MonkeyMagic

-the car is a 98 civic dx hatchback (obd2a)
-motor is a 95 jdm gsr (b18c1 basically) obd1 (obd1 dizzy and alternator)
-ecu is a jdm p72 obd2a

SYMPTOMS:
-interior and exterior lights and blower motor noticably dim below 3.5K rpms or 51mph when on the gas

-NO vtec(maybe) but deffinately no IAB operation

-sluggish acceleration and no torque, occasional stumbling throughout the rpm range

-when cold, or restarted and still hot, car is practically inoperable due to stumbling and stalling at anything above ~5% throttle

CONDITIONS:
-usually occurs after engine has been running for quite a while, ie after a trip to or from school or ~1 hour.

-i have noticed that i do have vtec, iab, torque, acceleration and bright lights sometimes as normal after either: (A) letting car cool, but not get cold -or- (B) wiggling wiring at iab soleniod

ADDITIONAL INFO:
i do swaps, i make obd conversions.. this still has me stumped. the wiring is all correct and connections are good and plugs have solid contact. grounds are great and intact.

however i have not tested the alternator, but i strongly believe it is good, as is the battery. and i have driven this car 5+ hours at a time without any glitches except this one. basically, if it wasn't charging or couldn't charge it would've been dead long ago. as well, this is way beyond the slight dim caused by normal voltage regulation in the charging system

in searching, seems other people have had similiar problems, but no real answer has been made. the charging system is my guess, but not mechanical failure.

CHARGING SYSTEM INFO:

the alternator, is internally regulated. also it is externally "regulated" and activated by the computer according to electric load, vehicle speed, engine coolant temperature, accersories and intake air temperature. the computer uses this activation to adjust the amount of voltage generated beyond the voltage regulator's ability, creating less load on the engine. kind of a "smart" charging system.

i believe that the computer is lowering and occasionally eliminating the alternators output voltage. now i just need to know WHY?!?!

so honda-tech gurus... whats the deal here??

MonkeyMagic

both theorys that it could be solved when the car is cooled or when i wiggle wires have not been proven, just seemed to run right a couple times after either occured.

also... i'm rethinking this on the level of charging system only... if charging is cut off, the battery should be able to completely take over and leave me with bright lights and vtec for the instants it stutters or dims


is this deeper somewhere in this jdm computer? could it be cutting voltage down as well as cutting ignition or super-retarding timing or turning down fuel???

HELP... i have class in the morning and i can't sleep.. to busy thinking this over

Apocolipse269

hmm.....sounds fishy. if you think its the ECU, then try swapping it with another ECU. Maybe its a problem with your ECU

MonkeyMagic

i tried a 98 type r ecu...don't know if its usdm or jdm. it doesn't open iab of course, but i can hear the vtec.. but even with iab's zip tied open its struggling to pass 7k rpms. drove car this morning with p72 and it feels great, but after about 30 min of driving i was having trouble passing traffic again

any guru's on here experienced this? i noticed a wire on the usdm p72 A plug that is called "voltage reference" my harness doesn't have it... wtf is it?

i'm getting on alldata now to check it out..

bump for a this persistent problem.

MonkeyMagic

any ideas?