[Skronkidonk]

Hey all. In august of last year I got my first car. Its a 93 EJ2 with a D15B block and a D16A6 head. Its got a P06 ECU and is OBD1 I assume.

Its not really a big issue, but whenever the car is cold, it takes a while to start. Sometimes it takes longer than other times but regardless it takes longer than it should.
I'm not exactly sure if this is the problem but I think I've narrowed it down to fuel. A brand new Dizzy was put on the car when I got it and I replaced the spark plugs. I assume its nothing with air.

Fuel pump primes good. But even when I prime it 3 times it takes a while to start and its pretty rough. When the car starts it runs fine, Idles high and then drops over time. (No clue what it idles at since its an automatic with no tach). Lately I've felt like the car has been guzzling gas. Filling it up to nearly full every 4 days. Maybe its cause I've been driving more than usual but something tells me there's fuel issues with the car. And the car has a VERY strong odor of gas after driving it.

So does anyone know what could be wrong with the car? I tried doing as much research as I can but I still can't pinpoint exactly what it is. I tried giving as much information that would be useful. Do I need a tune? Is it even a fuel issue? Or am I expecting too much in a 30 year old car.

Thank you.

 

[Oldcivicjoe]

The first places I would look are the intake air temp sensor, and the electronic coolant temp sensor, if both of those check good the next suspect would be the map sensor. Please don't just throw parts at it, test BEFORE replacing, testing is pretty simple with a cheap multi meter on the first 2 and adding a hand vacuum pump for the third. There are multiple sources for the resistance charts for IAT and ECT sensors vs temp m a simple Google search should find them pretty easy.

 

[Georgia Eg]

I'd also check for leaks and look at the plugs, make sure an injector isn't occasionally hanging open longer, plus what joe said

 

[Skronkidonk]

A little update. Thank you guys for the replies.
I was searching for my IAT and I saw that it wasn't plugged into anything, but another harness next to it was ziptied to the firewall and with my limited knowledge I assumed that was the IAT and for whatever reason the previous owner never plugged it in the IM. But my neighbor who is much more knowledgeable about cars and electrics said that it was bypassed and he plugged it back up to where its supposed to be. We started the car multiple times tonight and it ran no different but started a little bit faster (may be a placebo). I was also BONE DRY on ATF so I filled that up. I'm gonna drive here in about 40 minutes so I'll let yall know what happens.

 

[Skronkidonk]

The car runs a little bit smoother I've noticed, not sure why its bypassed. I'm gonna check the ECT sensors soon. The MAP sensor looks brand new, but I'll still check it if the ECT is good. Also I think I have a power steering leak ;(

 

[Slow-D]

Hey all. In august of last year I got my first car. Its a 93 EJ2 with a D15B block and a D16A6 head. Its got a P06 ECU and is OBD1 I assume.

Its not really a big issue, but whenever the car is cold, it takes a while to start. Sometimes it takes longer than other times but regardless it takes longer than it should.
I'm not exactly sure if this is the problem but I think I've narrowed it down to fuel. A brand new Dizzy was put on the car when I got it and I replaced the spark plugs. I assume its nothing with air.

Fuel pump primes good. But even when I prime it 3 times it takes a while to start and its pretty rough. When the car starts it runs fine, Idles high and then drops over time. (No clue what it idles at since its an automatic with no tach). Lately I've felt like the car has been guzzling gas. Filling it up to nearly full every 4 days. Maybe its cause I've been driving more than usual but something tells me there's fuel issues with the car. And the car has a VERY strong odor of gas after driving it.

So does anyone know what could be wrong with the car? I tried doing as much research as I can but I still can't pinpoint exactly what it is. I tried giving as much information that would be useful. Do I need a tune? Is it even a fuel issue? Or am I expecting too much in a 30 year old car.

Thank you.

IMO it could be your engine setup itself. You have a D15B block with a D16A6 head, the block and piston to head / cam combo is already custom and non factory. You are running a P06 ECU which is OBD1. What fuel injectors do you have? Are they the right size? I remember when I put my Y8 head on a Y7 a few years ago I had to find Y8 fuel injectors because the Y7 injectors would not run right with the Y8 ECU. Y8 injectors are bigger and the fuel map in the ECU is different.

I would say to follow every bodies advice here and troubleshoot your car for basic repairs and problems which may be occurring however it could be that your custom engine

D15 Block, D16 Head, D15B7 ECU, and your fuel injectors may potentially be causing this.

TLDR get it tuned after you inspect it and fix anything that needs fixing. Allot of people just get simple base maps and drive around on them with a custom engine and that is not advised. If you are running anything other than a stock setup ideally you should get it tuned since you are changing the variable factors of the engine. With a D16A6 head on a D15B block your cam timing is probably off unless you have an adjustable cam gear anyways. I do not know all of the details of your build however I have heard plenty of stories of people with Frankenstein engine Hondas having all sorts of odd issues because usually the build was thrown together with no money and probably done wrong as well as having not being taken care of by somebody who then sold the car to get rid of it and now you have a mystery Lego set.

The car runs a little bit smoother I've noticed, not sure why its bypassed. I'm gonna check the ECT sensors soon. The MAP sensor looks brand new, but I'll still check it if the ECT is good. Also I think I have a power steering leak ;(

Power steering always leaks on these old cars, I recommend you try driving one with a manual rack to see if you like it because they are cheaper to convert to and replace and free up some engine bay space due to the lack of the pump and give you some power due to the parasitic loss of the belt drive being eliminated.