so... first of all, my car is a 97 prelude with h22a4 motor... and i posted awhile back about my motor burning a lot of oil... well... it looks like it finally gave up... when i did a compression test on it... the results were 175, 155, 125, 155... But, it will no longer even start... i know the rings are shot... and possibly the pistons? but i wont know that until the engine is tore down... the repair shop quoted me around 1200 for the install and uninstall of a motor... but a reman'd motor through their source is like 6000!.. so they were looking at getting a JDM motor for the car... but, keep in mind i live in California, and i dont know if they will pass smog? And finding one of those reasonably priced is hard to find... The machine shop quoted me about $1000 for the engine rebuilt and assembled... plus the cost of the rebuild kit.. he quoted me $1200 for the master kit alone through motor warehouse, now i work at napa auto parts and can get them much cheaper... so i am gonna see how much i can get for it..

I was thinking i would just need rings and bearings, possibly new pistons... but not new rods and crank.

what other options do i have? as far as used or reman'd motors? Also, keep in mind that i just want a cheap basic stock rebuild. I do not want anything performance... if i wanted that, i will build the 10-second duster.

so pretty much, what is going to be the cheapest?

looking at about $3500 for the completely engine overhaul with new rotating assembly... but, i dont know if i will need the crank and rods... even the pistons...

or, a jdm h22a motor from jdmenginescorp.com is $1300... would that be a good deal, and does that just bolt in? also, do these pass smog in california?

 

Get a replacement engine from hmotorsonline.com . It'll be about $1200. Their engines really are in fantastic condition. Any one of their customers can attest to that.

Btw, my current compression numbers are similar to yours, but lower on some cyl's. There's some other reason your car isn't starting. Check for fuel and spark.

 

it has fuel and spark... we checked both, and both are good... but it acts like it has no compression when you go to start it.

and the timing belt was just replaced about 3k miles ago.. but i havent actually took the cover off or anything yet to check that.

 

also, that hmotorsonline.com doesnt seem to have the h22a4 engine? it just has the earlier h22a1 engine fromt he 92-95 cars...

 

Is timing correct. The belt could have jumped a tooth or more.

 

either way... even if the belt jumped a tooth... thsi motor still has burnt rings... it burnt about 12 quarts of oil in 4,000 miles! So, i know that it needs to be rebuilt... so im trying to decide if its worth rebuilding this motor, or getting one of the jdm motors... but i dont know if the jdm motors will pass smog in california?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 75 Power Wagon 340 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also, that hmotorsonline.com doesnt seem to have the h22a4 engine? it just has the earlier h22a1 engine fromt he 92-95 cars...</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's no difference between the two. Many Prelude members are using jdm h22's in their 5th gen Prelude's. As long as you don't have an SH, the JDM engine you get from hmotors will swap with no issues. And you only have to swap a few parts like the distributor and oil pump from your current engine to keep the car/engine obd2.

 

so, if i understand this right... i should be able to swap in their h22a long block... and all it would need is an oil pump and distributor from my 97 model motor? all the wire connectors, and everything will work? and it will still pass smog inspection here in california?

 

Yep. You have a Base model Prelude right? Because it's a different story with an SH.

 

yes.. its a base model prelude.

I will probably go the JDM route... I need to talk to the shop that is gonna do the work... i will be doing that tomorrow while i am at work... and hopefully should take them the car on monday... where does that hmotorsonline.com warehouse ship the motors from? Cause I was looking at JDMenginescorp.com and their price is pretty much ballpark with the hmotorsonline.com, its just a matter of which one could get it here faster, and which is a better company.

 

also. what is the difference in the distributors and the oil pumps? different connectors, or what?

 

I've never heard of the company you're talking about. Hmotors ships from Cali. You can search honda-tech. You won't find an unsatisfied customer of theirs. And their engines really are very healthy, and very clean on the inside.

 

okay... well im gonna give the shop that i've been talking to both companies... and im sure they will be calling both of them checking into if it will swap right over... And if that is the case, i can simply have them swap my distributor over, and i will get a new oil pump for them to put on...

 

The other thing you'll need to change is the injectors. The obd1 Preludes use different ones.

Don't forget to change the timing belt, water pump, etc while the engine's out of the car. And be very sure to convert to the manual tensioner.

 

bah... sounds easier to just rebuild this one... once you talk about every little thing that needs to go into it... and shipping of the motor... the price will probably end up being cheaper to just rebuild mine... and then i will know what i have... and also have a brand new motor.

 

If you do rebuild, make sure you have a very good machinist. Honing FRM is not simple at all for most. If you have someone else do rebuild it will cost significantly more than getting another engine.

Changing the injectors, oil pump and distributor shouldn't take more than 20min with the engine out of the car. The other stuff I mentioned is preventative maintenance.

 

well.. rebuilding this motor will cost $2300.. and thats with a new crankshaft and rods... which might not be necessary..

this jdm motor has 35k miles on it... will cost 1200 + a few hundred for s/h... then new injectors and oil pump... then on top of that... it should still not pass the visual smog inspection of a good smog shop

 

You don't need new injectors and oil pump. Swap them from your current engine.

Correctly rebuilding an H22 is not simple.

 

okay... what makes rebuilding these h22a4 engines so much harder than rebuilding any other engine? the concepts on all motors are the same. a good machinist is all it takes. I just am not sold on the concept of buying a used motor to save what? a few hundred bucks! This used motor also should not pass the visual inspection at a smog shop that is on top of their game either.

 

I'm not trying to convince you either way.

There aren't many machinist who are willing to / can hone FRM. That's the biggest hurdle.

Good luck with your swap/rebuild.

 

FRM means what exactly?

I'm just trying to weigh out all my options... and im actually also thinking about selling it and just getting a simple cheap fuel efficient mid-90s civic.

 

Fiber Reinforced Metal. It's very different from traditional iron sleeves, and so is the honing procedure.

 

you just take the oil pump, distributor and injectors off of your surrent H22A4 engine. you can check the oil pump clearances and even buy new gears if you really want to. The oil pump on the H22A4 has a crank position sensor mounted on it that reads the crank position from a tooth gear on the crank. on the H22A the CPS is in the distributor which is the reason you also need to swap the distributor from the H22A4 to the new engine. And you just use your injectors. that way you dont have to buy anything unless you were planning on selling your longblock off after the swap.

 

I have a 97 as well, and my rings took a dive and scorched my #3...I bought a used H22A4 from ASAPmotors.com... for $1600 plus $100 shipping, and the engine has been running great...I did a leak down , and rebuilt it with new pumps and belts before I did the swap. All together it was about $2500, and I have about 35K on this engine, and I drive it hard! I didn't want to go the cheaper route for a few hundred less, because of the hassle...the swap was so easy, with no electronics to mess with.

 

Hi,

I have a similar problem with the SH model.

I have a 99 Prelude SH with cyl 4 having registering no compression. Car runs ok after plugs and valve adjustment. Engine has 170K miles or so. I haven't had the car long.
Car ran fine, then all of a sudden I went to start it and it didn't run well(misfireing, cel flashing). Honda dealer replaced plugs and did valve adjustment. Compression test shows cyl 4 with no compression. Should I rebuild or swap the engine. Looking for a cheap and reliable solution. All thoughts appreciated.

Thanks