I'm having trouble with passing smog because the shop is saying that I'm running the wrong ECU. The JDM D15B was installed professionally by a shop and apparently they did some sort of "ecu conversion" and VTEC is wired up with no check engine light. I can't get ahold of the shop so thats why im coming here.

What I've gathered is that the D15B does not have a pressure switch? That's what threw the mechanic off and made him abort the smog test. What exactly do I need to do in order for it to pass so I can sell it?

Located in California by the way.

 

what model and yr of car?

 

1994 Civic hatchback CX

 

what engine harness are you using? and what ecu are you running?

if you are using the p28, which will look for vtec pressure then who ever wired it up rigged the wires to the solenoid.> cut off the pressure switch plug and secure wire and tuck it away. or find a usdm vtec base with the pressure switch. smog tech abort cuz you didnt pass visual. or you just throw in a dx ecu. i passed my del sol sohc vtec with a dx ecu.

i too am in california. i got away with passing a d16y7 in a 98 ex equipped with a d16y8.

 

i'm pretty sure i'm using a p28. There is one wire which is rigged up to the solenoid and there is no female plug for the pressure switch (although there is a green male plug on the engine). The tech said that there should be two wires coming from the solenoid

 

anyone else have any insight?

 

Yeah, go to a different smog station where they don't care about visual. Is the P28 stock?

Can you take a picture of the vtec solenoid area?

 

This is how it looks. This is an old picture when the wiring accidentally came undone. There is now one single wire coming from the ECU which plugs into the solenoid. Upon inspection I found out that I am running a P05 ECU which apparently is the stock CX ECU. Apparently it's been "converted" or something, does this sound right? Would I need a whole different wiring harness to run a P28 ECU?

 

Yes you can convert a stock P05 to VTEC just like a P28. I'm running a B18C with one.

What you need to do to pass this visual, is get the correct plug for this socket and plug it in. Then run the wires down into some split-loom so it looks legit. If your not throwing a code, the tech shouldn't trace them all the way back to the ECU. If you are worried about them tracing them, then simply run them all the way to the ECU (even though your ECU isn't looking for them).

I don't quite understand why your JDM motor has a vtec pressure switch though. I thought they didn't have this feature over there. Perhaps that's only B-series.

 

Wow, you paid a shop to do it legit and they seem to have "missed" a few steps. Leaving the switch unplug, with a USDM solenoid. I would go back and have them wired that bitch to the ecu and make sure you have the correct ecu. Which is a stock P28. Unacceptable.

P.S. - You're missing a dizzy bolt. Just barely caught it.

 

I actually bought the car about a month after the swap had been done, so I didn't pay anything. I think I'm just gonna try to make it look legit and take it to a different smog station. I've never had a CEL since I've owned the car so it should be good to go. It's just kinda surprising to me that this shop (which has a pretty high reputation of doing JDM swaps) would half *** this job so much. And thanks for mentioning the dizzy bolt, I noticed that a long time ago and keep forgetting to fix it haha

 

Thanks for the info.

 

The D15B didnt have a oil pressure sensor on the solenoid. And most likely they didn't convert the ECU, I'd check if i were you.

 

so is it possible that its not a JDM engine since it has a pressure sensor? The shop said it was imported from Japan

 

just use a obd1 civic si or ex harness and it should be plug n play having all the harness plug you need, to my knowledge most or all eg chasis comes pre wire vtec already, using a p28 and the harness and you'll be good to go legit. but not really sure they pass you, yours is a 1.5L and ex/si are 1.6L so you might have to get it state reff bard.

 

all vtec engines has oil pressure sensor, that what makes the vtec work.

 

Only 92 Civics came prewired

Not many of the JDM engines including most D15B's. Also the corresponding ECU's don't look for them either.

 

im not postive but i have a JDM D15b as well and i had some issues that ended up just being the o2 sensor but i remember doing a lot of research having to do with OBD1 and OBD2 cars. my D15b is OBD2 in an OBD2 car (post 95 i think) your car which is older might be OBD1 with an OBD2 motor. like i said not positive but just figured id put in my little bit of knowledge

 

You are mistaken...