alright bought this eg hatch over a month ago.
It had an LS/VTEC swap and when i bought it vtec didnt work.
Things i've tried:
New Distributor
New thermostat (always ran cold)
New VSS, VSS plug and Cluster
Chipped ECU
Oil pan removed and banged out dent, new gasket

My friend suggested trying a new oil line, my ones really long and thin compared to his,
does anyone know if this could cause low oil pressure at the head, and VTEC not to engage?

please help and thanks in advance

Josh

 

It could... Have you checked the wiring on the engine harness? (where it plugs into the ecu.) May have not been wired in. Is the check engine light on?

 

no CEL's and i checked the wiring for the solenoid.. its good

 

Sounds like you're missing an O-Ring in the cam cap.

 

can you tell me where this is located? and how would it cause vtec not to work

 

it's because you chiped the ECU,there is a feature on crome to turn vtec off? maybe that it what is going on

 

um... ok

 

Google image search for VTEC Oring

First result:



It's #10 and #11.

When VTEC engages, it pushes pins out in your rocker arms, these pins insert into the third rocker arm allowing the third cam lobe to open and close the valves. Often times when people do head swaps, they forget to put the o-ring and plunger (I don't know what it's called, I call it a plunger) underneath the cam cap. The plunger and o-ring maintains the oil pressure needed for the pins in the rocker arms to move outwards. Without the o-ring and plunger, oil just goes into the head and back down to the pan.

Don't quote me on this, the function I'm describing is in my own words and may not make sense because I suck at explaining things, but that's most likely the problem. Remove the valve cover, remove the 12mm bolts that hold the cam rails on, then remove the center cam cap and look for the o-ring and plunger. If the o-ring and plunger are present and installed properly, look to the cam caps & rails to make sure they go in the right order, but the majority of times, the o-ring is missing or broken.

 

see i'm running ls/vtec to and i have the same thing no vtec but it that way because i haven't got it fixed i will when i tune in the summer. was running b18a,So that's way i think it is your ecu hope that will help you and good luck with the car

 

Simple solution for diagnosing problem.

Do you have a datalogger, VAFC, scanner, or something else that'll tell show you realtime data? If so, then drive your car until redline and look for VTEC engagement. If it shows VTEC engagement, then your o-ring is bad, missing, or something in the head is in the wrong place.

If you don't have a way of pulling data, then do it the ghetto fabulous way. Run down to autozone and buy an oil pressure gauge (analog or digital, doesn't matter), some wiring, a lightbulb, and a matching socket that fits the lightbulb.

Remove 1/8" NPT plug from the cylinder head that sits near the VTEC solenoid (You'll see two plugs, one is 1/8" NPT, the other is bigger.

Insert oil pressure gauge sending unit or tubing if it's an analog gauge into 1/8" NPT hole, then run wires or tubing to the gauge mounted somewhere inside your car.

Splice a wire into your VTEC solenoid (it's the one with the single wire). Run the wire into the inside of the car. Get the lightbulb socket and wire one terminal to a ground inside your car, then splice the other one to the wire you attached to the VTEC solenoid.

Drive until you reach redline and look at the oil gauge and lightbulb. When the VTEC solenoid is commanded on, the light bulb will illuminate and the oil pressure gauge will go from 0 to about 60psi.

If the lightbulb doesn't turn on, then the VTEC solenoid has no power and you should follow the wiring from the solenoid to the ECU to see what the problem is.

If the lightbulb comes on but the oil pressure gauge doesn't move when the lightbulb turns on, then you have an oil problem and should proceed to check either the head or the oil feed line.

If the light bulb turns on and the oil pressure gauge goes up, then the problem is in the head.

 

Thanks alot man i appreciate your help.
i've finally found someone who knows what there talking about.
Ill check this tomorrow as soon as i get off work.
hopefully its the problem, the head was milled so i guess at one point they may have forgotten to put it back in. I'll get back to you and let you know.

 

this helped me out alot thanks

 

lets hope that it does have a vtec p72 oil pump... the ls oil pump is smaller and might not be able to make enough oil pressure that is required for vtec to properly engage

 

The pumps are the same between LS, GSR, and ITR. The only difference between the three is a spring which allows slightly more oil pressure for the ITR/CTR engines (B16/B17/GSR/LS are the same though).

 

96+ models all have the same p72 pump...below 96 they all have the smaller pr4 pump, even gsr models..not sure y this is

 

Regardless, they all run 10-15psi at idle, 50-55psi @ 3,000RPM, and around 60-65psi in VTEC. An incorrect oil pump is not the OP's lack of VTEC problem.