So I've had this 92 civic hatch B18B1 swap, for about 3 years now. I don't drive a "ton" but do take it for a spin about once every week or two.
I got it pre modified, and has what I "think" is a phearable chipped ECU in it. Never seen a check engine light other than at certain high rpms and someone told me that is a feature of chipped ECUs using the light as a shift indicator.

I am a bit of a paranoid person and have always worried something might be wrong with my engine, but that this ECU will not tell me up front with a check light. OBD1 I'm pretty sure.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Do they set codes without indicating?

Also, if I wanted to know exactly what the deal is with it, what should I do? Tried phearable.net, but they are tight lipped as far as up front information. Do I need to contact them?

Is there some adapter and software I can use to communicate with it? I am good with computers.

I'm mildly worried my hard to replace engine could any day without warning. Am I just being paranoid?

Thanks in advance, will be a real weight off my shoulders to know exactly what's going on with this strange little tuner box.

 

A thought: Forget about the chip, buy a Hondata s300 and have it installed... get it professionally tuned and then you KNOW what you have got running your engine.

 

Uhhh.... Thanks but no. Kinda defeats the purpose of buying a 30 year old DIY project hooptie car when you start taking it to "professionals".
Though I get it, everyone is an idiot and no one should ever do anything by themselves. DIY is dead, long live capitalism, down with self reliance!
Better off ripping a stock ECU out of an Acura in a junkyard somewhere.
It's a Sunday driver. Not a track car.

I do appreciate the effort though, thanks for your input.
(Am I still in the same site where people stick freaking paper clips in their obd 1 plugs to check codes or what?)

 

Actually I think you don't quite understand.

Tuning isn't typically a DIY. There is actually schooling involved to learn how to safely tune. As well, no engine is the same and each one (even the same build type and model) will have a different tune.

The majority of us DIY'ers do everything EXCEPT tune. That we take to be professionally tuned so it's done right and runs perfectly after it's done.

 

Thank you for brick walling me. Been great help. If you actually read the original post I never once stated I intended to change the tuning.
I just want to understand how my car works. The same way I would like to know how a gun I own works, or a computer, or my TIG welder (yea, not supposed to operate those without schooling either), or my cell phone or the amplifiers I get cheap and repair....

I've managed not to catch on fire or electrocute myself yet...

But telling me to buy a 500 dollar computer to put in my 1000 dollar car that already has a working computer is crap advice. I just want to know if any of you have messed with chipped phearable ECUs. And if there is any way to check the parameters on them so I can see if I do infact actually need a different ECU instead of blindly throwing away a part that might actually be perfectly ok.

In fact there is a thread in this very forum somewhere where members of this community state that phearable is a good company and nothing bad they have heard of has come from them.
So you guys are telling me to throw away a perfectly good probably already tuned to my engine part part and replace it with another part that wouldn't be tuned to my engine unless I take it somewhere to get it done.... For even more money.
What planet are you guys from?

I'm not racing, I'm not boosting, my B18 is almost stock. I'm 100% sure I could take a stock ECU from an Acura and replace this chipped one if there is an issue with it.
And if push comes to shove, I could probably learn to tune on my own.
I'm asking how to check if there is an issue with it. But you two guys don't seem to know. So I'll wait for someone who actually has information other than "You're too stupid to do it yourself."

 

With an attitude like that and seeing it as everyone is against you, you probably won't receive much help.

Google tuning OBD1 ECU's and you will see there is 2 softwares other than Hondata that is typically used for plain chipping OBD1 Honda ECU's. Neptune and Crome. I suspect you have to have the "dealers" type license to have the software accessible to the burned chip. And you need the hardware to read the chip and program the chip etc.

If you aren't willing to purchase the easier to use Hondata that has room for you to grow and is a better platform to learn on, then I highly doubt you will spend the money on the hardware and licensing to merely check if the chip you have is for your motor.

Typically people buy a base map from Phearable that is based on their build/motor. From there, it still SHOULD get tuned by a good tuner who already has the hardware and software as well as license to tweak it. For stock motor, that last step isn't usually required being the base map is basically as close to Honda's stock map as possible.

Best of luck to you. Good day.

 

Thank you very much! I really appreciate the actual useable information you provided!!

We all gotta start somewhere. And telling people not to start at all is totally counterproductive. That's why I am being defensive towards those two.

I read while looking into crome earlier after not getting any help here that; actually as far as I can tell it's free to use, just need the chip burner. The recommended burner Moates BURN2 is 85 bucks brand new.....
The free software crome provides is limited without using the pro version (separate from the dealer version because apparently DIY tuning is a thing, especially back in the 90s), but does allow reading and writing.

Now I wasn't sure about basemaps being ok. But everyone is always talking about their boosted up hotrods and rarely bother putting programmable ECUs in stock.
That tip you gave about basemaps being ok/stable in stock engines is a little piece of gold and I very much appreciate that!

The car was falling apart quite literally when I first got it and I've been resuscitating it from the dead it came with the chipped ECU and has been running with it for 3 years now.
I'm not trying to build a race car, too much rust/uncertainty for that. Just want something comfortable, stable, and fun to drive. (Any stock honda stick is fun to drive, hehe.)


Meaning I could flash a good stock basemap into my chipped ECU and not have to worry about bad tuning. For 85 usd + shipping and handling..... That's even cheaper than a new refurbished integra ECU. (Those run about 120 from a cursory glance.)
That's a far cry from 500 (I think like 475 actually but lord knows what the shipping is.)

Sincerely thank you! You've been very helpful.


EDIT: oof, your the same guy. Lol. Well thanks still! I really do appreciate the info. Srry we got off on the wrong foot.

 

I'm not sure if you fully understand or if you don't so I will add this.

You can't use just any old basemap. The base map is usually provided from a tuner (like phearable) that is as close to stock for the stock motor you are requesting. Randomly downloading basemaps is a crap shoot as you don't know what tweaks the uploader has done to the file.

I thought I should make that clear.

 

Yes, that's kinda a no brainier.
I don't "just randomly download" anything.

Should be fine though I invite you guys with open arms to lulz at me if I blow up my engine.

For right now, I think I'm ok, still waiting on a few OEM parts in the mail, and now that I know basemaps are fine, and I don't have to freak out about ecu tuning in a mostly stock unboosted engine I do feel a bit less worried. It has been ok since I've owned it after all.

You guys with your fancy boost cars wig out over altitude changes, and temperature, and seem to need to get a tune every six months. Had me wondering if my car was gonna blow up for no apparent reason cuzz it was chipped.
I think that was indeed just me being paranoid like I specifically asked in the OP....