clm

The car:
1993 Civic CX
CX block, DX head + other misc. stuff
CX ECU and harness
EX/Si transmission

The problem
I just finished putting the engine in, plugged in the harness, added fluids, etc., but when I connect the negative clamp to the negative battery terminal it sparked briefly but stopped so I tightened it down. When I turned the key to accessory to prime the fuel system the engine harness ring terminal that goes to the fuze box and the distributor started to smoke. All the fuzes in the underhood box still look good (not broken).

When I parked the car to remove the old engine I didn't have any electrical issues and when I had the new engine in my 1992 Civic CX I didn't have any electrical issues. The only electrical changes are unplugging the engine harness from the chassis harness, removing the power cable from the old engine and connecting to the new, and then connecting the engine harness ring terminal to the fuze box. Nothing else was messed with on the engine or chassis harness including the P05/CX ECU that was already in the car. I checked the chassis to transmission ground, the valve cover ground, the thermostat housing ground, the alternator ground, and the negative battery terminal ground and they all appear to be good.

I'm assuming somewhere my wiring is wrong and is related to the battery cables and I'm going to look closer at everything tomorrow when I have more light, but I was hopeing to get some other possible ideas and experiences.

Cliff notes:
Did a swap and after connecting the negative battery terminal stuff started to smoke.

Thanks for any help.

clm

Morning bump.

De_tour

does it smoke alot? and what kind of smell is the smoke?

just a suggestion but hook up the battery and see where the smoke is directly coming out of. (certain fuse etc.)

have u checked your distributor out?

clm

The smoke has an electrical smoke/fire smell to it; like when soldering. And the smoke came from the connection to the fuze box and a puff from the distributor for sure, there might have been a little more coming from somewhere else. I've yet to pull the distributor off, though. I was going to last night but it was getting dark and cold. I might try swapping in my Civic battery to see if it makes a difference since there's a Valucraft POS in it right now.

instructor74

Stupid ? are you using a battery for the 92-95 civic ? the terminals + and - are reversed from what a normal battery is.

clm

Yes, it's the correct battery with the exception of the terminals being closer to the firewall instead of further away. The positive cable is on the positive terminal and the negative cable to the negative terminal. The battery hasn't moved or changed and it started the car just fine when I brought it home for the teardown.

vortexx

If you are getting sparks and smoke when you are connecting the battery, I would definitely check your wiring. Unfortunately, I dont have any specific suggestions, as it sounds like maybe a component could be getting power and ground reversed, or you could have a short. I hope you can trace them down easily.

API Tech

Did you say alternator ground.....are we sure this isn't alternator POWER.......

Rodney

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by clm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I checked the chassis to transmission ground, the valve cover ground, the thermostat housing ground, the alternator ground, and the negative battery terminal ground and they all appear to be good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by API Tech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Did you say alternator ground.....are we sure this isn't alternator POWER.......</TD></TR></TABLE>

agreed. make sure you have that connection on the alternator itself, not bolted to a ground somewhere....

sicones

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rodney &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
agreed. make sure you have that connection on the alternator itself, not bolted to a ground somewhere.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I did this once on a VW , they suck

clm

It ended up being the power cable to the starter grounding out on the starter. Everything runs well with the exception of code 43 (fuel supply system). Thanks for all the help.