so........... i just went turbo, and now as soon as i hit boost i get a check engine light. i pulled the code, which was a 21. that's the vtec solenoid. vtec was working fine before i went boost. the engine has enough oil plus a bit more. what could be the problem?

B16a, ef hatch, p28 obd-1.

 

what else have you done to the car? just hung on the turbo? no new chip? nothing else?

i should elaborate. what was done to the car before? you converted to obd1, is everything ok with that?

 

sorry maybe i should have explained more.

the car was running fine when i have the Pr3 obd-0.

converted to obd-1 with a virgin p28, and the car ran even better. vtec worked, and even saved me a bit of gas. :D no check engine lights there. although i never punched it with the conversion. only had it for about a week before i slapped on the turbo.

i put on the turbo, 450cc injectors, and a basemap chip my friend was using on his turbo'd b16. the car runs great around town and pulls pretty good when the boost builds. but around 6-7k rpms the check engine light will come on. vtec is set at 4100. it's not engaging and throwing the code 21.

any other questions that may help figure out the problem?

 

where do you have the oil feed lin running from for the turbo.....oil pressure in the head may be dropping enough to disable vtec

 

from the back of the block. the feed line is pretty long. could that be my problem? if so, how long is long enough?

 

what size oil feed line is it? u should only be using a -3an or -4an with a oil restrictor.. long or longer doesnt matter, it is pressured. are u blowing boost into the valve cover?
try some simple things first :::replace vtec oil pressure switch, wiring, oil level, oil filter etc..
good luck and let us know

 

if your wiring is fine then i bet its a bad ecu. I've had ecu's before that would throw that code and not engage vtec and it just turned out to be a bad ecu.

 

yeah length ist the issue...mine is actuallu almost double the legnth it needed to be because i was prepared to chang mt mannifold......but yeah if your is ran of of somewhere that is causing oil pressure to drop youl prolly loos vtec....but it sounds like your i set up like everyone elses so i dunno....you you have a oil pressure gauge....maybe your oil pump is going bad?....oh and i noticed your signature say something about wire tuck complete.....if this is so it could def be wiring....do you know if you had vtec after the tuck? even so it is worth goin over the wiring because something may have came loose....when my boy finished his second wire tuck his car wouldnt start,,,,he swore up and down it was right.....eventually we got him to go over it ....turned out two dizzy wires were reversed and he forgot to replace a ecu fuse.....his car sat in the garage finished and not running for two month because he was hard headed......moral of the story is check your work....anything could have happened lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtec_killer_ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what size oil feed line is it? u should only be using a -3an or -4an with a oil restrictor.. long or longer doesnt matter, it is pressured. are u blowing boost into the valve cover?
try some simple things first :::replace vtec oil pressure switch, wiring, oil level, oil filter etc..
good luck and let us know


</TD></TR></TABLE>

i am honestly not sure on the size of the feed line. it's not very big though. in fact it's pretty small. and i am not running a restrictor cause i don't know what size to run.(could this be why there is oil in my cold side when i take off the piping? it's not very much, but it's there.

blowing boost into the valve cover? i have the car running and i unscrew the oil fill cap and i feel air blowing up, but the motor doesn't change. you know what i mean? is that what you are talking about?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if your wiring is fine then i bet its a bad ecu. I've had ecu's before that would throw that code and not engage vtec and it just turned out to be a bad ecu. </TD></TR></TABLE>

this could very well be my problem. can't believe i forgot about this. when i did the obd-1 conversion i was using my virgin p28 and vtec was working. i ordered a socket for it and was waiting for it to come in, so i borrowed an ECU from a friend. that is the one i am running right now. the socket came in today, so i am putting my computer back into the car. i will see if this fixes my problem.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dragdatzu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah length ist the issue...mine is actuallu almost double the legnth it needed to be because i was prepared to chang mt mannifold......but yeah if your is ran of of somewhere that is causing oil pressure to drop youl prolly loos vtec....but it sounds like your i set up like everyone elses so i dunno....you you have a oil pressure gauge....maybe your oil pump is going bad?....oh and i noticed your signature say something about wire tuck complete.....if this is so it could def be wiring....do you know if you had vtec after the tuck? even so it is worth goin over the wiring because something may have came loose....when my boy finished his second wire tuck his car wouldnt start,,,,he swore up and down it was right.....eventually we got him to go over it ....turned out two dizzy wires were reversed and he forgot to replace a ecu fuse.....his car sat in the garage finished and not running for two month because he was hard headed......moral of the story is check your work....anything could have happened lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

i do have an oil pressure gauge but it's not hooked up and i don't have the tubing for it either. the wire tuck was done in january. everything worked fine with my pr3. did the obd-1 conversion and everything still worked fine with my virgin p28. i traced the solenoid wires all the way back to the ecu and i only found one place it was loose, which was at the plug. fixed it and still no worky.

am i going to see if it's possibly the ecu i am using. if not i don't know. i let you know what happens tonight. thanks for the help so far. keep it coming.

 

matt hit my next thoughyt rite on the head....a bad ecu will definately shoot the vtec code and not engage vtec....once happened to a friend of mine

 

yup happened twice to me. Boy do i have bad luck with ecus frying sometimes

 

still haven't had a chance to chip MY ecu yet. let you know what happens when i do.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yup happened twice to me. Boy do i have bad luck with ecus frying sometimes </TD></TR></TABLE>

+1

Had my tuning ECU fry Q31 recently. The car I plugged it into had the correct wiring colors at the IAT - I make a point of checking - but wouldn't you know it was a cut and butt splice harness that had IAT plug connected to IACV wiring.

Also, you ever see an ECU just decide to fry the TDC sensor input, pops CEL 4? I thought the first one was a fluke, but now I've seen a second one.

 

crome?

 

so turns out it was infact the ECU i was using. i chipped mine and plugged it up and damn did it make a difference.

thanks for all the help. you'll be seeing more of me around. :D