Okay guys I have looked everywhere for a solution to this but didn’t find anything. I have a 2000 Honda Civic Si with a stock B16A2 plus a couple bolt ons and I recently picked up a chipped P28 from a friend of mine. When we ran this ecu in my EM1 it was revving out perfect, it felt strong and it engaged vtec no problem. When he sold it to me, he gave me a different chip running a stock B20 base map because he broke the other chip. Obviously with this chip it doesn’t engage vtec nor even rev past 7K for that matter. I purchased a new chip with a B16A2 base map on EBay with 2 step at 4,500, redline of 8,200, and vtec engagement at 5,200. Everything works perfect except it doesn’t engage vtec now. I took it to a friend who has a shop that specializes in Honda’s and he noticed that resistor Q31 was blown (which now I realize it was blown since my friend sold it to me) so I left the ecu with him and he swapped out that resistor for another one. When I received it back, it still didn’t engage vtec or at least it doesn’t feel nor sound like it does. My friend said it did but I don’t believe it because I know how my vtec engagement feels and it definitely hits hard and you can tell when it does. I can plug my stock P2T ecu back in and it engages vtec no problem but not with the chipped P28. Anyone know what can be causing this? I am also using a OBD2B to OBD1 jumper harness. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow of both my ecu’s. Anything that can even remotely help me fix this issue is welcome. I would try this chip on another chipped ecu but no one that I can get ahold of right now has one that I can use. Thank you for reading all this and if you have any suggestions, they’re all welcome.

 

Something else is bad with the chipped ECU. You already solved your issue.

 

Was the ECU printed circuit board damaged when the capacitor blew?

Are eBay chips reliable?

 

I don’t trust eBay Chips to run in my car. I ordered a few and I had chips that were blank and a couple no where near my a/f range for my setup.
Get Phearable chips. They have cars that are dynoed close to other set ups.

Will it be perfect A/F range for your setup? Close enough but No.
Will the chip be on point for your setup? No. Will any chip be on point for your setup? No

Phearable will also help you with your setup before you even start to order, just send them your setup what you have on your engine, bolt ons, upgraded pistons or whatever and they’ll do they’re best to find a map to match your set up. They’ll even help you when you do get your chip if your having problems either it be starting your car or it running too rich/lean and sending another one with no cost. eBay won’t do that unless they’re a reputable company sellin on eBay.
But in my experience don’t ever use eBay chips cause you don’t know if they just bought from another person with some random setup or a blank chip that don’t have any background to them making chips on the Dyno.

pherable is a good company that I’ve always used when I didn’t have my s300 and never did me wrong and they have actual Dyno cars on the Dyno that burns the map to the chip.thats proven. My advice is to throw that chip away and get a SST chip from Phearable or a reputable company that has actually dynoed Honda cars.

If you don’t have a wideband and your fooling around with chips and you’ve spent a good amount of money of your engine, I suggest you get a wideband to help see where if your running the correct A/F range for your setup. Other wise it’s a guessing game and then BOOM!!! There goes a hole in your piston hitting vtec.

 

Run the stock ecu, why would you want a modified ecu on a bolt on car?

(Not being sarcastic I drive a stock em1 and I can barely tell vtec engages)

 

I looked at reviews before purchasing the chip. The seller had great reviews so I trusted him. I really don’t think it’s a problem with the chip, more so the ecu. And the reason I want to get this ecu working even though I only have a couple bolt ons is more so for future proofing. I will eventually build the car and end up getting a hondata S300 so I want to get this ecu working just so I can be sure it is working as it should. If not I’ll just end up getting another P28 but why waste money if there’s a possibility that this one can be fixed

 

Because the ecu itself may be damaged. send your ECU to pherable and don't take anymore chances.

 

Here are some pictures of the ecu. In some of these Q31 was already blown. In the 1st picture that is exactly how I received the ecu with the stock B20 base map chip. The 2nd picture is a close up of Q31 blown and 3rd picture of Q31 fixed. The 4th is of how it is now and 5th and 6th is my stock P2T ecu. Yes I am aware this ecu isn’t actually a P28, it is a P06 but it was chipped for vtec so basically a P28

 

X2
send it to Phearable and let them check out if there is a problem with the board or problems with the chip.

 

If you or a friend have another vtec ecu (besides a p72) laying around that’s socketed then I would give it try and see if it’ll hit vtec, but then hitting WOT in vtec without a wideband will be a hit and miss not knowing the A/F ratio is lean/rich.

 

OP, didn't you state that the ECU with the original chip, before the seller friend of yours "broke" it and swapped it out, worked just fine ?!? If so, you have one of two problems: 1) Your friend didn't just break the chip... he broke the ECU too and you should get your money back. 2) The replacement chip that you purchased is crap.
Since you have another friend who solders... cut the J1 jumper and make a 1st or 2nd gear pull at WOT to 6K RPM... just ONCE after the car is warmed up since you will be running on stock D16Z6 programming which is not optimum (nor safe) for a B16A engine. If VTEC works, you have a problem in your socketing or the chip. If no VTEC crossover exists... bad ECU.

 

Okay guys so just an update, I tested a friend’s chip because his ecu was engaging vtec when I tried it so I tried swapping the chip to my ecu and IT WORKED! It engaged vtec no problem so I’m happy the ecu wasn’t the problem, that means my ecu is still good. So the problem here looks like it was the chip that was probably burned or “tuned” wrong but thank you for all your support guys.

 

Phearable chip FTW bro. Check them out.

 

Problem. Will be. Solved.

 

X2! My SC'd setup is still running perfect on my Pheariable tuned ECU! they set me up with a great map and provided the ECU and after setting up my AFR to the ECU I sent a log back and the new tune is even better! I have never felt a need to get it on a dyno with a tuner it runs perfect.