Ok,... This isnt my 1st built motor that Ive had problems with, however its the first one that Ive had THIS problem.

I bought a 00 GSR with:
STOCK GSR BLOCK
STOCK GSR HEAD
STOCK CAMS
EAGLE H-BEAM RODS
CP 12.5:1 COMPRESSION PISTONS
SKUNK 2 INTAKE MANI
DC HEADER
EXEDY LIGHTWEIGHT CLUTCH & FLYWHEEL
I bought the car for $2500 because the guy that owned it didnt have the time/patience to put it back together (motor wasnt re-assembled or back in the car yet). He hydrolocked the bone stock motor over a year ago and for about 8-9 months he bought parts to re-build the motor. He is a friend of mine so I told him that he could park his car in my backyard until WE built his motor and I'd also help him put the motor back in (i have a shop behind my house to do it in). Things didnt go as planned,.... The car ended up sitting in back yard for 9 months without him so much as looking at it. The last time he was over I told him that he needed to get the car out of my backyard if he wasnt going to do anything with it. He said that he was tired of the headache and asked me if I wanted to buy it from him. I was like..."sure, I'll give you $2000.00 for it". I never thought he would say ok. He did,.... I ended up giving him $2500 for the car and all the parts.
O.K. so I got a great deal right?.... He had already assembled the bottom end so I asked him about all the torque specs and such just to check and see if he had done it right. He reassured me that everything wae PERFECT and that he had taken his time and done everything by the book. Sounded good to me,.... I went ahead and checked the torque on all the mains and cams just to triple check anyways. Everything checked out ok so I went ahead and finished the motor, put it in the car and went to crank it. It cranked up,.... sort of. The only way I could keep in running was to pat the gas. Hmmmmm,... ah-hah,... duh, stupid me. The car had been sitting for a year with 1/8 tank of gas in it,..... BAD GAS!! I drained the tank, replaced the fuel filter and put new spark plugs in,... cranked it up and this time I could keep it at a steady 1500-2500 rpms but couldnt give it more than 1/4 throttle or let off the gas because it would die. By this point Im thinking that it must be a bad sensor or something with all the emissions stuff I took off so I bought HONDATA w/a p-28 and conversion harness (was planning on doing that anyways). I put the HONDATA in and get the same symptoms. I checked the compression and get 180 on all 4. ok,.. theres something DEFINITELY wrong.... it should be 280 or higher right?... I inspected the spark plugs and found oil on all four of them,... oil in the cylinders, and oil on the wall behind the exhaust. So now Im thinking that when the guy I bought the car from put the rings on,.. he either put them on wrong or upside down or something.
O.K., the reason for this thread is to ask all of you guys if you have ever experienced the same thing and if so,.. what was the problem. If you want to put in your educated guess, thats welcome too. Im dedicating ALL DAY Thursday to getting this problem resolved so any help is appreciated. If you know of anything I should check before pulling the head and oil pan,.. tell me please.

Thanks

 

Perform a leak-down test to determine the possible leak path. He could have installed the rings incorrectly, but the valve seals could be leaking as well. Regarding the compression test, was the car at WOT and was it warm? I'm guessing that it was cold. The gauge also has a significant effect on the ultimate compression.

 

WOT? What do you mean? Wide Open Throttle? I dont understand what you mean.

 

Yes, WOT is wide open throttle.

 

How to do a leak down test.

How to do a Compression test on a b18

 

OK,... I didnt know that you had to do the WOT while checking compression..... I called the guy that was helping me with all of this and he said that he WAS holding down the pedal while cranking the motor. (I was holding the gauge under the hood)... I guess its a good thing that he knew to do that because I didnt. Also,... I just found out that these pistons are 11.5:1, not 12.5:1. So the reading isnt that far off. Im gonna re-do the test tonight again just to make sure before I go any further,.. thanks for the help.

Wait a minute,.... Even if the compression is that low (180 lbs) shouldnt the engine still run? It should still be able to rev and run decently right?


Modified by allanonjj at 2:58 PM 4/2/2007

 

Make sure that you did not reverse the MAP and TPS sensor connectors. How does the car sound when it is running? Have the valves been adjusted? (I'll guess yes on the valves since the compression is uniform.) Has the base timing been set?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Make sure that you did not reverse the MAP and TPS sensor connectors. How does the car sound when it is running? Have the valves been adjusted? (I'll guess yes on the valves since the compression is uniform.) Has the base timing been set?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ive already tried the MAP and TPS sensor switch with no luck,... the car sounds like its running when its running,... not trying to be a smartass,... theres just no tell tell sounds coming from the engine bay. It doesnt surge or anything,... just dies when you try to give it a little throttle and wont idle without help with the throttle. The valves HAVENT been adjusted yet but I didnt think that they could be far enough out to make it do this if the car is actually running at all. Ive played with the distributor a little (rotating it forward and backward) with no luck there either.

 

Check the TPS operation with a volt meter. You will need a timing light to set the ignition timing. You can also check that the cam timing is correct when you do that. How did you find TDC for the cam installation?

 

They are stock cams so I just lined up the lines on the edge of the cam gears and lined up the crankshaft with the mark on the timing belt cover.

Hpw dp you check the TPS sensor? Which wires do I test and what kind of voltage should I expect?




Modified by allanonjj at 4:46 PM 4/2/2007

 

This is basic but have you triple check your plugs wires going to the distributor. This sounds like a timing issue with it dying like that.

Check them out next time your under the hood.

 

I havent "checked" the plug wires but I did check the plugs by holding one in the wire about 3 inches from the valve cover bolt,... got a pretty blue spark on all 4.

 

this same **** happened to me almost. I ran a compression test on my gsr about 2 weeks ago and forgot to unplugg the distributer. so i ran the comp test and i got about 180 across all cylinders, seeing as my gsr is stock thats not to bad with the miles she has. Anyways, i put the spark plugs back in and put all the wires back on and went to start the car and it wouldent start. So i took all the spark plugs out and re gapped them all, and checked all the wires and went to start it up agian. Still i had nothing. So now i went to check to see if i had spark, and believe it or not i dident, on any of the plugs. I spent 200 bucks and replaced the entire dizzy and that ended up being my problem. I burnt out the coil in the dizzy cranking the engine over so many times doing the comp. test. Hopefully this isnt what happened to you tho.

 

the oil on the spark plugs could just be a bad valve cover gasket (or maybe the o-rings were never even replaced when the cover went back on).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by allanonjj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They are stock cams so I just lined up the lines on the edge of the cam gears and lined up the crankshaft with the mark on the timing belt cover.

Hpw dp you check the TPS sensor? Which wires do I test and what kind of voltage should I expect?


Modified by allanonjj at 4:46 PM 4/2/2007</TD></TR></TABLE>

The TPS should vary between 0 and 5V as the throttle is opened. Just back probe the middle and an outer wire to check it. The ignition must be on.

Did you align the red or white mark to the timing belt cover for TDC? (White is right. Red is 16 deg. BTDC.)

 

WHITE I THINK,... I DIDNT SEE A RED LINE

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by allanonjj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">WHITE I THINK,... I DIDNT SEE A RED LINE</TD></TR></TABLE>

You may want to check that. Advanced cams would coase a loss in compression and poor running.

 

I was talking about the condition of the wires I was talking about where the wires plug on the distributor. If they are in the wrong places it describes the problem you are having.

 

im tellijg you man, check and see if you have spark from your dizzy, unless you already did and i am to retarded to see that you posted it already

 

IM GETTING SPARK,... THATS NOT THE PROBLEM. I hooked up the Laptop last
night and got:
IAT
IAC
ELD (electric load detection) I had the battery on a charger,... dont know if that has anything to do with it or not
Knock Sensor

It sounds like Ive got a few plugs mismatched but I dont know which ones are which,... Ive always had help with that part till now. Ive tried switching the TPS and the IAT plug with no luck.

 

The IACV could explain your poor idle. Those valves commonly clog with oily residue. The car should still idle near 450 RPM without the IACV operational. I really think that the ignition or cam, timing is not correct, which is causing the car not to run correctly. A timing light will provide some major feedback on that situation.

If you do not have a Helm manual, search google for "hondahookup manuals". You can look up the ECU pins and trace the wires for the sensors.

 

he wouldnt be getting those codes though dogg , if his timing was the issue. im not saying its not right , cause by the sounds of it , that engine needs a going over by someone versed in hondas. with the white mark by itself on crank pully and pointer on timing cover are aligned , the cam wheels have on one of the spokes each , and arrow with UP written in it , they should be pointing up , haha. and with those arrows up , youl notice in between the 3 wheels at 90 degrees with the arrows , are little flat dashes etched into the cam wheels as well. these should be pointing at one another perfectly. than with 2 pin connector crossed under passenger kick panel , and engine FULLY warm , your timing light on #1 cylinder should flash exactly on the red mark on pully(middle mark of a group of 3). if it doesnt , use dizzy to make it so by loosening bolts , twisting either way it needs , and tightening back up. bang your timed perfectly. the rest is up to ECU , which could also be your problem. what ecu you running this with? forged internals depending on makeup(low silicon) , can burn oil and make racket while warming up. could be somin to do with his aftermarket intake manny too.

 

I think that the codes are in addition to a potential timing issue. The IACV would limit cold idle, but the car will not rev either. The timing light will confirm or deny timing suspicions. The cam timing can be easily verified by pulling the valve cover.

 

I appreciate ALL of the input and I HATE to post this post but I have to "MAN UP" to it.

I knew that the IAC and the IAT and one other plug were the same,... I DID NOT however realize that the MAP sensor and the TPS were the same plug. Yes, Yes I know,... Im a complete moron and shouldnt be allowed near a toolbox,.... ha ha,... laugh laugh,.... there you go.

For anyone else who is having this same problem,... before you go :
1.draining the fuel
2.buying new spark plugs (twice)
3.replacing the fuel filter
4.buying race gas
5.buying a rotor cap
6.commiting suicide
CHECK THE DAMN MAP AND TPS!!!!!!!!!! I dont know if I was more frustrated from being a week into this issue, or from last night when I figured out that Im an idiot!!!!
O.K.,.... I feel better now,.... As for the compression goes, the stupid mistake I made doesnt explain why the #'s are so low. Im gonna buy a compression tester myself today and do the test tonight. I'll see for myself if the reading that we got on the other tester was accurate or not.
Would you guys recommend a leakdown or compression test?

 

I hate to do this.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Make sure that you did not reverse the MAP and TPS sensor connectors. How does the car sound when it is running? Have the valves been adjusted? (I'll guess yes on the valves since the compression is uniform.) Has the base timing been set?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm glad you're running.