1996 Integra Build (B18B1)

[Xanatos]

It's both immensely frustrating and highly rewarding at the moment. It turns over but isn't quite starting up. Last night I was at the shop by myself trying to get this thing to start and at first there was nothing when I turned the key. I read it might be the clutch pedal ignition switch. Which it was, the grommet in the clutch pedal was missing and therefore not engaging the switch. So, imagine a 6'1, 210lb guy upside down on a chair, my legs hanging over the top of it and my back half on the seat half on the floorboard, holding the switch down with one hand turning the key with the other. This time I get some clicking. So next I put a jump box on it, this time it starts turning over but not starting. I call my brother (the ASE Master mechanic) and he says to put some break cleaner in the intake manifold, that it can act as an accelerant. Again I turn the key, and keep it turned for a while (per his instructions) and the sound it makes gets fast and faster, but it hasn't started up yet. I called him again and he told me to come down at lunch today and he'd give me a hand with it.

What I took away from this event...
Holy crap. I built it and put everything back together in the bay and it's working. Feels good and strange all at the same time.
I'm a little disappointed I couldn't get it done on my own. I've leaned on my dad and brothers expertise at different times on this project but I was hoping this one could be a solo victory.
Today my brother was really busy so he didn't get a chance to help me and I spent an hour trying to get a grommet back on the clutch pedal. Nothing would fit from the front (where it's supposed to go) so i'm looking into stuff I can pop in from the back which is easily accessible.

Soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday, but soon.

 

[hondarin]

This is what I used to replace my clutch grommet:

 

[Xanatos]

So tonight he had a few spare moments to mess with it. We traced it to the injectors, which had bad O-Rings. we replaced the aforementioned O-Rings and it still wouldn't start, and some testing revealed that the injectors (which appear to be aftermarket) are not firing. We have several theories....
1: The ECU might not be the right one (I personally doubt this because the vehicle was running before it was taken apart and the owner claims he knew nothing about an ECU swap, this was a beater Tampa Integra so god knows what the real story is) it is chipped though so maybe it's tuned for something else? But my brother says it should still fire off even if it were to just run poorly. This is our foreman's theory.
2: Me and my brother think it might be the fact it has a JDM oil pump which the crank sensor -does not- fit on. Maybe the JDM one has it's own crank sensor that we don't have that we need? Or maybe there's a bypass somehow? My brother says the ECU needs to be able to read the crank positioning so it can tell the injectors to fire.
Thoughts?

 

[CAFROG]

I am leaning towards the crank position sensor or a small mistake in engine harness plugs.

Engine Harness ground is connected? (near thermostat)

Isn't the MAP and TPS the same style of plug? I honesty don't remember.

Is the ECU OBD1, OBD2A or OBD2B? I think OBD2B has Immobilizer.

 

[dilbeckskate]

Well is it throwing check engine codes ? If soo id start there

 

[Xanatos]

I am leaning towards the crank position sensor or a small mistake in engine harness plugs.

Engine Harness ground is connected? (near thermostat)

Isn't the MAP and TPS the same style of plug? I honesty don't remember.

Is the ECU OBD1, OBD2A or OBD2B? I think OBD2B has Immobilizer.

It's an OBD1 ECU, and it has been chipped at one point in it's life.

EDIT: After more research I found that an OBD1 ECU does not read a crank sensor which is why you don't have to have one and why that -should not- be the issue here so now we're looking for something else. My brother says something has to read the timing of the motor and tell the injectors when to fire and if it's not the crank sensor then something else, any ideas? Cam sensor maybe?

EDIT OF MY EDIT: The tuners look like they were simply converted to oem OBD1 injectors so it should all be cohesive with itself.

 

[Briansol]

did you have a resistor box at one point? it's possible you have the wrong electronic set up on that front.

peak/hold need a resister.
saturated do not.
saturated is standard oem on obd1 b-series
peak/hold is popular in aftermarket, larger injectors, and obd0 cars, and some h22's.

 

[Xanatos]

GUIS!!!!!!
It runs. First startup happened tonight and it sounds awesome. It revs really fast, my brother was even surprised. Lightweight flywheel doin' work

Next up is the suspension. It should be rolling soon enough.

 

[Briansol]

so what did it end up being that stopped it from starting?

 

[Xanatos]

Had a couple things. I missed the ground on the thermostat, had a frayed wire on the distributor, had another loose hotwire to the injectors (lose at one of the junctions). Reconnected the distributor wire, hooked up the thermostat ground, and jumped the injector hotwire. Fixed them all at once so I'm not sure which was the main issue.

 

[dilbeckskate]

You will always figure it out after taking a break, and going back to it after some brainstorming , good job bud

 

[Xanatos]

So among other things I like video editing as a side hobby, and though it isnt my best work I put together a little progress video out of a framelapse and my snapchat story of my work Saturday. Getting closer!

I was really happy with the exhaust sound tbh, and the leak was a bad spot in the oil pan gasket.

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention, I have an injector wire and no clue where it's supposed to go. I cut back the wrapping on the harness near that junction (back left side of the engine bay, where the resistor is at) and there's no other end for it to hypothetically connect to. The wire in question is a hot injector wire coming off the resistor plug (black and yellow). To run the car i've been jumping it off the battery since all that line needs is juice. Any ideas?

 

[Briansol]

 

[Xanatos]

@Briansol Thanks! I'll compare it to what I got tomorrow and get back to you.

 

[Briansol]

basically the ecu feeds are 'hot', and the injector box just splits 4-1. the ecu just allows it to be a switched source of power

 

[Xanatos]

I -think- I fixed it. Seems like that wire fed off the piece labeled "clip" which was just a feed from the ECU to the resistor box. I won't be able to test this theory till I get a new gasket and get the oil pan installed.

I borrowed the wire from my crank sensor plug, since I figure it's not doing me any good now. I'll bag and tag it for future reference.

 

[Xanatos]

Affirmative. Fired right up and ran like it was supposed to. My idle control is messed up (common Honda problem) so i need one of those now. Also got slotted/drilled rotors on order. Going to my aunt and uncles for a long weekend and then it'll be back to the grind Monday.

 

[Xanatos]

So I found out I messed something up. I found a bottle of Honda MTF in my brothers work area (he has a shelf unit for dif fluids) and put it in my clutch resevoir since it was low.

I now realize that the MTF actually goes to the transmission, not the hydraulic line. Hopefully I didn't harm anything by doing it this way? (Clutch line still needs to be bled anyways)

So I should be able to bleed the line and get all the tranny fluid out? And what is supposed to go in that line? I read somewhere its the same stuff as your brake lines use

 

[Jeef]

I believe it is bake fluid, but check into it to make sure. I would flush the mtf out.

 

[CAFROG]

Yes....hydraulic brake line fluid is the stuff.

Thermo ground is often missed. Hope my ramblings helped.