1996 Honda Civic motor doesnt want to throttle

ringeeleng · Posted at Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:27 pm

Engine Performance problem
1996 Honda Civic 4 cyl Two Wheel Drive Manual 150000 miles

hey guys,
i have an 96 civic hb. with d16z6 sohc vtec 5 speed.
heres my problem; i unhook all the wirings and plugs back to the original location and when i start the car it idles fine. but when i step on the gas it doesnt want to throttle then dies when it rev only to 2k rpm. one other thing is that this car was swapp not by me, and seem like the charcoal canister has three valves. i think it was custom made for this vtec swap. original motor is non vtec. anyways i plug the one needed to the intake the one on the firewall and doesnt know where the third goes to. is this the problem to my car shutting off when throttle to 2k rpm??? i need help guys.

KHLow2008 · Posted at Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:38 am

Hi ringeeleng,

Was the PCM replaced with one that is for the Vtec engine?

ringeeleng · Posted at Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:31 am

are you talking about connecting vtec pulgs and such or an vtec ecu? my car is running vtec engine wire harness and running vtec p2p ecu. im thinking that it might be something else. My car only idles to 2 k rpm then dies..its like it doesnt have enough gas or air when throttle up but when starting up the car it idles ok.help me guys.

KHLow2008 · Posted at Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:15 am

I just want to make sure and understand the situation.

Is the Check Engine Light showing?

If the idling is good and struggles when revved up, recheck the MAP and TPS connectors, they are rather close to each other and have the tendency to be installed reversedly causing such problems.

ringeeleng · Posted at Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:01 am

yes the checklight has been showing since i got the car.
and yes that is exactly my problem. can you show me pics where the tps and map sensor go to.

KHLow2008 · Posted at Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:26 pm

When the CEL is showing, a fault has been detected and you need to retrieve the trouble codes to understand what is wrong. Autozone provides free scanning services and if you retrieve the codes, let me know what it says..

Here is a diagram of the parts location, they are at the throttle body, at end of air intake hose. The sockets are similar and can be reversely plugged.

MAP is on top while the TPS is at side of the throttle body.

ringeeleng · Posted at Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:01 pm

thanks. it was just the tps and map switch around! lol
but now im running to other problems. my car is running too rich on fuel ! on a single cam id expect more gas milage! what is wrong? y am i having this issue?

one more thing! my car doesnt seem to rev past 6k rpm. vtec come in at about 4k rpm! only. cant go more than 6 k rpm! i bought the car like this! is it the ecu? im thinking it might be an auto ecu and not manual. will this effect the rpm range?

KHLow2008 · Posted at Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:19 am

Is the CEL still showing?

Did you check if the TPS was tampered with? If out of adjustment, it could cause the problem indicated.