Hey all

I just swapped a D16y8 motor (with 5-speed) into an '00HX (with CVT trans) and everything worked pretty well, but we are having some CEL issues. I rented the code reader from O'Reillies and it is saying that his motor is throwing a Code P 117, which claims that the "water temp sensor low input voltage" or some such madness. We went through the coolant bleeding procedure, but this didn't solve the problem.

I swapped all of the coolant sensors from the y5 motor (which were known to be good) and this didn't help anything. Even if you use the code reader to clear the code, it comes back immediately even if the car is not running and the key is in the "on" position.

I don't know if the problem we are having is related to this code or not, but the car has a fscked up idle. It sits there and bounces from 1200rpm to 2000 rpm. I put my finger over the AIV hole in the throttle body and the idle lowered to about 800rpm and idled rock steady (I believe that if you cover this hole, it is supposed to die). This leads me to believe there is a vacuum leak, but where the hell could it be coming from (I checked all vacuum lines)? I tried disconnecting the AIV plug and it started bouncing really fast from 1200 to 1500. Also of interest is the fact that we accidentally broke the TPS on the y8 TB, so we used the y5 TB (with a block off plate for the now useless y5 AIV) The part numbers on the map and TPS were both identical on each of the TB's so this *shouldn't* be the problem...

Also, since this was a swap from an HX to an EX motor, there is no post-cat O2 sensor. In fact there is also no cat (the HX has the cat and both O2 sensors in the manifold, in EX they are in and after the downpipe) but the computer is not throwing a code for the second O2 sensor.

I don't really know WTF is going on, so do you guys have any ideas as to what can be the culprit in this mystery?

 

for some reason the IM part on here doesn't work for me...

I am using the complete EX wiring harness along with the EX ECU. Everything *works*, meaning it still hits VTEC and all that stuff and cruising along it runs just fine, but it idles like crap and throws code 117.

 

ok..
I'm assuming you plugged in the round Coolant temp sensor thats located directly on the thermstat housing, yes?

There's also another coolant sensor on the head, right below the distributor area, which is also a round style plug too.

Double check and see if you mixed up any of these 2 round coolant sensors plugs with another round style that might be in the same location...

 

I checked that, and I replaced all three of the coolant sensors (the one on the thermo housing and the two on the head under the dizzy) They are not mixed up with anything, so I dunno what is going on with them