Vtec-e just killed my car

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by krousdb

Just add more oil and try it again!

What is your FE like so far? I wouldn't get too disappointed until you get a SuperMID. It makes all the difference.

GOnna try again.

I drove 130 miles before the gauge cluster fried. When I went to fill up it took 3.9 gallons. DO the math... it's nothing to be too happy about.

It's making me wonder what could be wrong. It's also very possible that there was a pump error and I have nothing ot freak out about.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by DaX

Don't get bummed Matt, but I recommend having a car that doesn't get tinkered with beyond tuneups and maintenace if you're expecting a 3rd family member (is a preemptive congratulations due? ).

As for the problem, it sounds like the VTEC just sucked up more of the oil. Have you checked the oil screen behind the VTEC solenoid? Check that and top off the oil and you should be fine. It won't hurt to have A LITTLE more oil than called for in the engine.

I'll check the oil screen this afternoon before I attempt to drive it again. I'm still trying to track down the wiring gremlin, which is turning out to be very difficult.

As for the 3rd family member, I'd love to tell you about it in private

[GasSavers_Jack]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

As for the 3rd family member, I'd love to tell you about it in private

Well one way or another it sounds like congratulations are in order. (except if you are getting your mother in law to move it **kidding**)

As for Vtec crap out I had the same thing happen to my CRV back when I had it. My oil level was at the add oil dot. When it stalled it wouldnt restart for like 30 seconds. I limped it home and changed the oil and it took a few "rev the crap out of it's" to get it working fine again.

So dont give up yet. You are down to the home stretch, just a bit to go and you will be running fine.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

what did you do to the engine befor installing it, as far as flushing gunk out of the engine? it might be a good idea to change the oil on it, treat it like a car that has been sitting for a while, figur that your rings are a little sticky, and that the rest of your engien is full of gunk, get some crank case gunk remover stuff that you add to your oil, install a new filter, and some of that gunk remover stuff, run your engine for however long they recomend, then drain your oil, and put yet another new filter in (the idea being that as it losten gunk up it might open the bypass valve in a used oil filter), I then like to take a hack saw and cut open my old oil filter to find out how much gunk I really did catch, giving me an idea on engine health.

[Gary Palmer]

Matt: I don't have vtec, so my perspective is largely speculative. From what I understand, vtec uses the oil pressure to drive the lifter/cam switch when it's engaged. It correspondingly allows oil presssure and volume to go where it's not at when it's normally being driven. Presuming you have reasonable oil pressure, I would pull the valve cover and check the oil passages which allow the oil to drain back into the pan. I would speculate that perhaps those passages are clogged to some degree from a lack of use or dirty oil or some combination. I believe if you have the valve cover off, you should be able to use a large wire, like a coat hanger or something, to check the drain holes from the head, back into the pan.

My expectation is the ecu probably has a "safety" built into it which shut's down the engine or something, when it detects a low oil circumstance. If you get the return passages cleared out, I would expect your oil to return more quickly, hopefully eliminating the engine cut out issue or whatever it is.

[Matt Timion]

I've been reading about the oil problem, and I think it's entirely possible that the oil level was never a problem. I think that my car turned off and I quickly tried to restart it, causing the oil and battery light to come on (like they always do when starting the car). I can't remember the exact proceedure I went through, so for now Im going to assume that the oil light and battery light were not related to the car dying.

It's much more likely that I have a bad ground somewhere, which seems to be also causing my gauge cluster to freak out lately. I need to troubleshoot the electronics first as it might also solve my other problems.

The only thing that I changed recently in regard to my wiring was when I relocated the ECU to behind the ECU cover. The ECU cover was made for obd0 ECUs and not OBD1 ecus. It's possible that I have a pinched wire. I will relocate the ECU back to the floor of the car for now and see if it solves the problem. I'm guessing it very well may be the problem.