i have a darton sleeved h22a4 block with eagle rods and cp pistons. after about 1500 break in miles vtec is not engaging. i have done every electrical test as the helms manual said and i hard wired the vtec solenoid to a switch and still no vtec.

I've heard that dented oil pans can cause insufficient oil pickup and my oil pan has a few pebble sized dings but I dont see how it could be enough to block oil from the pickup. When i take off the bolt on the front passenger side of engine (where oil pressure is tested) and turn the motor over, oil barely comes out. but i also took the valve cover off and the valve train is getting plenty of oil when i turn it over.

Can someone point me in a direction of what could be causing this. I'm guessing it has to be an o ring somewhere. I dont think the valvetrain would be getting oiled if the pump was bad.

 

was the vtec engaging during break in? are you sure your vtec solenoid is good?

pebble sized dings aren't going to cause your issue.

out of curiousity...did someone do a balance shaft removal? if so, they could have plugged some ports that you needed.

 

balance shaft is still in, and vtec did engage after the build, i tested it once. yea solenoid is good, 100% possitive. we put a wire from the solenoid and wire from the battery into the car. I can hear the solenoid clicking, screen is new and the valve is moving very freely.

how deep of a dent are we talking about here? like 1/8-1/4 inch?

 

i don't see a 1/4 inch ding hampering your oil pickup...maybe someone here knows better.

what has changed since you hit vtec?

have you changed your oil at least once since first starting it?

 

yea I've changed the oil twice, once at 200 miles then at like 750 and im at about 1500 now... and the only thing I have done is change my dash lights, lol... put blue led's in and scraped the back off the guage plates...

I'm stumped on this, I've been through the helms testing procedure twice and everything electrical is correct, the only thing i havent been able to check is oil pressure... and thats all it can be other then the mechanics of vtec and im going to check that tomorrow with air pressure.

 

vtec works with oil pressure as it appears you know already

I would check the wiring from the solenoid and vtec pressure switch back to the ecu assuming vtec oil pressure comes back good.

 

yea ive done all the electrical test, switches, and ran 12 volts to the wiring and checked the ecu side just as the helms manual says... everything reads correct, i have an oil related problem somewhere, Im trying to find an oil pan to swap out. Does anyone have one that has no dents at all on the bottom?

 

I would recommend buying or borrowing an oil pressure guage to check
that pressures are correct at idle and higher rpm before you get a new
oil pan.

 

where can i get a gauge that just screws into the block?

 

just go buy a mechanical guage from a part store like 20 bux hook it up and when your done remove it