In June my wife's 2000 Civic Si started acting up. The motor has CTR cams and pistons and a CROME'd P28.

I found low pressure in cylinder 1 and a leakdown test confirmed leaking exhaust valves. At the time I also had code 9 (CYP) and 20 (ELD).

I pulled the motor and took the head to a machine shop that confirmed bad intake valves and bad exhaust guides. The head was rebuilt.

I replaced all seals, gaskets, hoses, etc. on the long block and put it back in.

Last night I finally got the motor ready to fire up. After priming the fuel for a minute, she finally started. She idles high. I'm guessing at least 1500 RPM but not sure since Tachometer stopped working a long time ago.

When I went to set the ignition timing, I noticed that the ignition was WAY advanced, and the only way to get it close to normal was to put the distributor in the fully-retarded position. I also noticed a check engine light but when I went to pull the code, the CEL was just solid and gave no flashes.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Timing belt is off a tooth or has alot of slack?

 

No slack in the timing belt, and it didn't seem to be off a tooth, but perhaps I should tear it down and check....I was hoping to avoid that though.

 

if the ignition timing is that far off u most likely have the timing belt wrong...its easy to make the crank move when ur pulling on the belt...check that and tension it right....btw code 9 is not gonna go away unless u get a new distributor so might as well do it now...

 

Thanks I will check the timing again. It's just hard to think it is off, since I triple checked it as I was installing it while on an engine stand.

In regards to the distributor, I was wondering if the fact that the head had bad valves would have somehow triggered code 9.

Regardless, my original distributor stopped sparking one day, so I just took the coil and ignition module out of my current distributor and made the original one spark again, which will hopefully eliminate code 9 if I can get the ECU to flash CELs again.

 

update:

The ECU started flashing codes last night. I got a code 6 and code 20. Code 6 was fixed when I realized I mixed up the plugs for the coolant sensor. But after resetting the computer, I still get code 20 (ELD) even after disabling it from the CROME software.

At least my distributor rig job seems to be okay. No more code 9.

I probably won't be able to check the timing belt until this weekend. Thanks for your help, to be continued.

 

Just to add a lil somethin somethin.Make sure you check the timing after you have run it to normal operating temp also jump scs.I am not trying to be condescending in any way.Also if the timing is that far off i would lean towards the timing belt being off or timing light being off.Good luck Peace

 

Thanks for the tips. I just removed things and got to the timing belt. Here are some pics. It is hard to get the flash in between the cam gear marks but please look and tell me what you think

 

timing looks correct to me in that picture.

i would look at ur vacuum hoses and make sure they dont have any holes and are perfectly sealing where they attach.... since u replaced all thsoe hoses and gaskets its quite possible one of them is leaking enough to make u idle high. if u smoke blow some smoke around the houses so that the smoke just lingers then ull be able to see where its getting pulled in like if it was a wind tunnel.
if not use some spray cleaner around gaskets and hose connections to see for any changes