im picking up an 91 si hatch from my friend. it has a mini me swap but vtec isn't wired up


my question is, after driving for about 20 mins the oil light comes on, and then turns off and on again. its like a little strobe on the cluster. i was thinking either the oil pump is going out or the pickup is clogged or something. any ideas?


also, the car pings a little under normal driving. could it be because its running the stock ecu? i have a p28 that i could try. but also he said something about not having the vtec distributor. im a b-series head so my knowledge is very limited on d's. any help would be appreciated

 

that sounds like a cloged pick-up.have u checked the oil level in it?this is long shot but it could be a faulty oil light but i duobt that.try taking off the pan and check out the pick-up.why your down there might as well look at the pump too.hows the oil pressure?low pressure should make the light come on too.

 

im not sure of the pressure cause he has no oil pressure gauge. he said taht the oil level is good, which makes me think either pump or pickup. i have a gauge at my house i might toss on to see what im goin with

 

helpy helpy

 

If he used the Y8 head on the A6 block, it will ping if you don't retard the timing. I had to retard the timing and use 91 octane to get mine to stop pinging.

Also, first I would do for the oil light situation, is check the oil level... Then go to AutoZone and get an oil pressure gauge kit (they should be able to 'rent it for free'), and see what the pressure is doing when the light flickers. If the oil pressure fluctuates only at warm temperatures (motor warmed up), that sounds like a seal or a bad pump to me. If the pressure doesn't fluctuate, I would look into wiring...

 

could be the main bearings are shot which is causing low oil pressure - more likely this than a bad pump - especially if it drops oil pressure after it warms up

 

clean the pick-up screen.

 

ok, i doubt he retarded the timing, so the pinging problem is probably solved, i dont actually have the car in my possesion yet but i will look into checking the oil pressure next week

 

yea cause even if u did have the vtec wired having low oil pressure will mess with its engagment points.it will like go in to vtec then come out the go back in.

 

my car did that, then the timing belt ripped in half! were those two tied together, i will never findout