Gheremy H

Ok, so I have a jdm h22a in my prelude and I cannot figure out what's wrong with it. On start up, it sounds like a subaru, like a cylinder is not firing. And it lacks power. I drove around the block and and bogs and bucks giving it over 1/4 throttle in 1st and 2nd gear. I couldn't pick up enough speed to get to any other gears. Also I couldn't get it up a hill, the more gas I gave it the more it bogged out. I've tried new plugs, cap and rotor. Same thing is happening. I'm thinking timing may be off but I need someone to help steer in the right direction. I'm stumped.

holmesnmanny

could be clogged cat, remove the oxygen sensor, see if it runs better

Gheremy H

There's not cat on the car. Stock header, test pipe, 2.5 inch to a muffler. No cel either

holmesnmanny

check mechanical timing

snobordboy

Yup, first thing is going to be to verify that mechanical timing (crank and cams) are correct. Then go from there, checking distributor timing, hopefully the plug wires are in the correct sequence, and then check compression, fuel injectors etc. if the problem persists.

Gheremy H

I did check plug wires for sequence and they are correct. It ran fine before, could it have jumped teeth? I read the auto tensioner fails alot, if it's a mechanical timing issue I'm just going to replace that tensioner with a manual one. I'll try to get timing checked

Gheremy H

So is there a way to check mechanical timing without having to remove the crank pulley? I don't have much time outside of work not space not the proper tools to tackle that timing belt. If not, I'm going to take it to my mechanic and let him have a look and just cough up the bill when I can

H22Honda98

Is it actually throwing the flashing check engine light indicating a misfire or does it just sound like a misfire to you? Definitely check the mechanical timing.

Years ago a buddy of mine had a very similar issue and after tons of trial and error we found that the distributor was the problem and was just going absolutely haywire. Took forever to track down. Something to consider if the timing checks out.

Gheremy H

no cel. Just sounds like a misfire and loss of power. After changing the cap rotor and plugs, I don't think it's the ignition timing, a bad dizzy would throw a code. Mechanical timing, honestly is too much for me to do. I can never get the crank bolt off. So if there's a way to check mechanical timing without removing crank pulley lmk otherwise I have to get it to my mechanic tomorrow, I've been trying to do it myself

Varia

In my case, it was a worn cap and rotor. It would buck because the cap and rotor were so worn that they would sometimes not make contact, cutting off power, then suddenly make contact again restoring power.

Gheremy H

I was hoping it would be that simple. I'll find here in a couple days and I'll be sure to post what It was for someone who might have similar issues in the future

snobordboy

If you can pull the valve cover off, and line up the cams to TDC, you should be able to see the TDC flywheel mark in the timing window on the tranny. Might not be as good to see as pull the crank pulley etc, but its a start.

For what it's worth, I skipped a tooth once and had very similar symptoms.

Gheremy H

I'm going to try that tonight to see how it lines up. If it is a skipped tooth should I just do a new timing belt and new auto tensioner so it doesn't happen again? Or just put it back in time and reinstall

H22Honda98

Depends if you depend on the car or not. If you plan on keeping the car and beating on it like we all probably do, id go ahead and change it while youre in there. 100 bucks for a belt, 120 for a pump and 10 bucks a piece for cam seals and a crank seal will go a long way to making sure the engine stands up over the coming years. get a manual tensioner. ive 'heard' theyve fixed the problem with the auto tensioners, but why even **** with it, just get what we all know works.

snobordboy is spot on with how you should check the timing, ive done that in the past and its pretty obvious if the flywheel is off due to how large it is. you need to make sure you check the cam gears too though. it could have jumped a cam gear tooth, teeth on each one, or the crank gear (which is what the flywheel will tell you), or neither. if the marks on your cam gears wont line up straight, you know its off. if they line up but the flywheel mark isnt right, its off. When things are set correctly its hard to misjudge, its all pretty spot on. if youre unsure, post pics.

also, we never had a code when the distributor started acting up.

Gheremy H

so I hope this helps. I see 2 lines on each can so don't know which is which? However with them in that position I could not see a mark on the flywheel. But i was also using my phone. Do they look off or I need to try again?
Also to note, I let it run again and it does sound a little better with the cap and rotor done on it. But still sounds mostly the same. Choppy

holmesnmanny

The arrows need to point straight up and the notches on the sides of the cams need to be level with the timing cover, then check that the flywheel is at 0.

Gheremy H

I'll check it out tomorrow and see if the flywheel is at 0 with the cam gears level, if they match and then I'll update soon after

TimiK

Eh wrong ecu?

Gheremy H

I thought that too, but the ecu is a p13 and its not chipped.
However, to update, I took it to my mechanic, and he told me it could be the distributor or the timing but he will check to see if the timing is off and he'll set it correctly if it's off, but if the timing is on and it still does it , that it may be my distributor. I'd that's the case, I was thinking maybe the external coil is bad but assuming he tests the ignition system he will probably figure that out. I should hear back Monday afternoon, and I'll let y'all know what's going on. Appreciate the help

TimiK

But see see that JDM VS Usdm electrics are different so its important to know which ecu youre running - if you use usdm ecu - you cannot use JDM distributor etc (sensors) with it

Gheremy H

The old cap did say Japan on it, it's a td61u distributor. Isnt the jdm distributor internal coil? And usdm external coil? I have an external coil distributor. Hmm, I think I might need to take the distributor apart and have a look inside. It's possible the inside are Jdm but it has the external cap with external coil. Would tgst cause an issue? And also, and had an h22a4 in my old prelude with a chipped p28 and Jdm internal coil distributor and it ran great. I'm gonna find go on Monday and find out. If anything I'll get a new usdm distributor since the harness is wired for external coil I believe. I haven't really looked into that yet, but could definitely be my issue. I find out Monday if my timing was off or not and I'll go from there

TimiK

about JDM swaps to be used with USDM ecu/electrics:

"Here's a list of what you needed to swap from your old motor to this motor in order to keep it all as if it came in the car factory

-intake manifold
-dizzy
-ignition coil
-oil pump
-crank sensors
-motor harness"

with JDM ecu theres no need to swap parts obviously

Gheremy H

it's a 95 prelude. It's the vtec model and came with an h22a1. There's no crank sensor, I used stock harness, kept distributor with harness and coil. Jdm oil pump as well. Just direct swap with mb24 tranny. It's obd1 so Jdm obd1 should match up the same right? Idk if you're thinking it was a 5th gen. I might have to get a new jdm distributor and splice the wires for internal coil

holmesnmanny

You still haven't updated many things people have stated it could be and you said you were going to check. Without knowing if you actually have done any testing at all regarding the opinions you're getting people to give you we are just going to be going in circles wasting time.

Gheremy H

ok so to update, my mechanic checked the timing and he said everything was lined well, he didn't charge me, but told me to replace distributor and external coil, so i went to the junkyard today so i grabbed 3 external coils and some plug wires for them in case mine is shot. So ill try installing tjose tomorrow and see what It does. I work so I haven't had too much time to sit and mess with it, on top of that broke at the moment, can't get parts so quickly, and the car had been at the shop. A new distributor online is 70 bucks so if the coils i grabbed don't make a difference, then I'm going to have to order it and wait for it to ship. I'll post back after I installs to see if it runs any better