Hello everybody! I'm a relatively new Prelude owner. I have a 99 SH with 178k on it. I'm currently getting Multi cylinder misfire code that seems to be common. I've gone through a lot of the simple things and haven't had any luck. the point I'm at now is trying to decide if i want to spend the money to replace all the possible parts on the H22a4 or to swap in a F20b. I have read about the F20b swap a bit and am concerned if I do the swap will I just be opening another can of worms. For the swap I know I'm looking at needing a JDM ECU, a conversion harness for the distributer and for the ECU. Is that all I would need or am i missing something? Also if I get a JDM ECU how do I deal with the immobilizer?

Any help on ether the misfire issues or the possible swap would be greatly helpful.

Thanks!

 

You are having trouble diagnosing a check engine light, and you think you can handle a swap?

 

I will have help with the swap from a friend, but it doesn't hurt to ask if there is anymore info out there. The multi cylinder misfire could be a lot of things and I could easily spend as much fixing that as a JDM motor. This would be my first Honda swap but I have done engine swaps on a few older vehicles. Thats why I'm asking questions about the computer stuff.

 

Any swap is going to take knowledge or the will to learn. If you have the will to learn than do it, just be prepared to have your car sitting while you learn.

Do the swap, change out everything on it for fresh new parts first, this way you know you will be good for awhile.

 

Thanks, I definitely am willing to learn as much as I can. I've been reading a lot of the forums and the computer issues that others have had I think the two converters are all I need but it would be nice if someone who has done the swap before could let me in on any of their pitfalls

 

There are a lot of things that will cause misfires, in your case though we can probably narrow it down to some things that will cause an all cylinder miss.

Timing
Fuel pressure
Valve clearance
EGR valve leaking
EGR ports clogged.

Some of the things are pretty easy to check, things like valve clearance can be checked without taking the valve cover off but I doubt you have diagnostic equipment sophisticated enough to look at MAP data in a line graph view on a scale of 0.85v-0.95v to see if there is a fluctuation. The EGR valve can be blocked off by loosing it and placing a business card between the valve and the manifold then tightening the nuts back up. If the miss goes away at idle with the EGR valve blocked then the valve isn't seating properly as it should never be open at idle. Fuel pressure and mechanical timing are pretty self explanatory to check, I'm pretty sure you can figure those 2 out.

Do you have any other CEL's that are on other than P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304?

 

Timing, Fuel pressure are good, fuel pressure regulator is good and replaced the EGR valve. Ive read a really good write up on cleaning the EGR ports and thats the next thing on the list. Only these codes P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304. I have the valve cover off and will be adjusting the valves this week along with the EGR ports.

I've looking at doing the swap because I wanted to do it in the future anyways. If I can get it running good enough to drive it for about 6 months to a year that would be better timing for me to do the swap. So I'm still looking for info on the computer issues that people have when swapping the H22a to a F20b

Thanks again for any assistance that you can give.

 

If theres nothing wrong with your engine, just fix your existing engine. Odds are you just need to clean out your egr ports.

 

Do a compression check as well.

 

178k is a lot of miles. Might as well swap it out while you can still make money on selling the motor. If it's not just cleaning your egr ports or a simple fix.

 

i would get another H22(preferably JDM), less to worry about, more displacement(no replacement for displacement), straight up swap accross(no new motor mounts needed)you already have a tranmission that'll hook right up to a new H22(which makes buying the motor cheaper), you may have parts from your car you could just bolt on to the new motor, keep it simple, do you really think a F20b is gonna pull like that H22 does? Cause I don't. I haven't heard great things about either block(H22, F20b)under high stress, but you aren't gonna run 20psi of boost or anything.

 

Ok, new problem... I pulled everything apart to do the egr port cleaning and now I have no ignition power. i put the key in and nothing happens. I have 12.35 volts on the battery. could this have something to do with the immobilizer? The battery was disconnected for about a week. I can't even see if what I did fixed my original problem.

 

you turn the key and no noise? Or noise? Specifics really help in times like these.

 

No noises, nothing no dash lights. Only the hazards will come on. nothing else.

 

I'm guessing you blew a fuse. Check your fuses. Normally i would say check the g101 ground but that wouldn't prevent your dash from illuminating.

 

Fuse 32, thanks man. I started freaking out and totally didn't think of that.

 

now back to this motor swap lol

 

Definitely check compression. I've seen a number of cases personally where someone will start getting misfire codes like that and it ends up being bent valves.

Other than that, the likely culprits are clogged EGR ports and a bad rotor/cap or distributor.

 

If you want to thing of a motor swap, then redirect your attention to the H23a Bluetop. More torque and equal power.

 

What would be the computer/ wiring harness issues with an H23a swap?