacement?

If anyone has any useful links or helpful input about my particular problem, I sure would like to hear what you have to say. I'd like to get started on this.

Luserkid

What i would do is put the P08 back on and try to engage VTEC. Do a couple pulls and go back home. Without turning off the engine jump the ECU if you have a VTEC problem it will show in the codes, if you do then you know its your solenoid. If you dont then its the ECU. Is it a P28 P28 or a P06 converted to P28? Either way thats where i would start.

BlackoutVTi

Thanks for the quick reply Luserkid.

My old P08 is a ways away right now, but I can check with it this weekend just to be safe.

As for the ECU, it's a real P28 with a P08 chip. What would be the problem if it were a P06 with a P08 chip, if I might ask?

95vxtealhatch

sounds like a bad vtec solenoid. When mine went bad my vtec would be there sometimes, and get an error next time. i suggest you replace the solenoid with a known good one.

BlackoutVTi

I was thinking that too. In the past with my P08, every once in a while, I got some random check engine light that I never checked. I would just turn the car off and back on and it would go away for months (stupid). Maybe that was a sign that the functionality of the solenoid was degrading.


Modified by BlackoutVTi at 3:02 PM 6/11/2008

BlackoutVTi

Bump, let's hear it people.

Luserkid

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BlackoutVTi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As for the ECU, it's a real P28 with a P08 chip. What would be the problem if it were a P06 with a P08 chip, if I might ask?</TD></TR></TABLE>

P06 is a non VTEC ecu, but you could add some capacitors/resistors/transistors/etc and it will be the exact same as a P28. But sometimes if you dont do it right (like put one boards info on another board, they have different boards) then it wont work right and possibly throw a code. Now with this new info that you just give that you randomly had a code i must ask, when did this code come on? High RPMs, cruising, etc? If it was in High RPMs then it could be that the solenoid is dirty or possibly bad (never seen it happen but could be). Other then that process of elimination is all you could do right now.

BlackoutVTi

Neet, thanks for clearing that up for curiosity's sake.

As for when this problem randomly occuring far in the past, it did happen sometimes coming out of VTEC, which seems similar to how the code shows up constantly now. As I'd come down out of VTEC RPM, the CEL would pop up.

Exactly, I'd like to start eliminating possibilities and narrowing down my options of what to do next.

As far as going to double check with my old P08, that will probably have to wait, but I can check to see if I'm getting signal/ground from the solenoid.

BlackoutVTi

Bump, this is a VTEC question, I expected more people to chime in on Honda-Tech.

Thanks again Luserkid for helping me so far.

BlackoutVTi

Cool. Final bump, and then I'm taking over.