I'm posting this for a friend of mine who is having trouble with his race car.

He owns a 1993 Prelude with a H22A1 in it. The stamp on the engine says it is a 94.

He blew up the motor last season so bought a JDM H22A. The stamp says it is a 95 engine. It came with an LSD transmission attached if that helps narrow down which engine I'm talking about.

He swapped in the new engine and now it will not start. I have never messed with JDM vs. USDM preludes so I don't know why it would make a difference. The car ran fine with the H22A1 so I'm assuming it is a crank sensor/distributor difference between the USDM and JDM engines?

I would assume this would be a common swap and common issue if so. Any thoughts?

 

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-prelude-4/faq-dropping-new-motor-doesnt-work-what-start-checking-970610/

Try reading that.

 

I did. The problem isn't a normal no-start problem. The problem lies in the fact that he went from USDM to JDM and something has changed.

I'm a technician for Honda and have all the available resources, but with situations like this I've found it's better to seek advice from enthusiasts who've done it before.

 

there should be no difference in the two as far as i know.

hes going from 4th gen prelude (h22a1) to another 4th gen h22a1.
both OBD1 and both should mount up, hook up with trannies and wire up pretty much identical... he may see an increase in some ***** with the new motor..but other then that should be the same

 

New engine is an H22A, not a USDM A1.

 

Both are obd1, so it's not a ckp/tdc sensor difference. Start with fuel, ignition, ignition timing, cam timing. Which is the problem?

 

there is no differences in the motors sensor-wise. as far as i know its just internal workings (hence the extra power boost)

you can swap one for the other completely with no modifications i believe.

 

its the distributor. you went from an external coil engine(h22a1) to an internal coil (h22a).

you need to change over the dist. to an internal coil and pick a coil up.

you may be able to change over to external but i am not sure.

there is a write up on how to do it in the faq. good luck

 

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/how-convert-external-coil-internal-hybriders-348699/

youre welcome : )

 

^ good call.. looked over that.

 

Aha! He said his car is external coil. This sounds like the culprit since he has no spark.

I'll let him know. Thanks...

 

Can I use the distributor that came with the JDM engine to rebuild the USDM distributor?

Thanks

 

next time make your own thread....but yes you can

 

He is the person I made this thread for.

 

all you have to do is use the USDM distributor, no need to swap internals around.

 

Sorry I should have said it was my car. This is my first time with a H22.

What is in the USDM Distributor that is not in the JDM one that came with the engine? Why make it internal and not just use the one that came with the JDM engine?

Should I be using the P13 ECU that came with the new engine?

Thanks

 

the wiring set up is different for the two dizzys. you can use the jdm but the wiring is different from the harness. im sure you could make the jdm one work but there is a write up on how to make the usdm one work. im not sure what it takes to make the jdm work.

the p13 is what you should have, you can use either.

 

yea try that i had to do that to my lude when i swapped it in

 

Thank you for the help. I know what I will be doing Sat. Morning. I will let you know how it goes.

 

I changed over the distributor last night and still no spark.

Any other ideas?

 

did you swap over the coil as well? you will have to create a mount for the external coil and hook it up.

 

When you say hook it up? Will the coil hook to the distributor?

 

when you say changed over did you switch and cut the wiring in the distributor or just bolt on the jdm one?

 

I finally got it started after about four hours of testing and found that the ECU was not communicating with the distributor.

It was a simple issue once I called the right person in. I missed one ground that went to the ECU. I connected it and the car started right up with the external coil.

Thanks for all of your help; I learned a bunch about the electrical system.