ok so here it is. i have a 93 RS swapped B17 converted to manual. right after swapping in the engine it would not start. here is what i have done
-fuel pump works(bypassed with a switch)
-MFR does not click on(replaced it with a known good 1)
-battery fully charged
-NEW distributor(new coil,new igniter,new cap,new rotor)
-timming has been rechecked and all is good
-fuses are all good (checked with a multi meter)
-i have battery voltage on BLK/YEL to the coil
- i have proper resistance at the coils primary and secondary terminals
-i have good grounds(changed em all when i had the engine out and i re checked them 3 times)
-CEL stays on and even when i jump for codes there no flashing(possibly dead ECU???)
i dont kno what to do im somewhat broke and dont wanna just buy parts if i dont need them. ive put so much time and money into this teg i just want to enjoy it!!!
COLIN WHERE ARE YOU LOL HELPP.
is it possible i keep blowing my primary circuit in the coil??? if so why!!!
the coil is retarded i measure resistance on secondary terminals and i get 15. something and primary i get Nothing it just like flashes 0.0,0.1 and then i retest and get 0.6 steady ONLY AFTER CRANK and when hot… its brand new as of today.
where do i check next
should i swap out ECU if i can find 1. my ECU was working before winter when i removed it from my gsr.
when i crank i get a initial spark out of the cap onto the wire and thats it. i can crank for 5 minutes and all i get is that 1 initial spark
maybe try another known good distributor. where did you get it from?
its brand new from a local company that manufctures… i also tried my friends distributor today and his did not work ither
Have you double checked any of the wiring changes you made to take away the A/T stuff and to add the VTEC stuff? You may have a short somewhere that is temporarily disabling the ECU or maybe even giving a voltage to a pin that shouldn’t be getting it. I found this chart which has voltages of different pins on an OBD1 ecu. It might come in handy. http://www.superhonda.com/forum/f55/obd1-honda-ecu-pinouts-217405/
I’ll just say that if it wasn’t for you claiming you had checked them multiple times, I would actually assume that it was a bad ground and there wasn’t a path for the current to go. Did you make your own ground wires?
It will be tedious, but to truly figure out if it is a component or the wiring, you are going to have to check continuity on almost every wire in the engine bay with where it should go to the ECU. I’m looking at the Pin outs on connectors between the B17A1 and B18A1 and the colors at least aren’t the same for some connectors, but are for others; however, the connector is the same size/shape. If you are using the B17A1 harness, then that might be causing an issue somewhere.
I would personally start by investigating connectors C126 and C318 from the Helms.
Robin
thanks for your input… i will do that… and yes i made my own grounds i remade the stock ones with 4 gauge but i will swap in the stock grounds tomorrow and c what happends… they werent bad just ugly. mayb 4 gauge is to big? i will go thru what you said and see what happends
does the ECU need to be bolted down??
No, I have run mine without it being bolted down. Although it would be much safer have it touch metal and keep it grounded (prevent static discharge/impacts/vibrations)
i checked for the ECU grounds BLK and another BLK and a BRN/BLK and all three are not givving me the usuall BEEP when probing a ground wire.
All three of those wires (well, they become 2) go through the same connector on a B17A1 and go through a different connector on the B18. Did you use the B17A1 engine harness, or the B18 one? You could also just be using a bad reference to check ground against…
I used the B17A1 engine harness is that my problem right there???
when you say different conectors? do u mean on the driver side shock tower? i do kno that after the swap my B17A1 harness had only 1 plug on the driver shock tower and 3 on the passenger side where as the B18 had 2 on the driver side and 3 on the passenger side. the driver side now has 1 just jamming there. i was thinking about that plug today and wondering what wires run to it i will take a look tomorrow hopefully its something stupid right there in my face. 
that plug for sure has to plug somewhere. you told me you used the original engine harness that came with the car though??
stock cabin harness all the way up to the engine harness thats from the GSR. im gonna go thru it tomorrow i think its my problem i dont kno how i can over look that i thought about it today i was like 
thats gotta be it.
ya so the problem was my stupid mistake… i should have used my B18 harness. b18 has 2 plugs on the driver shock tower. and a junction and then 3 on the passenger side. GSR has 1 on the driver side and a junction and 3 on the passenger side. the 1 plug left with nowhere to go on the driver side has 5 critical wires in it.(YEL/RED…MAP sensor, GRN/WHT… map sensor again, Grn/Wht again… Data link conector…it runs to each and every sensor, ORG/BLK…heated oxygen sensor, and the last one is YEL/GRN…ignition input signal)… i would think those are pretty important to run the car… my next question is… should i go and find a B18 harness and buy that and install that… OR should i run a few wires and figure this thing out. does anyone kno how to loop or run these wires into the GSR harness?
Wow.
At this point you need to look at the manual and make the decision for yourself.
The one time I did a swap and used the donor engine engine harness, I really regretted it even though it initially seemed like a decent idea…but I make it work instead of pulling the engine. I did, of course have all of the connectors I needed though.
What I can’t figure out is how you didn’t realize sooner that there was a connector that used to be plugged in and now isn’t! Didn’t you look at all this wiring stuff before starting the swap?
ya i did but i didnt pay close attention seeing as how the engine is generaly from the same car. i figured the harness from both B17 and B18 were the same seeing as how the engine came from a 93 and is going into a 93. i didnt look closely.
When the motor was swapped in i dropped it mounted it and hooked up everything except wires. i called it a day and the next day when i was working my buddy decided to connect them all up for me i mean it isnt rocket science to plug in 5-6 connectors that generally only go 1 place. he tucked and taped the loose connector… i remember looking at the shock tower that night from infront of the car and thinking"damn it looks weird… there usually iss 2 there isnt there?" and i left it at that…
After it wouldnt start and i began checking continuity and everything, i untaped this plug and didnt pay to much attention i figured well ill get there when i do i was checking other plugs and wires at the time. Now i got there and after checking in the diagrams of the harnesses and the ECU pinouts i determinded what each of these wires are now i need to check continuity and make sure there the same wires from the ECU to the shock tower plug and then go ahead and decided what to do from there.