I recently took ownership of an EK civic that was fitted with a B20v swap. Had to replace the block because it did *B20 Things* and car runs great with great oil pressure and for now on 4 psi of boost. I cannot for the life of me figure out my situation with v-tec. Hondata shows it is coming on but there is no change. When the car reaches the rpm where it is set the needle will jump around as if it’s trying but no go. I’ve preformed a few tests with a switch straight to 12v, I only receive a change in exhaust tone, even under load! Hopefully someone here has somehow possibly ran into this as well and can help me out! Thank you!

 

Have you tuned the car?

 

Yes, I have my local honda tuner that is doing all of the tuning.

 

and what did the tuner say?

 

Well, he isn’t to sure actually. Everything says and shows that it Should be working (Oil pressure, Oil level, temp, tps, etc.), He isn’t to sure himself as to why it wouldn’t be kicking on.

 

Maybe find a new tuner if he doesn’t even know how to sort it out. It’s a fairly straightforward system. Oil pressure and level have to be good. Solenoid needs to function or not. Make sure the filter isn’t all clogged up on the spool valve and the tuning needs to be correct.

 

If it "Sounds" different at the cross-over RPM, it is working. If the power is falling off at higher RPM, it is likely that your mechanical timing is off... even one tooth can cause the symptom that you describe. Check your timing belt/mechanical timing.

 

Try a different distributor?

Does it act like it hits a rev limiter when the ecu fires vtec?

When you jump the solenoid, the ecu doesn't know this, and the vtec maps don't engage.

I've worked on a similar issue if so.

Related?:

https://www.hondata.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5135 ​​​​​​https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/vtec-quit-working-rev-limit-2648566/

 

I’m responding on behalf of both you and YBL, when the car does reach the target RPM by itself without me jumping it with a switch, button etc. I don’t notice the same sound difference. When it hits the desired RPM it goes through however the needle jumps around but no noticeable power difference… I will try to add a video of this instance for reference. I will also check timing when I am back with the car. (As of right now the target RPM is set low under 5k as well)

 

It sounds different to me. Not all VTEC crossovers will be loud. Especially if you have stock cams and no headwork.

It appears that it’s working.

 

Looks and sounds like vtec to me.

Aftermarket intake and exhaust will make it sound more aggressive.

Add a 50shot of nos. Otherwise that's pretty normal for a stock motor

 

The VTEC solenoid IS working if you got a change in exhaust note when you hard wired 12v to the solenoid. You can also bench test it by jumping power straight to it with a switch or from the battery and listening for the relay to click (engine off). Having said that, hard wiring VTEC will get you the cam lobe but not the correct ECU map if the ECU isn't letting you trigger it.

On my car, I had a number of issues, maybe they're helpful / applicable for you:

• the oil pressure signal from the VTEC solenoid was not getting to the ECU, so I had to un-check the VTEC spool checkbox under VTEC activation.
• the non-VTEC ECU running my S300 doesn't match my VTEC GSR's engines initial provisions, so I had initially selected an alternate output not available on my new-to-me non-VTEC ecu but that would have been there on my car when stock (dual intake plenum trigger thingy).
• I had tried to hard wire power to the VTEC solenoid instead of using an ECU triggered relay, it helped a bit but didn't get me good VTEC maps and so was still significantly down on power.