Hey guys! My name is Michael and I'm fairly new to PO. I've been stalking the forums for a few months to learn as much as I can about Preludes since I wanted to buy one. Well, now I have one and it's a very bittersweet experience. I love the car, and so I really REALLY wish it didn't have so many problems right from the get go, but it does so I just have to deal with it and hopefully get the car fixed up. I got a 2001 Prelude Type SH, 156k miles, mostly stock with a H22A4 to H22A red top engine swap that also came with the tranny. One problem. It idles like ****. Besides the engine and tranny it has a clutch bypass, a K&N air filter only (not CAI), and red Nology HotWire spark plug wires that are individually grounded on the engine itself. That's it. The rest is stock aside from cosmetic things such as HIDs, Viper alarm, blue LEDs, and a small sound system. I bought it about 3-4 weeks ago from a guy who did the engine swap himself and it ran fine for a day or two until it stalled on me while driving down the road at about 45-50 MPH. The following day it stalled on me twice more due to a low idle while I was trying to take off from a driveway and then a stoplight. It was then fine for like 2 days until all hell broke loose and it began to die on me left and right. I tried to back out of a parking space without really gunning it and it died 3 times. There is no check engine light coming on to help me out with this problem and the shop I generally go to couldn't help me out. So, I took it to a shop who is supposed to specialize in Honda and they swapped out the ignition switch which did nothing except waste about 175 bucks lol. Since my car isn't just idling like crap all of the time and it isn't revving high I didn't think any of the other threads I looked through matched my issue.
It will idle fine while in neutral unless I'm coming to a stop and I pop it in neutral and coast to a stop while only applying the brake. When I do that, the car will idle a little rough and flash the oil light for a second before it fades and repeats, but the car won't stall in neutral. The time I am having trouble is when I put on the clutch and let the RPMs drop while I hold the clutch down. The engine struggles and shakes the car, drops to low RPM, the oil pressure light starts to flicker on and off, and then the car stalls in one big fluid motion. It took me a while to notice that it almost only does this when I slap on the clutch and just let the RPM needle hit 0. It's almost caused me to crash a couple of times. It also shakes, idles lower (from 800-900 in neutral down to about 500 when the clutch is pressed), and still flashes me that dirty oil light 85% of the time when I'm sitting at a stop before I decide to apply my clutch. The other 15% of the time, I throw it in neutral, coast to a stop with my brake pedal and no clutch, and then I apply the clutch and put it in gear until I can go again. I have had it to where the RPM needle bounces up and down between 0 and 1k, but again, none of this stuff happens until the car is warmed up. Turning on the A/C while sitting in neutral at a light made it idle rougher and stall one time, but not again since then. There is no sluggishness or bogging, but I have begun to notice a weird noise coming from the engine as I begin to really accelerate. The sound... it makes me think of a metallic object rattling around the engine because of the vibration it's making from accelerating.
I should also mention 3 more things I've found out so far. 1. It only does any of this stuff once the car has warmed up. When the engine is cold or it isn't fully warm yet there are no rough idles, no stalls, and no oil lights. If I stop somewhere and go into a store for 30 mins to an hour then come back out to my car it will act just fine until it fully warms up again. 2. I had a coolant leak that 2 different shops couldn't find because there was nothing leaking on the ground and nothing leaking down from the car when they put it on the lift, but I used a couple of GMC's stop leak tablets and that fixed that issue. 3. When I took my Prelude to the previously mentioned Honda shop they said their scanner had no communication with my car for some reason. There are no CELs to begin with, but they wanted to scan for anything looking out of the ordinary, and I guess his scanner couldn't connect. While this worries me to a certain extent, I'm waiting to have a couple other scanners put on it before I try to delve into this new endeavor. Any ideas? **VIDEOS WILL BE POSTED SOON**
Again, any help is appreciated. My main concerns are the stalling as I come to a stop, but only with the clutch applied and then that damn oil pressure light. There is sufficient amounts of oil in the car and the shop said that when they looked into the oil cap with the car running they could see the oil flow which meant it has plenty of oil pressure as well. Basically, they think it might be a bad oil sending sensor for the light and then who knows what else for the rough idle and stalling.
I almost had the same problem (with my civic), the only difference was that my oil lamp didn't go on like yours does. The thing that solved my problem was, was changing the whole complete distributor.
Thanks for the reply, Watchfuldriver. So, your Civic use to stall when you would put on the clutch and come to a stop? Would it still stall if it was in neutral too or only with the clutch on/with it being in gear? that's the weird part, it will idle roughly and shake while in neutral, but it refuses unless I have it in gear and/or I'm holding the clutch down.
On a side note, I was reading about an Acura Integra Type R that would not communicate with any OBD 2 scanners and the problem was that it had a JDM front end so the ECU was Japanese and the owner had to buy a USDM ECU. I still haven't had a chance to get it scanned by any other scanners yet, but does anyone think that could also be my problem with my car not communicating with the Honda shop scanner since it has a swapped out type s red top engine and transmission?
Whenever the engine got hot, it started to doing weird thing. Like when idling, going almost dead. Most of the time he tried to save him self, by automatically giving it some gas. When I was driving along, and I hit the clutch, the rev's wen to like almost zero and then he also try to save his ass, by giving extra gas. Sometimes, the engine just stop d
BTW: Do you sometimes experience trouble with warm start?
The JDM H22A swap you have is OBDI (which is why you cannot pull any codes).
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Whenever the engine got hot, it started to doing weird thing. Like when idling, going almost dead. Most of the time he tried to save him self, by automatically giving it some gas. When I was driving along, and I hit the clutch, the rev's wen to like almost zero and then he also try to save his ass, by giving extra gas. Sometimes, the engine just stop d
BTW: Doyou so times experience trouble with warm start?
No, I never experience trouble with warm starts. Not yet anyways. It has been needing a few cranks to fire up from a cold start now, but it has slowly developed new symptoms as time has gone by. Perfect example is the metallic clacking sound coming from the engine. It is now limiting the revs to about 6800 from time to time (redline is like 7500). This has only happened twice already and it stop doing it both times within about 5 to 10 minutes from the time it started doing it. This worries me because when you combine an oil lamp with weird engine sounds and power bogging/revving issues you normally have some serious car problems lol. Again, though, every single one of the symptoms only begin once the car has COMPLETELY warmed up. My Prelude does give itself a bit of gas in order to try to save itself while its idleing, but it just dies without a fight when I hit the clutch and let the rpms freely drop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheJGB-2KTypeSH
The JDM H22A swap you have is OBDI (which is why you cannot pull any codes).
Thanks for the reply. That is what I was thinking because of what I have read and researched already. so, the question becomes how do I fix that? Is it as easy as swapping out the computer for a USDM ECU? Is there a more complicated solution? I read that the ECU is easily swapped out for JDM/USDM so that it can be scanned and so that it passes smog as long as it is the exact ECU type that belonged to the car to begin with (AKA 37820-P5P-L05).
I also have almost same problem as you but I guess mine is not so bad yet to stall/oil light flicker. Mines weird too because when I have my lights on, idle is not funky but when lights are off and I'm coming to a stop.... It almost want to stall, rpm is a hair from 0.
So far I've done the basic tune up:
Spark plugs
Wireset
Distributor cap/rotor
Seafoamed
Oil change
O2 sensors
Car runs a lil smoother now. It still hits low rpm 200-300rpm at a stop light sometimes. Although it idle surged for the first/last time after seafoam and oil change.
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I love the car, and so I really REALLY wish it didn't have so many problems right from the get go, but it does so I just have to deal with it and hopefully get the car fixed up. I got a 2001 Prelude Type SH, 156k miles, mostly stock with a H22A4 to H22A red top engine swap that also came with the tranny. One problem. It idles like ****. Besides the engine and tranny it has a clutch bypass, a K&N air filter only (not CAI), and red Nology HotWire spark plug wires that are individually grounded on the engine itself. That's it. The rest is stock aside from cosmetic things such as HIDs, Viper alarm, blue LEDs, and a small sound system. I bought it about 3-4 weeks ago from a guy who did the engine swap himself and it ran fine for a day or two until it stalled on me while driving down the road at about 45-50 MPH. The following day it stalled on me twice more due to a low idle while I was trying to take off from a driveway and then a stoplight. It was then fine for like 2 days until all hell broke loose and it began to die on me left and right. I tried to back out of a parking space without really gunning it and it died 3 times. There is no check engine light coming on to help me out with this problem and the shop I generally go to couldn't help me out. So, I took it to a shop who is supposed to specialize in Honda and they swapped out the ignition switch which did nothing except waste about 175 bucks lol. Since my car isn't just idling like crap all of the time and it isn't revving high I didn't think any of the other threads I looked through matched my issue.
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