I have a '98 Prelude with a h22a swap (i bought the car with the swap already done)....the problem is i cant pass my emissions. My car wont even allow the diagnostics to be done, the paper i recieved from the mechanic says something like the on-board diagnostics system is not ready to be tested. Im assuming this is because of the swap but dont know what the problem is.

 

PM hazw8st
he does smog checks for JDM Vehicles.

 

i def. would but since im a trial user it wont allow me to.....do you know if hazw8st uses honda-acura.net?

 

You know what, I'm in the exact same boat as you. The problem may be that the ECU was swapped to a different one, perhaps a P13 OBD1 or maybe a JDM spec one? Mine had an OBD2->OBD1 conversion harness and a P13 when I bought it. I ended up buying the appropriate P5M ECU and had the local Honda dealer resync the immobilizer system so that the car would run.

The only problem is, the H22A has the Crankshaft Position (CKP) and Top Dead Center (TDC) sensors in the distributor instead of behind the crank pulley like the H22A4 has. This makes the ECU believe that there is a misfire whenever the engine is running. In order to make the P5M happy, you must install the US spec oil pump, both the CKP and TDC sensors, and to rewire the harness.

On the other hand, if the car has the original P5M OBD2 ECU and the mechanic is able to read the ECU, but it is just saying "Not Ready", that's a different story. You may just need to drive the car for a few days or so to get the ECU in the "Ready" state.

Keep in mind, though, that there is a way to fake out OBD2 ECU's from seeing a problem, and I'm not sure if the last owner did this or not. Certain issues, like leaving your gas cap loose, will not put the check engine light on until the ECU has detected the problem during multiple times after turning the car off and back on again. There is a wire that connects the ECU directly to the positive side of the battery that allows it to keep it's memory at all times, regardless if you shut the car off or not (the ECU port for this is C10). If you cut that wire and reattach it to an ACC wire that's only on when the car's on, then you can get around issues such as leaving you gas cap loose and other similar problems.

Just my 2 cents...or 20 cents, I did write alot

 

something is wired up incorrectly
on obd2 vehicles nothing is smogged, because it is obd2 compliant
all they do is plug it in and if everything checks out working no cel, then it passes
you have a wiring issue hence why when it is plugged in, it says not ready

 

tell the tech it's an OBDI computer, pick a year between 92-95 prelude.

 

don't know how it works in VA...but in Cali, anytime you run a motor from a previous generation in a newer car, you can kiss smog legality goodbye

 

I agree...the wiring is incorrect. More than likely what is going on is that the owner who did the swap used the obd2 ecu and ghetto wired it. Or, he just wired up the obd1 dizzy and did a conversion harness. There is only 1 true way to swap them without ghetto rigging the wiring.

As fuhsm1 said, remove the oil pump and put a us spec oil pump on. this will allow the stock obd2 harness to be used and will located the cps and tdc sensors by the crank timing pulleys. The pulleys down there would need to be changed as well because on the h22a4 they are keys so the sensors can read them. The dizzy would need to be obd2 dizzy to connect to the obd2 factory harness. Obd2 injectors would need to be used as well. You woud also need the obd2 5th gen throttle body. because the map sensor and tps sensors on on there. On the jdm h22, only the tps sensor is there. 4th gen map sensors are on the firewall.

If none of this was done.. Then you have a wiring nightmare. I dont ghetto rig JDM h22 to obd2 swaps, so I cant help out with the wiring.

 

Thanks for your help guys....i have a feeling that it is an obd1 bc the swap was done by a professional shop. is there any way on finding out whether it has the obd1 or obd2? I'm bringing it into my friend at the dealer who is gonna try and help me out, hopefully we discover the problem so i can drive my damn lude. Thanks again.

 

sweet im gonna be doing my soon toon! how ever i dont think it will pass

 

if it is a jdm h22a. it will be obd 1.