ok, here's the skinny on what i have been up to for the past 3 weeks. First, my car is a 94 civic ex that came with the z6. then engine went, so i decided to go with a d15b instead of trying to find a lower mileage z6 or rebuilding mine.

i wanted to turbo my car, so i ordered the edelbrock kit, with engine management for the z6. The engine management included ignition retard that is controlled by edelbrocks little piggy back computer.

After getting the new vtec D15B in the car, with the turbo kit, everything seemed to be going well. i primed the turbo, and went to start it up. only problem is that i am getting absolutely no spark .

I thought that maybe the ICM from the d15 was different from the z6, so i swapped the entirety of the distributor out with my old. Still got nothing. I checked my wiring unumerable times, its dead on to the edelbrock instructions. One of the relays they sent me was cracked, but both are operational and click when the key goes on no matter what orientation i put them in of the two sockets. I also checked continuity of the ground to block, and that was great, as was the reading i got on the ignition coil.

I got one code when i put it to on, 15, which is the ignition signal code.

At this point i am wondering first if anyone is running this set-up and having a similar problem?

Second, i am assuming that it must be the edelbrock management in error, because the old dizzy worked fine.
The only reason i haven't ripped out the edelbrock stuff and see if i can start it with just the ecu is because i already crimped everything, and I REALLY, REALLY, don't want to butcher the **** out of my harness. .

Let me know what you guys think, i will be calling edelbrock monday and hear what they have to say.




Modified by snoochtodanooch at 12:41 PM 1/2/2005

 

You already know what you need to do... Remove the edlebrock piggy back and change everything back to stock, includingthe distributor that came with the d15b engine. Then see if it fires up. If so, replace the piggy back and try then.

BTW ditch the edlebrock piggy-back **** and go with a chipped P28 ECU running Uberdata.

 

i just did not want to butcher that damn harness. i mean i am losing over an inch because of the connectors, and that it just too much to lose on some wires and not others, that will be a ******* mess to resplice. IMO i don't think it is worth butchering my harness to figure out that it is what i think it is already, i mean there is no other explaination i can think of.

From now on any mods i do that has to do with wiring or the engine harness is getting breadboarded and tested before i even splice it in for sure, i can't deal with this **** again.

at this point i really don't think it is anything with the ignition; as in the dizzy, the icm, or the coil, as it ran fine in the car before, and i tried two distributors.

I think that i am just gonna hold out on edelbrock to get back to me.

I will be going uberdata, but that is far down the line, i had no money for injectors or for a wideband and dyno time this time around. It will happen, just not for a long while.

 

i feel like i should have just ordered the edelbrock drag kit at this point.... all i wanted for christmas was my car


Modified by snoochtodanooch at 9:10 PM 1/5/2005

 

Ok, new info. i plugged in the link box, but cut the two ignition wires going to it, and twisted them together, and i got spark. So i guess this means that the link box is to blame for sure.

 

at least you found out whats wrong thou thats good

 

well i talked to edelbrock and they are doing inventory, so it looks like 2 weeks till they will even ship me out a new one...


i am upset to say the least, but hopefully it will get worked out.


Modified by snoochtodanooch at 8:43 PM 1/5/2005

 

coughcough FREE COILOVERS WHILE YOU'RE WAITING cough cough

 

yea right, they said they would send me shirts... free advertisement for them, they should ask me to wear there shirt, and in exchange for the shirt offer me free coilovers .

But i think they said i can order something factory direct in the future and get a discount. What discount i have not idea, but i guess if i really want something edelbrock in the future i could get it for a reduced price. Maybe like a short shifter or some ****.


Modified by snoochtodanooch at 8:43 PM 1/5/2005

 

well i talked to rich today at edelbrock, he is one of the engineers working with the turbo kits. He plugged the link into their 94 civic and it fired right up. So now i think that the only other posibilities are the wiring harness, or possibly the relays.

He was really helpful and will be talking with the electrical guys over at edelbrock to see what they think for me getting spark without the link box to getting spark with it.

Once again a reputable company comes through in the end better than any off brand ever could. I am really surprised how fast they got on this, and i couldn't have hoped for any better.

Hopefully We will be able to get the car running within the next week.

 

I don't think Greddy would be that helpful.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I don't think Greddy would be that helpful.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, very true.

I just talked with rich again today, and they found the ignition map to be different from what they expected on the chip. They reflashed it, and drove it in their test 94 civic and everything worked. They are shipping the box back to me overnight, and I expect to be able to hopefully have the car running by tomorrow afternoon, if everything goes according to plan.

I hope that it possibly was the map and or maybe the cracked relay. If it is, i have no doubt that the car will be running tomorrow. There could still be a problem with one of my connections somewhere on the harness, but i doubt that.


Plus rich told me about all the other features hidden in the link box that can be unlocked using the proper programmer. Interesting to know, maybe i won't be changing to uberdata afterall. I mean, if it has the extra injectors and i can change the maps, why not keep them and just turn up the boost

 

Ok we have yet another update.

I reinstalled the link box when it came back from edelbrock. I still had no spark when the link box was plugged in. The odd thing is that when i unplugged the link box totally, and didn't trip anything, i would get spark but fuel would die out and the car would not continue to run.

I was very confused by this because it did not make sense. Spark was fine with an apparent disconnection on the icm circuit between the distributor and the ecu. Then i would get spark without the box connected, but fuel would die out and the car would not run.

So i bit the bullet, and took the edelbrock harness out of the equation. I cut it out, but left a little of the edelbrock harness attached to the stock harness so that i could use it to bridge the gaps lost in the original install. Instead of using butt connectors, i used male/female connectors so that i could hook anything up or take anything out as i needed, and test the system tomorrow. I turned everything back to stock, and turned the key.

She fired right up, and went to idle perfectly. I even drove her around the block to check the clutch, everythings beautiful.

So i am now guessing that either i possibly screwed up with a connection at the ecu, or that edelbrock harness has an incorrect connection somewhere. I think that it may be some of the connections at one of the two relays, as that is the only possibility left. I have checked and redone the connections to edelbrocks specifications in the instructions, and i checked the wires at the plug to the link box, and both were as they should be.

I will even reconnect the edelbrock management box tomorrow to be triple sure that it is not my connections before i ship it back to edelbrock. If possible i would even like to get the schematic or wiring diagram from edelbrock so that both of us could save on the shipping.

I'll be calling Rich in a little bit to see if he is there doing inventory this weekend. Hopefully he is there and can give me some guidance. I will be looking forward to getting this all solved, as i now know for sure that it is simply a wiring problem.


Modified by snoochtodanooch at 10:57 AM 1/9/2005

 

for my own sanity i reinstalled all of the edelbrock management components tonight. Same result as i expected. No spark with everything installed. I am a little beyond my capabilities to test the edelbrock wiring harness without a schematic. I would be willing to at least try but i really don't know what the relays are engaging and what not.

I guess its back to stock and throwing the map code until i can ship it out or talk to Rich from edelbrock.

Hopefully we will be ready to rock next weekend

 

Well i am back at school and i called my pops about the situation. He said that edelbrock is taking the wiring harness back again to be checked. I really don't understand what could be causing the problem besides the harness. I checked all the connections at least 8 times, and redid the wiring once entirely. Hopefully it will be resolved and can be up and running correctly soon enough.

we'll see how she ends up.

 

HAHAHA NO ONE CARES YOU ***

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snoochtodanooch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I checked all the connections at least 8 times, and redid the wiring once entirely. Hopefully it will be resolved and can be up and running correctly soon enough.

we'll see how she ends up. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hope you get it sorted out. Did you check for continuity across the harness from connector to the piggyback ecu?

I'm no good at wiring but I'm getting better. I had to fix the stereo harness in my teg and that was all fucked up. Looked like someone had put in a few different stereo's and some wires were cut and not connected to anything and some where just hand twisted together and used electrical tape around it.

I had to take the dash out to fix the harness and I soldered in a new OEM plug.

 

i am reasonably good with wiring. its just the issue that i can't check continuity when i don't know whats going on inside the box, and i don't know when stuff switches on.

plus the relays are made specifically for the harness, and i don't have a schematic to test it properly. So it got sent back either yesterday or today by my dad cause i am at school.

i think one of the connections is in the wrong position on the relay, because i have spark at odd times

 

it was an electrical problem all along. The early 94's have a different harness than the late 94's and the engineers at edelbrock did no know this. This being so, their was a T up the line for the ICM that needed to be tapped in to, not the singular plug by the ecu. The map sensor got fried at some point during my original installation, but was quickly replaced by edelbrock, and worked fine upon install.

The kit it working fine now.

The boost is staying a little lower than i would like, possibly due to the super turned down wastegate or maybe the shitty gauge fooling with my eyes.

seem like a peak of about 5 and1/2 psi

car still pulls hard as hell.

I am happy about the purchase, and was glad to help the edelbrock guys out through the problems, as they were happy to help me in the same turn. I also leanred alot about the link box, which will be a very useful in tuning the car later for higher boost. The link box has many controls which i felt were very valuable as long as they hold up over time. Electronic boost controller actuator is one of the features i like. It can also be used for many other applications other than honda's as long as an extra set of injectors are mated to the IM.

Over i am happy that i can finally drive the car. Now i just have to tidy it up, find out where oil is leaking on to my transmission from, and stop that damn power steering pump squeek. I think its just a belt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snoochtodanooch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Electronic boost controller actuator is one of the features i like. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sweet, glad its running!

Yeah, when you get the handheld tuning module, you can just get a GM Typhoon boost solenoid and connector for like $25 at a GM dealer and wiring in a EBC to the Link box!

 

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

Sweet, glad its running!

Yeah, when you get the handheld tuning module, you can just get a GM Typhoon boost solenoid and connector for like $25 at a GM dealer and wiring in a EBC to the Link box!</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea, i would love to do that, would be perfect and just about as cheap as a MBC.