Hello guys,

I have An EP3, 2002 Honda Civic Si, 106k miles with original K20A3 motor. One of the previous owners installed a Short ram intake, Header, and full Exhaust on the car. Haven’t been able to see any brand logos on the header or the exhaust muffler to know what kind they are, the short ram intake doesn’t appear to have any brand logo on it so I’ve assumed it’s a cheap eBay job. So I bought the car with the Check engine light on, and when I went to Autozone to have the codes read, It’s throwing 3 codes out.

P0171 - Fuel metering too lean
P2229 - Baro sensor circuit high voltage
P2647 - VTEC oil pressure switch circuit high voltage

The guy at Autozone claimed to me he’s a longtime car mechanic also, and he told me the first 2 codes are being caused by the last code, and when I buy a new VTEC Solenoid and put it in, it will fix everything... I figured that didn’t sound right, as I guessed the first code of the fuel metering too lean is a result of the aftermarket I/H/E and the car not seeming to me to have had the ECU reflashed/been tuned.. is that correct?

I bought the car about a month and a half ago, and I’ve drove it every single day, there’s only been 2 occurrences that the car has started up and ran in “limp” mode and hit the rev limiter at 4K Rpms. And both those times I’ve just turned the car off and restarted it back up and it’s gone all the way to the 7k redline just fine. Any ideas guys? Car could probably use an oil change, and I’m going to change it with 5w-30 synthetic oil this weekend (I’ve done TONS of research about K20A3’s and Ep3’s so I know how people say to not use the original recommended 5w-20 viscosity) but the car is NOT low on oil, every time I check it it’s in between the 2 dots on the oil dip stick, and the oil on the stick isn’t black, it’s still gold and see thru.

id appreciate any help guys thank you, and let me know if pictures would help and I can go outside and take some and upload them to this thread


edit: Forgot to add, Its been hard for me to tell if the car is running badly. To me, it runs and drives great. Since I know the A3 has the watered down “VTEC” that Runs as a 12v motor until 2200 rpms then runs on 16v, and only having “VTEC” on the intake cam and not the exhaust, So I cant just listen for VTEC to crossover at a higher RPM like B/H series motors and know if the Variable valve timing system is working or not... is there a possibility my “iVTEC” system isn’t working even though it’s not in limp mode and is revving all the way to stock redline 6800/7000?

 

Here’s a few pics I quickly took, sorry for the quality on my old iPhone 6s at nighttime here. Can anybody tell me if that’s in fact an aftermarket Header, or is that the stock one the Si came with?

 

P0171 - Check fuel pressure - too low - check fuel pump, fuel line, fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. Check Primary O2 sensor. Check EVAP canister purge valve, valve clearances and injectors.
P2229 - Check the PCM.
P2647 - Check for loose wires at the VTEC solenoid valve and PCM - check VTEC oil pressure switch - check for open or short to ground from VTEC oil pressure switch and PCM connector, and open in the wire from VTEC oil pressure switch and ground - check the PCM - inspect VTEC solenoid valve fro pressure tolerances - check VTEC oil pressure switch - check for open/short in the wire from PCM terminal and VTEC solenoid valve connector

I'd concentrate on Primary O2 sensor (is there one?), a potentially swapped PCM and the VTEC system.

 

Thank you for taking the time to type out your detailed reply, I will definitely take your advice.. I have no idea what one of previous Owners has done to this car, other than the visible ones (I/H/E) where would I need to look for those things you listed? I can also take pictures and post them here if you could help me identify those things.. I’m slowly learning about car mechanics