i have 2 honda del sol's that are in need of repair. i can do some mechanical things but i am nowhere close to repairing or replacing an entire engine and have noone close that i know to help me. (i am 50 miles east of pittsburgh). my one del sol is blowing smoke badly and you can hear it bubbling when you drive it for a short time and then park it.
my other and nicer del sol starts ok and after driving it for a short time the rpms will rev up to 2000 then calm back down to 1000 then back to 2000 then down to 1000 and im not sure what to do, it also blows smoke
i dont know how easy it is to swap a b series motor in but the only option i have now is a local reputable honda junkyard who will sell me another used d15 motor for $400 and give me the name of a honda mechanic who will help me put it in

MY QUESTION IS HOW TO FIND THE BLOCK DESIGNATION ON MY CURRENT MOTOR BLOCK?

the junkyard wants to give me an exact replacement for my car to make it stock, but i think if im going to change the motor id like to put something more sporty in the car becasue now is the time and find someone to help me complete this process but i have no luck so far. he says putting anything different in will completely cause multiple problems. ANY SUGGESTIONS RECCOMENDATIONS OR HELP?!?!

 

i would help if you if i was close. and with the nicer del sol it sounds like an Idle Air Control Valve. pm me and ill let you know what you need to do a B series swap

 

yea it sounds like ether the iacv or maybe the fitv need cleaned on the car with the bad idle. What year/model sol' is it? I sent you a pm. To find the engine code look here:

 

thanks alot thats the exact picture i search for over an hour for......i bought the car in the winter time and it ran fine now that the temperature outside went up it started the idle problem. the other thing the car does is if i drive down the bottom of a steep mountain theres little smoke coming out but once i hit the bottom and give it gas it will sput and sputter and blow out a small could of smoke then take off. both cars are 1993's im pretty sure they are just base del sols and not si's

 

both of the cars are beat up but not wrecked and have the typical rust. my cousin had a 93 that she wrecked in harrisburg, pa and it had 17,000 miles on the stock motor!!!! but when i went to contact her 2 years later about the wrecked car in her driveway (after getting my del sols) she said i was nuts for wanting a wrecked car and her mom (my aunt) already had it towed away over a year ago. so now i have these 2 cars and neither runs right. i cant do this swap myself ive never pulled a motor before but this honda junkyard is telling me not to change anything. but every del sol i see on craigslist has been swapped and every one i go look at (ive considered looking for a whole different running del sol) is beat to **** and i mean really beat or else its partially beat and they still want $4000 plus for it. i just never heard of people wanting to put a stock del sol motor back in....isnt now the time to change it over to something b series? i dont care if its the fastest thing out there, just something with a small amount of zip that will be a fun summer work car for me

 

thanks in advance for any help guys......my only local friend into hondas moved away to the west coast to go to school and he knew about motor swaps but we lost contact last year. every1 else i no is into diesel trucks or fords and tiburons

 

is the idle air control valve easy to get to so i can try cleaning it? if its on top somewhere it probably is dirty becasue this engine was filthy really bad. some girl had the car before me and she never did anything to it to clean under the hood.

 

Yea its easy to get to. You can disconnect it and clean it with carb cleaner. There should be 2 or 3 screws and 2 lines that are connected to the IACV. When disconnecting the IACV make sure you have a towel ready cause coolant will come out. The IACV should be behind the intake Manifold.

 

is this valve near the firewall and is there coolant lines that run to it? should i be able to completely remove it with those 3 screws to clean it?
thanks

 

i know this is a dumb question but.......my one del sol has been sitting for a half a year and the front left wheel locked up. i havent tried to release it yet but is there any easy method you experienced guys know of, before i do something wrong

 

Pads rusted to rotors. try driving it around and the pads should scrape off the rust.....

 

yes its the valve near the firewall on the back of the intake manifold and there is 2 lines running up to it... mine has 2 screws holding it... take the screws out then it will come right off... then just wrap the towel so coolant doesnt get all over the place.. then undo both lines and let them sit there then clean out ur IAC... ive had this happen to me with 3 hondas!!! its real simple it should take you about 10 to 15 min.

 

thanks im gonna try that tomarow. i still think its gonna need a new motor since its blowing smoke. im gonna look on this site for a good thread that has a walkthrough (pics would b nice) of a b series swap. does anyone know roughly what a whole swap would cost....not including the cost to put it in?

 

it all depends on what swap you get... it can go from 700 to 6k... i currently am selling a motor (jdm b16a) but without tranny.. and putting the motor in is real easy if u have the right tools.... let me know if u need help with it... or if u wanna buy a motor.... i also live in pa but ur in pitt so ur about 5 hrs away from me but idk what u wanna do if u can drive down here one day my buddy and i for some money can put a motor in for you but wont charge u that much...

 

Also... if u end up gettin a motor make sure u do the basic tune up stuff while its out of the car so its easier... like the head gasket, water pump, oil pump, timing belt etc...

 

^^ specially from a junkyard motor.

your one kinda sounds like a horribly blown and unsalvagable HG.
the nicer one sounds like IACV but you also seem to have that under control.
if your just gonna DD it a b16a isn't bad but if you ever wanna build it get a bigger B.

 

yea b16 is good for just chill driving flooring it every once in a while and dd...just tryin to help u out bro

 

i went to work on the car today and now the car wont start. it started everytime for the last year but now it just keeps turning over but wont actually start. i looked for that iacv valve and i saw a couple things behind the intake there was a little black box about 1 inch by 1 inch that said sensor on it then there was a round black part near it that was about the size of 2 snuff cans these were both on the passenger side of the motor.
it looks like theres a hose coming out of the motor that somebody blocked off with a screw. it started to get dark outside and now i cant even pull the car inside. im really ready to look for an entire different car but i really want to learn howto fix these hondas. anyone can just go BUY a honda but to know how to repair one is different

 

the first picture is the picture of the IAC (the part that he is holding) and the 2nd picture is where its located on the intake manifold

 

dont give up on it, it just needs some TLC... hondas are easy to fix and cheaper to fix than any other car out there

 

ya thats the part i thought it was. man this motor is really really greasy with like1/4 of grease and oil build up over where the block designation is. could a dirty iacv valve be the reason it wont start

 

Could be but the filth on the outside should affect the IACV. Just pull it off, clean it out and put it back on. Also check to make sure ever hose is connected to something. It could also be a vacuum leak that's causing the idle surge.