So I bought a 1990 2 door civic hatchback standard 4 speed tranny. Now here comes the fun part. The guy who had the car before I did swapped the 1.5 out of it,and decided to put a D16Y7 in. It ran fine for about a week before it started acting up. I was able to drive it for about 30 minutes in town or about 8 miles before it would stall out while driving or at a light. Here is a list of the things that I have done to make her run better.
1. Oil and filter change
2. New altanater belt
3. New fuel filter
4. Removed the thermostat (because the head would get extremely hot after small amount of driving (still does))
5. Radiator flush
6. New brakes and rotors

So that is where I started. I recently discovered that he never changed the original ecu(37820-PM9-A00). Today I went to a pick and pull, and pulled a new ecu(37820-P2P-A33). I still have to pull the wire harness for the ecu swap. I'm just lost and was hoping that there may be someone who can help. Thanks.

Oh yeah back to the issue with stalling out. The check engine light comes on and as long as it is on you can not start the car.

 

You still need to use the DX ECU. What is the cooling issue? Are you burning or leaking coolant? What are the codes blinking from the ECU?

 

sounds like a bad or loose wire somewhere. check distributor, especially if you have msd blaster or aftermarket coil. ive seen were the wire gets loose in distributor..

 

I am not leaking or burning coolant anywhere. And the ecu is obd1 I have no way to check for which code if any is being thrown....

 

OK I will check there thanks

 

i have a 91 DX hatch if you have a check engine light the passenger side floor board/fire wal pull up the carpet and you should see a looking glass with a blinking red light (with the ignition on and car not running) count the blinks and that will tell you whats wrong..

 

OK so I do not need to change the ecu?

 

not exactly sure about that but i do know thats how you check what the codes are. check the codes and go from there.

 

Thanks for the input guys I appreciate it and I will get back to you

 

if you try and put the p2p in the car its going to take a ton of rewiring and you will need a new intake manifold and all that comes with it.
the pm9 ecu is the best one in this case.

check to see if you are getting a check engine light. also is the temp gauge reading high? are both upper and lower radiator hoses getting warm? or is one much cooler than the other...

 

another thing you could do is check to make sure the idle screw is set right because i know if it is set to low it could stall out and make sure you change the map sensor bracket with the one that goes with your ecu if its the one on the firewall

 

If you are still using the DPFI intake and injectors + distributor you ARE NOT using an OBD1 ECU.
Please read the label on the side of the ECU and get back to us.

 

PM9-A00

 

88-91 1.5L DPFI OBD0 ECU. That's the correct ECU for the car
So what is the ECU code you are getting?

The P2P-A33 ECU you bought cannot be used on your car w/o serious modifications.

 

But I have a D16Y7 1.6L will my PM9 ecu still work for the new swap??

 

Yes, because it's the electronics that matter in this case. As long as you continue to use the DPFI intake manifold and distributor you have to use the PM9-A00 ECU.
Your Y7 is the long block only, you are still using all the original OBD0 1.5L stuff that makes the engine run.

The previous owner just swapped the Y7 longblock and kept all the OG stuff that makes the engine run, so to trouble shoot your engine you trouble shoot it just as if it were still the original 1.5L engine.

 

OK I get all that... So why does it drive like an old farm truck? I guess what I am saying is that it has no Ball's (for lack of a better term)

 

Probably because there is a problem, you mention a check engine light. Begin there or take it to a mechanic that understands how to trouble shoot the car.

 

Because it's a civic with DPFI and a CEL.