civic just spittin and sputterin no power

D15, D16, D17 and Mini-Me swaps
 Reply
User avatar

civic just spittin and sputterin no power

By honda power
- Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:32 pm #250412 ok so i did a mini me swap on my friends 92 hatch a couple weeks ago car worked fine after the swap was finished except a weird idle it would sit around 850-900 and occasionally drop down to about 4 or 500 then back up and very rarely it would stall out. worked great tho not a problem great fuel millage as good of power as your going to get from a stock d really no complaints other than the idle. yesterday he started the car up fine doesnt smoke, idles normal, revs up ok doesnt sputter to bad untill you drive sounds like a wrx just gutless, no power and doesnt want to move.


heres everything we've tried so far.
-checked all sensors and hoses- fine
-the ecu used is a chipped p28 with a gsr base map, with the wire cut to bring it back to stock. tried using a p06 we had and still the same if it was an ecu issue the p06 should have made it run better.
-timing? no timing gun to check if its exact but it worked fine before and the timing belt is still tight not sure how it would have slipped it, belt still torqued to spec. tried moving the dizzy to both extremes to. also cleaned the dizzy
-changed the fuel pump and fuel filter is 6 months old always ran 91 octane
-spark plugs look fine nice and clean looks like everything is running right
and its running on all 4.
and no cel

mini me swap
non vtec sohc zc block(sleeves looked like new)
new water pump, timing belt, tensioner.
new head gasket, intake gasket
d16z6 head
d15b7 intake mani/ tb
airmass 4-2-1 header
chipped p28 with a gsr base map, with the wire cut to bring it back to stock


not sure what else i can add right now im kinda stumped here would really like some input please

driving it today it was alright at first once warmed up and driving normal it just cuts out sounds like its misfiring or something really sounds like an wrx sti.

burnt valve?
User avatar

By 94EJ2
- Thu Apr 14, 2011 11:36 pm #250461 Did you check the fuel pumps voltage could have low voltage causing to have low fuel pressure
User avatar

Re: civic just spittin and sputterin no power

By Eg6H2D
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:22 am #250662
honda power wrote:ok so i did a mini me swap on my friends 92 hatch a couple weeks ago car worked fine after the swap was finished except a weird idle it would sit around 850-900 and occasionally drop down to about 4 or 500 then back up and very rarely it would stall out. worked great tho not a problem great fuel millage as good of power as your going to get from a stock d really no complaints other than the idle. yesterday he started the car up fine doesnt smoke, idles normal, revs up ok doesnt sputter to bad untill you drive sounds like a wrx just gutless, no power and doesnt want to move.


heres everything we've tried so far.
-checked all sensors and hoses- fine
-the ecu used is a chipped p28 with a gsr base map, with the wire cut to bring it back to stock. tried using a p06 we had and still the same if it was an ecu issue the p06 should have made it run better.
-timing? no timing gun to check if its exact but it worked fine before and the timing belt is still tight not sure how it would have slipped it, belt still torqued to spec. tried moving the dizzy to both extremes to. also cleaned the dizzy
-changed the fuel pump and fuel filter is 6 months old always ran 91 octane
-spark plugs look fine nice and clean looks like everything is running right
and its running on all 4.
and no cel

mini me swap
non vtec sohc zc block(sleeves looked like new)
new water pump, timing belt, tensioner.
new head gasket, intake gasket
d16z6 head
d15b7 intake mani/ tb
airmass 4-2-1 header
chipped p28 with a gsr base map, with the wire cut to bring it back to stock


not sure what else i can add right now im kinda stumped here would really like some input please

driving it today it was alright at first once warmed up and driving normal it just cuts out sounds like its misfiring or something really sounds like an wrx sti.

burnt valve?


If it's sounding like a STI then check your wires make sure they are in the right order. also look inside the Dizzy cap and make sure all the metal contact point are there..
User avatar

By Eg6H2D
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:27 am #250663 damn and now looking at the rest of your post! Why would you be running a GSR map on a Mini Swap.. and cut what wire to make it run like stock? Stock what? Your using a DOHC VTEC map on a SOHC Vtec. Fuel curves and timing maps are off so it will run like shit regardless. rich if anything..


Also timing might be off at the crank by a tooth or 2.. gotta check that out also..
User avatar

By honda power
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:43 am #250667 the chip has been bypassed its running the p28 bass map, and it did jump timing a tooth or 2 i spent all day again tryin different things and got the timing set back and its still the same....a bit better tho since the timing was fixed also everything on the dizzy is in the right order this was working fine 4 days ago nothing was touched or done now the car is scary to drive it sounds like it wants to blow up.

just curious i know the bottom end tdc mark is suppose to be lined up with the red mark in the middle of the 3 lines but whats the white one for thats away from the other 3

By AutoXCivic
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:44 pm #250702 Last time I heard of a Honda sounding like a WRX (granted this was an extreme case of severe dumbassness) there was a hole in the piston, and it had dropped a valve (the end of the valve was actually lodged in the piston). I don't think this is your problem, but you never know.
User avatar

By honda power
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:54 pm #250708 i took the number one plug wire off last night while it was runnin and it made no difference in its performance soooo i got something to work with.. shes only running on 3, its gettin spark and fuel tho??

By AutoXCivic
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:33 pm #250720 Did you try the rest of the wires and that's the only one that made a difference?

Cap and rotor still good? Didn't see that on your original troubleshooting list.

A compression and/or leak down check may be in order too.
User avatar

By honda power
- Sat Apr 16, 2011 5:54 pm #250722 yup that was the only wire that made a difference and the points on the dizzy were good everything looked fine in it but im waiting to try a new one. compression test is next on the list as well had the valve cover off yesterday all the valves were still in place and the head turned over fine. i think im taking a break on working on it today tho.
User avatar

By orangeEG
- Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:19 pm #251197 any luck let?:?

having similar issues but mine stutters through 1300rpms-3100rpms then its fine... and only if i hold it to the floor if i go half throttle its somewhat better
User avatar

By honda power
- Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:26 pm #251237 lol its kinda embarrassing but it was just a stupid spark plug wasnt working any more when we checked for spark we pulled the wire and put a different spark plug on it lol turns out we should did that instead of tearing the car apart
User avatar

By orangeEG
- Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:40 pm #251239 Hmm probably wouldent hurt to replace all of mine just to see if that helps, you said you removed one plug wire and drove it around and it was the same issue?, did you have an issue with the rpm range like I explained?
User avatar

By honda power
- Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:41 pm #251252 ya sorta the same rpm thing. but no i didnt drive it, it will make a difference just at idle try it new plugs and wires cant hurt
User avatar

By orangeEG
- Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:28 pm #251793 Haha who would have know something so simple... Always the easy things over looked

It was the same thing for mine, changed my plugs and it runs great now... The old plugs were gaped like 3 times the normal gap and corroded as hell
User avatar

By honda power
- Sat Apr 23, 2011 12:16 am #251829 lol ya make sure you check the simple things before you tear everything apart. had the coil fry on me last night to car was workin great all night the nothing just died on me. had to change the coil and something else before we could get it fired up again
 Reply
Return to D Series