reactone

Thats funny, I am having the exact same problem with my Ls/Vtec setup in my 95 hatch. I know VTEC is engaging because I set up a test light and I can hear it engage. I took it to the track the other night and the best I could run was a 15.7! I thought maybe it was because I just totally rebuilt the engine ~200 miles ago, but now i'm wondering If we have the same problem. Could it be that our Vtec is only partially engaging? I don't get it...

Slo_crx1

All this from changing an intake manifold? Seems a little odd to me. What exactly's goin on with the iacv? Maybe the ecu is seeing it as still semi-cold and in reality won't let it hit vtec, or it might bounce in and out of the "warmed up" range. How about base timing? Has it been moved at all? I'm kinda stumped on this one

TimeEater

I have the iacv disabled and the speed check and the temp check disabled. Some thing is defenitly happining at the engauge point, it feels like it loses power at the engauge point wherever i set it at. And the oil pressure gauge goes nuts at the engauge point too. ZC4ME and reactone do you guys have oil gauges hooked up to the cars and does it go crazy too. I havent torn the head back apart yet, everything looked fine when i put it on. Maybe tonight.

88crxSi

check the filter in the solenoid.. its a little mesh screen.

ZC4ME

Funny that you mentioned this, cause I was back at the shop today and thinking about what I should look at first, then I remember the owner of the car telling me that his vtec solonoid gasket was leaking and he put some rtv around it. I was like hmmmmm, so I pulled the solonoid off and the rtv looked like it had infiltrated the oil passage areas, but not to the extent that I thought it would hamper the function, but I removed all signs of the rtv and actually put a gasket/screen from another solonoid and reinstalled the solonoid. I started the car and let it idle for a bit, then took it for a drive and did not exceed 4k rpm till the car had reached normal operating temp. Even at this point, the car did not feel exactly right, and when vtec engaged, sure enough......bleh, it felt flat. Took it back to the shop, jacked it up and was looking for anything out of ordinary, pulled the valve cover, and set the crank to TDC, everything looked good, all the valvetrain appeared normal and I am really thinking WTF at this point. There was this strange rattle that I was hearing and I thought it was a weld on the exhaust that had broken loose, so I decided I would check that out, cause at least I could probably fix that. When I get under the car and don't see anything broken, so I bang on the exhaust with my fist and I hear the rattle, so I bang harder and listen more intently and the sound appeared to be coming from the catalytic converter.....so then I started thinking about the Iridium plugs that looked like they were burning extemely hot and I started wondering if his Catco cat had suffered the demise that I have heard other Catco cats had done. I am wondering if the cat melted inside and is clogging the exhaust I put the valve cover back on and started the car and to be honest, it doesn't feel as if there is that much exhaust coming out of the muffler, even at 5k rpm. The exhaust is a muffler shop special, 2.5" with 2.5" cat and it is all one piece from the header back So tomorrow, I am going to try a known good dizzy to eliminate the ignition module and a chipped ecu in favor of his jdm unit, if nothing changes, I think I am going to see if he is willing to let me hack into the exhaust to inspect the cat and maybe make a test pipe. I dunno, I hope I am onto something and not just on something, lol. We'll see tomorrow.

con

if the exhaust is all welded you can pull the o2 sensor and put a pressure gauge in there you should maybe have 2psi @ 2000 rpm with that exhaust. Or if its bolted just unbolt her at the bottem of the header and go for a ripper.

88crxSi

the cata problem sounds very plausible.

i say go run open header.

reactone

I don't have an oil gauge hooked up, so I don't know what is going on there. I have tried two vtec solenoids and nothing changes. Incidentally, I also have a CEL saying that something is wrong w/the VTEC sol,but I think it may be computer-related. I think i'm gonna send it back to Xenocron to have it troubleshot (troubleshooted?).

ZC4ME

I don't know about the open header thing around here...there is a police outpost about 200 yds down the road from our shop I haven't had a chance to work on it today because we have been working on vinyl graphics for cars and helmets for some Dunlop sponsored cup car challenge or something like that, and it took up the first half of the day. We are about to grab some lunch and then I will try to take a look at it this afternoon after I tend to a set of Wilwood brakes that howl like an RTA bus I am really hoping it is just the cat. The poor kid that owns this car has had a string of bad luck....he just came in today driving his mom's car because his other car (an 89 MX-6 turbo) had a small starter problem last night which resulted in a small underhood fire On top of all the car stress, he is about to ask his girlfriend to marry him today.....he looked a little frazzled

88crxSi

ok i just re-read the initial post.

has this guy over revved it at all?

also, did u drain that oil? I remember reading in a OLD honda-tuning magazine that they over filled the oil and it ran like poop, smoking and way way down on power.

I tihnk they put more than 3/4qt extra in, but worth a try.