so i just bought my car need some help ... just bought a 91 crx with a b16a and ys1 tranny for a decent price when i toook it for a test drive everything was great and after i bought it the problems started to happen figures right .... soo leaving the kids house and goto crack open vtec and it throws the cel light on .... goto get gas and find that the cap wasnt fully tightend so hoping it was the gas cap....( it wasnt) fill up the car goto start it no power at all ... now im like wtf!!!! get a jump and find out that 95% chance its the alternater .... get it started and no cel light so i was thinking it was the alternater go to get on the hwy and crack open vtec off the ramp and cel light again so i know it wasnt the gas cap tightend that thing real nice .... only happens when i crack vtec open and on the way home the car started to sputter and than it would drive fine than sputter ... and so on..... was running pretty shi**y ... no smoke at all and got fine gas milage on the way home any thoughts guys thanks

 

Why don't you just check the code the next time it comes on?

 

..and don't "crack" vtec till you do figure out why the car is running bad.

 

too many variables. what CEL is it throwing ? sputtering is an indication of oxygen sensors not hooked up correctly but that's usually during non-VTEC low RPM driving. it drives normal while the engine is cool but when the engine gets hot driveability goes to ****. common to OBD0 B16 swapped CRX's. sputtering in V-TEC usually indicates low oil. you need to look around under the hood. check basics. oil level. loose/corroded battery ground or other faulty wire connections. find out if the O2 sensors are installed correcly

 

Yup...^^.....good advice.

My money is on 02 sensors.....and uh, VTEC won't "crack open" till all your
codes are fixed.

What ECU is in there?

 

if i replace the 02 sensors do i need to get special ones for the b16a and ... what alternator would i get as well would any alternator work of any vtec motor off a normal civic si ? sorry for the dumb questions i never had a b16 before ha thanks guys for the help so far

 

I wouldn't go throwing money at the car before you find out what code(s) you're throwing.

Just get any OBD0 1 wire O2, if that's what's wrong with the car.