2001 F23a1 Auto Into 1996 Accord LX Auto Wiring

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pspec

Junior Member
I am dropping a 2001 auto F18b (2001 Accord Torneo OBD2b) into a 1996 Accord LX auto (comes with F22b2 OBD2a motor)

The swap I bough came with ECU and tranny and I would like to use the F18b motor / ECU / and tranny in the 1996 Accord. Now I know that all the plugs on the motors are different and that OBD2B has uses different plugs on the ECU. Also, since the F18b is a JDM motor, my wiring harness comes out on the wrong side of the motor.

This is what I want to do. Drop in the F18b motor and tranny using the F22b2 mounts. Get a wiring harness off of a 1998-2002 accord 4 cylinder so that the ECU plugs are on the proper side of the firewall. Use the F18b ECU.

Here is where I am confused. I know I have to convert from OBD2b motor to the OBD2a car. But do they even make the conversion harnesses to work with automatic swaps? And doesn't this harness just go between the ecu plugs and the ECU? What about the plugs in the engine bay, those won't match up with the OBD2B plugs on the engine harness.

Can someone please explain to me how the OBD2a to OBD2b conversion harness works?

I also noticed that 1998+ Acura CL is based on a 5th gen chassis, but uses the F23a motor and is OBD2B. If I pulled all the harnesses from this car it would be plug and play right?
 
Well, for one thing, you have to know that the engine half and chassis half of the harness are completely seperate problems. Grabbing an engine harness from another car, just won't line up. This is why in almost every swap, we use the original harness.

If I were you, I'd use the original OBD2a harness on the new motor and find a conversion harness for the ECU. That, or don't do the swap at all.
 
whenever you do a swap use the original harness from the car's stock engine and adapt it to work.

With obd2a and b there are several pins that you have to switch. (I learned this the hardway).. it can be done..but I would recommend buying a 2a -->2b harness, it appears that your experience with wiring is limited so save yourself the time and headache.
 
I just posted this in another forum and it pertains to this so I'm going to paste it here:

I have undertaken a pretty intense swap and I am hoping that there are people in this forum that might help.

I am building a 1996 LX Accord AUTOMATIC for my girlfriend to get around in. I am not trying to make this car fast, just reliable and get really good gas mileage. With that said, please don't post here with things like "why are doing this swap" or "just get h22a for all the trouble"

I am way too far into this swap to go back now so its time to just get it to work.

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Alright, the swap is a 2001 F18b from a JDM Accord torneo. The motor swap came with engine, AUTOMATIC tranny, wiring and ecu.

I originally assumed that the 1996 harness / intake manifold / throttle body would just swap over and everything would plug up and run as an OBD2a motor (The F18b is OBD2b and the 1996 Accord LX is OBD2a)

The AUTOMATIC transmission in my accord was blown and since I got the new F18b AUTOMATIC with my swap I figured it would just plug up into my 1996 LX harness with no problems.

Turns out that the OBD2b transmission is different than the OBD2a transmission. The OBD2b transmission is loaded with sensors that the OBD2a one doesn't have.

I am going to run the OBD2b tranny because I don't want to locate a 94-97 tranny for this motor. Everything is so low mileage and I have the ecu for the F18b motor tranny.

So I need to convert my car into OBD2b. I did some research and I noticed that 98-99 Acura CL is obd2b and it runs the F23a1 engine. Well the F18b is just a destroked F23a1. And the tranny on the F18b is the same tranny as the F23a1. Also, the 97-99 CL has a 5th gen Accord chassis so its basically a 5th gen accord that is already wired from Honda to run a OBD2b motor.

So I just purchased a 1998 Acura Cl wiring harness (OBD2b F23a1) to use on my F18b motor.

Now I am not sure if I should just get a conversion harness that goes between the F18b ECU (OBD2b) and my 1996 Accord LX inside wiring harness (OBD2a) or if I should purchase a 1998 Acura CL inside wiring harness.

To reask my question in simpler form: does anyone make a conversion harness for the 5th gen accord that will convert an OBD2b motor and wiring harness to run in an OBD2a car (thats AUTOMATIC) or do I have to get the OBD2b Acura CL under dash harness to do this?
 
get a ecu schematic for both cars (your accord and the donor accord) and you're going to have to swap pins around.

Don't get into swapping dash harnesses etc.
 
:werd:

I'm sorry that it has come to this, but good luck. Anything can be done, but I don't envy you.
 
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