I have a 97 Civic h22a swap OBD1 running a p28 ECU tuned for the swap. I have probably driven it 4-5k myself with no issues besides a broken wire at the map sensorand my vtec stopped engaging the other day.

It had been runnning perfectly for a while
I went to pick up another vtec solenoid today, we swap it and my car starts idling funny, surging then making a random pinging and popping noise.

1. We mess with all connectors, to make sure they are on correctly, no change.

2. We pulled spark plug wires one by one to see if one cylinder was acting up when we pulled it nothing changed. when we put 1 back, the noise stopped. But as soon as we stepped on the gas, it came back.

3. I assume its an ignition problem. we broke down in front of NAPA so new cap, rotor, plugs, wires. I think it made it worse somehow

Im leaning toward a bad ecu, but I am trying to get all possibilities, and how to narrow down my search.
EDIT:
4. Replaced Dizzy. No change
5. borrowed ECU, no change
6. checked TPS, its within specs
7. Valve adjustment a month ago.

 

ttt

 

You sure you've got a bulb in the dash for the CEL? Check idle and fuel pressure if no CEL. If you pulled a plug and the engine didn't change then you might wanna check those plugs.

 

Im sure theres a bulb. I replacd all the plugs, they are black already.

 

Replaced dizzy, no change. How do I check fuel pressure? Im going to check compression just in case

 

if all the plugs were black you are running way too rich. i doubt you are having fuel pressure problems you would be lean not rich... loss of compression isn't going to cause every plug to foul. besides you are not going to lose compression in every cylinder at the same time. i bet you have a bad map or tps sensor. or bad tune. see if you can borrow someone's ecu to test with just to eliminate that possibility.

 

are you running a cat? and you could have a bad injector

 

TPS tested right

Map sensor disconnected made the idle go up slightly but the problem was still there.
I grabbed a b20v chipped p28 to see if it will idle. Im about to swap it in right now.

 

No cat. Header 2.5" piping, 2 resonators and a turbo muffler

 

ECU made no change

 

I dont think its the tune, Ive put like 5k on it in the last 3 months without changes.

 

check the coolant sensor and oxygen sensors for operation and rationality.And another thing ,pull the vacuum hose from fuel pressure regulator and note the changes.

 

The vtec solenoid that I switched out was stuck engaged. My old one was stuck closed? Either way, pulled my old one apart, and cleaned it. My car runs perfect again. Just havent drove it because I need to clean my wiring a bit for the external dizzy I installed