I just picked up a fairly clean '95 Civic with 137,000kms on the body and a JDM B16A swapped into it. The guy brought it 7 hours for me. I checked it out, and didn't see too much that needed work. I was a little hesitant when he told me they had chipped the ECU, but I did a compression test and everything checked out.

The car has a surging idle, which I have discovered is a common IACV issue. I have checked the FITV and made sure the white plastic ring was screwed in like it is supposed to be, I have yet to try clean the IACV, but I disconnected the electrical connector to see what kind of effect it would have on the car and it now idles the way I think it should. This is only half of my worries though.

The car sounds very weird. The guy took me for a ride in the car and it seemed to operate without any misfires or hiccups, but it didn't seem to crack the way I expected when hitting the VTEC point. I'm not sure the VTEC is even working at all. Also, it has a very odd exhaust note, very similar to a boxer engine.

I have listened to a couple different B16A cars on youtube and found that a couple have a similar sound but a lot more faint. I'm wondering if it's simply the ricer can he had on the car that was making it sound that way. I shot a video of the car but it was with my cellphone, so it isn't as prominent as in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD3LAk_ifaw

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. This is my first "real" car so to speak.

 

missfiring

 

Indeed misfiring. Inspect the spark plugs and check the spark at all four wires. I would also check the MAP and TPS voltages.

 

I did check the voltage on the TPS and it came back at .4 closed and 4.3 open.
Checking spark at all 4 wires involves what exactly? Should I just test the plug wires with a volt meter and check OHMS? I just bought the car so I haven't yet had an opportunity to pick up a Haynes/Chilton/Helms manual for it, but I will be doing so soon. I am not entirely sure how to test the MAP sensor. I'll change the plugs in the car just as good practice and make sure they are gapped properly.

Is there anyway to test the distributor and is there an internal coil pack on these cars? Sorry for sounding like a super newb but I have had maybe an hour and a half of dedicated time to look at the car.

I appreciate the help guys.

 

yea check the spark plug cause mine em1 sounded like that when i first got it from the previous owner. and spark plug wire # 3 wasnt connected so after connecting it the car run fine just that vtec wont engage dude to me having a bad tps. test yours out

 

had that subaru sound before too. i change my distributor, wires and spark plugs and went away

 

Check Your plugs to see if any are burnt or carboned up, as well as your plug wires. Rule of Thumb is 3k OHMS of resistance per foot of spark plug wire.
But check your IACV as well. I had the sporadic idle (without the sound of the misfire) and that's what it was.

 

As mentioned before it's a misfire. Check your wires, plugs, cap and rotor and replace accordingly. My friend came over with his car sounding like a WRX as well. Checked his distributor cap and the inside was filled with green dust and the contact points for the rotor were shot as well as his rotor. Replaced them and the problem was solved.

 

I also forgot to mention that when I pulled the plugs last night to do compression test, all were a nice cardboard brown colour. This leads me to believe that the car is burning properly. Will a misfire produce wet or black plugs on the particular cylinder that may be missing? I haven't cleaned the IACV yet but I disconnected it and the car idles good now. From my understanding when I disconnected the IACV the car should have idled up, not down at a steady speed of 800RPM +-

*EDIT* I have no intention of operating the car with the IACV electrical plug disconnected, I was simply doing so to determine if it may be a problem. The video is with the plug disconnected. So if the car idles normal with the IACV disconnected is it safe to assume that my fluctuating idle is caused by a defective or dirty IACV?

 

Can you get a better quality video...in the video it sounds like it's misfiring, not idling smoothly. Take the time to clean out the IACV and see what you get.

A Bad plug/wire/misfire would cause the plug to become wet or black from carbon.

Is there anyway you have access to a scan tool of some sort? They can be extremely helpful...or if its been chipped, do you have a friend that does tuning that could give you a good base map to see if it helps..

 

You should have a linear IACV mounted on the back of the IM. With this type of IACV, the engine should stall or at least struggle to idle when it's unplugged.Try adjusting the TPS to 4.35 at WOT with the engine not running and the key in the ON position. This is closer to the correct factory setting than your TPS is currently set to. If the car runs worse at that TPS setting, either the ECU or the fuel system (assuming the air filter is fine) is having problems. By "runs worse" I mean throughout the rpm range, not just idle.

To check the spark, you can get a spark tester from a parts store or:

Disable the injectors and get a new or known good spark plug. Wear gloves (welding gloves work great), preferably with latex or nitrile gloves underneath, and remove a spark plug wire from its plug. Connect the good plug to the end of the wire and hold the plastic deep-well tube at the very tip of the wire end with the threads of the plug touching bare metal on the valve cover. Have an assistant crank the motor while you watch the spark, carefully keeping all body parts away from the plug, motor and car body. Different types of plugs have different colored sparks but usually a good spark is a thick, strong flow of bright pink or at least bright. Little blue or pink "lightning bolts" indicate a weak ignition. Check all four wires. This will test your entire ignition.

You follow a similar procedure and should take the same safety precautions when using the spark tester.

To check the MAP sensor, you first disconnect it and check the terminals . Make sure they are clean and corrosion-free. The MAP sensor has 3 wires: power in (yellow/red or yellow/white), signal out (red/green or white/yellow) and ground (green/white). Turn the key to ON with the motor not running. Set a meter to 12v and poke the red probe into the power input and the black in the ground on the harness connector. There should be about 5v. Reconnect the MAP sensor and make sure the connector has a snug fit. Start the engine and let it reach normal operating temperature. With the meter still set to 12v, stick the red probe into the signal wire through its plastic sheath and wedge the black probe in the battery negative post. Write down the voltage. I believe it should be about half a volt at idle. Have someone press the gas until the motor is about 2/3 of the way to stock redline. Don't hold the motor at high rpm longer than necessary. The MAP signal voltage should increase smoothly with the rpm. Depending on the rpm, 2/3 of the way to stock redline might show around 2v or so. Write down the voltage and the rpm. This will test the MAP sensor and check for vacuum leaks. When you're done, the best way to cover the holes is to sand the wire a little and tab on a drop of liquid electrical tape. In a pinch, you can just wrap it in regular electrical tape.

Make sure to also check the ignition timing if you haven't yet. The motor can run much more roughly with the wrong timing and be neither rich nor lean. Checking the valve timing might be a good idea as well if you have the chance.

 

I don't know if I pointed this out yet or not, but the ecu is chipped and has a launch control setup at 4500rpm. That isn't the misfire I was talking about, I am addressing the idle and rev sound. I was going to look into flashing a base map to a new eprom but I still need to look into a chip flasher. I don't have access to diagnostic tools right now, yes I could go and buy one, but then again, I could go buy a new distributor, plugs, wires, IACV, FITV and the list goes on and on. I'm trying to tackle this with a basic/cheap to advanced/expensive approach, trying the cheap fixes first. I'm sourcing a distributor as we speak. I will have to try and set the TPS and test the MAP sensor to see if that yields a solution. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's as simple as plugs/wires/distributor for the misfire.

As far as the IACV is concerned, the car didn't try to die at all, it actually revved down to 800+/- 100-200RPM. The car's idle sounds okay other than the misfire. I read something about blocking holes in the TB and listening for a change. My TB only has one hole, not two like most people are saying it should. I have a feeling they are referring to the 1st Gen B16A's and not the 2nd Gen B16A (Which I'm assuming this car has) I tried to ask the guy questions about the swap, but he told me he doesn't know much about it as it was already swapped when he bought it. He has had the car a year and a half and told me it's been idling funny for a while, but sounded like a Subaru since he bought it. I have yet to see a check engine light come on during my brief tinkering, but was wondering if the previous owner disabled it. I was under the impression that when you turn your key forward, but not far enough to start the car, that the check engine light comes on until the car is running. My car does not do this.

I will get a set of plugs and wires and change them out, but I'm almost positive that isn't going to do the trick. I also have yet to set or check ignition timing, but I will do that, along with cam timing when I get the chance. I really need to pick up a manual but I have limited space to work on the car right now. I'll see if I can get a better video of the car running so that you can really hear what it sounds like.

When I pulled the valve cover, my brother and I determined that I am going to have to do valve clearance. There are no strange sounds under the hood other than what may be a release bearing in the tranny. I wish the car was cleaned up so I could snap some pics of it to show you guys what I'm working with, because it really sounds like I bought somebody else's headache.

I paid $2800 Canadian for the car with 137,000 on the JDM cluster. (Apparently the cluster was matched to the factory odometer when swapped) The used vehicle information package indicates 2 prior owners before me, the latest being the guy I bought it from. He told me that when he bought the car there was 88,000kms on it and it was one of the cleanest Civics he has seen. He put a year and a half of driving to car and there was an odometer reporting in August of this year, reading 124,000kms.

Sorry for going off topic a bit. I just really want to get this thing unravelled, and I'd to do so by trying the cheapest solutions first. If anybody has anymore insight in to what it may be, please don't hesitate. In the meantime I'll pick up a Chilton Manual and try everything you guys have suggested.

I'll post my results.

 

MY OLD TEGGY WAS LIKE THAT..... IT WAS THAT ONE OF THE CYLENDERS HAD NO COMPRESSION DUE TO A CHIPED VALVE

 

The chipped ECU is why I mentioned that setting the TPS properly could make it worse. If it was mapped too rich, lower TPS voltage could make the motor run somewhat better. Don't forget that as a new owner of a used car, every system you check makes you more knowlegable about the car's condition as well as the possible causes of both current and future problems. I'm sure you can make a big difference in the motor's performance with little more than a set of tools.

 

I checked compression and it was 190-195 across the board.

 

I definitely check A few of the sensors, but id also check the wiring in and around the Dizzy, sometimes via a bad connection like wires not in the plug sockets all the way, vehicle idles awkward.

 

an easy way to point out which cylinder's misfiring is let the car idle and one at a time disconnect the plug wires. if it idles even worse than before, that cylinder has spark. plug the wire back in an go to the next cylinder. go down the line doing that. you will find the misfire when you pull the plug and the idle does not change. get a set of new spark plugs anyway, it'll only cost you under $20 for a set of NGK's. your vtec dilemma could be because since your ecu is chipped, the vtec engagment point could have been changed according to the car's mods causing the crossover to be smoother and less noticable which is the correct way to be.

 

It's important to disconnect the injector as well when you let it run with a plug wire off.

 

it won't hurt it if it's only for a few seconds.

 

my b16 sounded like that with a cracked ring land

 

So there is a chance that this could be mechanical failure...

I'm going to go ahead and try the electrical stuff, but to be honest with you guys, it really seems like something severe. It doesn't seem as simple as a bad plug or wire. I've been into the sauce, seeing as it's the New Year and all, but this car really has me down and out. I just don't have mega cash to put into this car right now. At least the body is fairly clean and low mileage.

 

if the compression test turned out good then you may be in luck, when my ring land was broken that cylinders comp was like 60psi below the others.

it could very well be a plug/wire/fukd dizzy

 

Sounds like its cammed almost

 

^ NO

 

hmm i see black smoke?