EGThang

i was driving one day, vtec had already kicked and all of a sudden it bogged down, sounded as if vtec had went away and the check engine light came on, i had no clue what happened so i got home and began poking and prodding, my vtec solenoid still works, but every time it should kick the check engine light comes on and nothing happens, i get a code 21 (vtec solenoid) but as i said before, ive checked the solenoid and it still functions, does anybody know anything or have any suggestions?

BlueIntegraBoy

iTrader: (5)

Clean the screen on the solenoid

EGThang

i already had it all apart and cleaned everything, sorry forgot to say that, ive also checked all the wiring and it looks fine

boosted_dc2

is the check engine light on when you first start the car?

what car, what motor, what wiring harness, what ecu

Landon

meandino

Check your oil level, but I don't think that would throw a CEL.

elektronsi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by meandino &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check your oil level</TD></TR></TABLE>

x2, a while back i was driving home from vegas im my EM1, got on it in 3rd gear, and as vtec engaged my CEL came on, when i got home i took it to a buddy who owns a honda shop and he told me that sometimes if the oil is slightly low when driving hard the oil pressure will drop at the solenoid, throwing a CEL....just throwing out ideas, not sure what motor youve got and if it does it in all vtec motors, but mine was a b16a2 in a EM1

meandino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by elektronsi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

x2, a while back i was driving home from vegas im my EM1, got on it in 3rd gear, and as vtec engaged my CEL came on, when i got home i took it to a buddy who owns a honda shop and he told me that sometimes if the oil is slightly low when driving hard the oil pressure will drop at the solenoid, throwing a CEL....just throwing out ideas, not sure what motor youve got and if it does it in all vtec motors, but mine was a b16a2 in a EM1</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah happened to me. I learned after that to check the oil level every gas up.

EGThang

93 hatch, B16A, the wiring harness looks like the one from the car that has had wires added to support the new motor, ECU is from B16....also i thought timing may have slipped and it needed a new timing belt so i had it replaced and timing reset and everything, no help and i also thought about the oil thing, i never let it get below half full

cherroneballs

you may have answered your own question, half full isn't gonna cut it with a vtec motor or any motor for that matter, you really need to have it full.

EGThang

i do keep it full but ive never seen it drop below half full, when its full the motor sounds funny too, kinda like its sick or something, it sounds muffled, so i try not to keep it really full, but between half and full, this is prolly a real noob question, but what sensor actually initiates vtec?

boosted_dc2

theres an oil pressure switch that needs to see signal, telling the ecu that there is enough oil pressure at the solenoid to activate vtec. then the ec sends a signal to the vtec solenoid to cross over the cam.

when does the check engine light come on?

Landon

meandino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cherroneballs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you may have answered your own question, half full isn't gonna cut it with a vtec motor or any motor for that matter, you really need to have it full.</TD></TR></TABLE>

X10 Seriously, You can't let it drop down to half. With only 3.5 qts. going into those engines thats already 14.29% of your oil gone. Your vtec needs the whole 100% to perform the way it should.

boosted_dc2

yea but you dont need to run it to the full mark, do you think honda put 2 marks there for the fun of it? it needs to be in between them, you have the same oil pressure no matter what the level is so long as it is high enough to be picked up by the sump. if your taking fast corners, like in auto cross or something then i can understand it, but there is no reason to overfill in street aplications. i run about 3/4's of the way up the dipstick marks, its worse in some cases to run it too full, than too low.

Landon

EGThang

^ agreed, i usually keep it at 3/4ish...ive had this problem that i didnt think was associated with this whole vtec thing, but maybe someone can put the two together, it smokes around where it should hit vtec and also if youre driving and slow down to a point where you should down shift but dont need to if youre speeding up or whatever when you get back on the gas itll smoke...dont know if that has anything to do with it or if the known exhaust leaks have anything to do with that or not...smoke is like grey/blue ish....anybody have any tips for the smoke besides rebuild it? and does anybody think it could possibly be connected?

EGThang

*bump* any takers?

boosted_dc2

that smoke you are discribing is usually assoicated with blowby, usually the rings are bad. How many miles? it may be something in the head like valve seals, but usually when honda motors do what your discribing, its time to freshen it up with some rings. I usually use it as an excuse to upgrade something LOL.

Landon

EGThang

its about 120K, not that old of a motor, i dont really want to just put rings in it, if im gonna have it apart like that id rather go all out and completely build it which i dont want to spend the money right now to do or what id prefer even more is just to swap it out because a B16 doesnt really do the job that well these days

boosted_dc2

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EGThang &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its about 120K, not that old of a motor, i dont really want to just put rings in it, if im gonna have it apart like that id rather go all out and completely build it which i dont want to spend the money right now to do or what id prefer even more is just to swap it out because a B16 doesnt really do the job that well these days</TD></TR></TABLE>

sounds like you have your mind made up

Landon

EGThang

yes, but i would like to get this motor running fine in the meantime till i swap it out...i think the problem may be slightly diff, ive noticed lately i think vtec may be engaging at a lower rpm than before like 5k-ish and a lot more weaker, its tough to tell unless you go a constant speed by a barrier or something where you can really hear the engine, then the check engine light comes on at 6k