Hey guys,

Needing to verify a couple of things on the B16B I did an oil pump change on.

First thing is the belt tension. I followed the guide, but I'm thinking I should have replace the spring and tensioner.

Second is the fact that the oil pressure light is still on at cold startup. Long story short I bought a new OEM pump but had to put the internals from that in the old housing. I checked the old housing for damage but it was just the gears that were scratched.

Uploading the first video of the belt now. Will be taking another one once the engine is cold again. It makes a noise on startup that lasts a little longer than the oil light.

**First video

 

Did you check clearances after you swapped the internals of the oil pump? Did you check the oil pick up for debris? Did you replace the oil pick up gasket?

 

No I found out about checking the clearances after I put everything back together. I did check the pickup and pan and removed all debris. I did also replace the gasket. Sounds like I need to check the clearances. Is there really anything I can do without taking it to a machine shop if it's not within spec? Is that something that really happens using all genuine Honda parts?

 

Anyone have the oil pump clearance specs? Best I could find online was check your HELMS manual.

 

my b16's belt was floppy when it revved up .. try pushing or pulling on the tensioner when you tighten it up to get more tension

 

Digging up this old thread now that I have had some more time to work on the car. First thing: I did remove the new oil pump and the clearances were within spec. Towards the tight end but within spec. Today we took the rod bearings out to look them over. Some small grooves on 1 and 4 that I couldn't feel with my nails but no real discoloration. 2 and 3 were a little different. I could feel the slight groove with my nail on 3's but they both had some blackening towards the edges of the top half.









I've decided to go ahead and change out the rod bearings and this leads me to my second issue. I did the research to find you can determine the original bearing color codes based on markings on the crank and rods. However the markings I have found do not seem to match up with what I was expecting. The rods are all stamped 22 and the crank doesn't seem to be stamped the way it is supposed to be. I'm not sure if the color blocks are supposed to be pink and brown or if that's just a coincidence. I know some of the bearings had the color on the side like they're supposed to but not all of them. Can anyone make sense of these markings?

 

The ITR and CTR use the same marking codes, so use a Helms manual for either one of those applications to chart the proper bearing colors. W, X, Y, and Z are the codes marked on "R" crankshafts in place of A, B, C, and D on all other "B" series crankshafts.

 

Well that certainly clears that up, do the 22 marks on the rods look like the correct markings?


Edit* did some more digging skipped the pages I had already looked at and found a good diagram of the rod markings. Looks like they are correct. Odd they're all marked twice but I'll take it.

 

Back again. Changed rod bearings, plastigauged them, everything looked good. Still no change. In fact now that it's freezing or below the oil light stays on until the engine is at operating temp. Sounds perfect though no metal on metal. Changed the oil sending unit to no change. Got an oil pressure tester on the motor now and at operating temp it idles at 20-25 but it does not increase at all with any amount of throttle. Only thing left in the bottom end to possibly change is the mains but the three we could see when we took the crank brace off looked perfect. Any more ideas?

 

The stock switch should only need 5 or 10 psi to turn the light off.

Are you measuring pressure before or after the filter? Did you do anything with the excess pressure bypass valve that is in the pump housing?

 

We're measuring off the sending unit hole in the block. I believe that's after the filter. No didn't touch the bypass valve in the pump housing. I was hoping after the light was staying on longer the colder it was there was something wrong in the wiring harness. However seeing this weird result off the mechanical gauge makes that seem unlikely. I commute over an hour one way for school and its gone those 100+mile trips just fine this last week. No change in engine noise or feel.

 

The warning light circuit is just a switch to ground-- when the oil pressure is low, the switch grounds the wire and the light comes on. If you leave the switch unplugged, the light should never come on, unless there's a short in the harness or something.

 

Right, it doesn't come on when unplugged. We were surprised it didn't come on when connecting the plug and sensor with a circuit tester. The tester lit up fine, but no light on the dash.

 

Quick update, Started the car after it sat in the freezing cold for 4 hours to make sure everything was cold. The tester needle didn't even move off its rest.

So,

We've got 0psi reading/ oil light on on cold startup.
Oil light has taken longer to go out the colder it has gotten despite newer and newer internals that were all checked to be correct.
At operating temp we have 20-25psi reading/ no oil light, however the tester wouldn't move at all regardless of throttle.

10w30 conventional oil and the 3rd different filter brand used since we've had to drain and change the oil so much trying to figure this out.

 

Update again,

Took the car out on the road with the tester gauge through the window. Still no increase in pressure reading from 25psi all the way through 6000rpm, however VTEC did engage. I looked it up and that requires 60psi to kick in. So I've either had the old and new sending units fail in the same way And a bad brand new tester, or there's blockage in the channel that goes to the sending unit(?). Not sure what else would be only getting 25psi of oil if blockage is the case. Anyone know where the oil goes before and after the sending unit? Does this sound like a good diagnosis?