Oil change, now no VTEC and Engine-Check light on...

braziers · Post by **braziers** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:28 am

Morning guys.

So, just finished up all the niggles on my 5th Gen last night. Changed the handbrake cables, changed the discs and pads, changed the oil as it was as black as anything, sorted my headlights etc etc.

Took it for it's MOT this morning. Careful drive there to make sure all was OK.
Got there fine, went through MOT, and passed!
Left the MOT centre, went and got it taxed. By this time the engine had been warm about 15 minutes at the normal level (around 1/3 on the temp gauge).
At this point I thought, I haven't driven it properly since I got it home after I bought it, time for a some road VTEC action.
Took it down the lanes, which around me a nice and wide, open and straight.
Went to engage VTEC... nothing.
Thought to myself, that's weird, maybe the oil and water aren't both at temperature yet, although they should be.
Drove around for 20 minutes at normal conditions.
Tried again... no VTEC. And on the second attempt after driving it around, the Engine-Check light came on.

So now I'm baffled. Could the oil change have affected it?
I used 5w40 fully synthetic, which I have used on all my other cars and it has been fine.
VTEC was working fine when I bought the car, drove it 2 hours home and it was fine and engaged properly.
Even took it out last week when it came back from the bodyshop and it was fine.
Seems strange that after changing the oil, it has suddenly stopped.

Anyone got any advice or help they could share?

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 11:57 am

Is there some conspiracy in the world or something? This must be the

4th?

5th? lude that's lost vtec in the last couple of months?

Check the following;
Get the CEL code
Engine properly up to temp and cooling system properly bled
Vtec solenoid is properly plugged in/no breaks in the wire/bad contacts
Oil pressure warning light works and isn't flickering when hot/idling
Take the vtec solenoid off and check/clean out the gauze filter and chambers inside

Post by **RattyMcClelland** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:43 pm

How much oil did you put in? VTEC solenoid gasket clean?

braziers · Post by **braziers** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:48 pm

Just seems so strange. Oil change and now nothing.

I put in just under 5 litres (around 4.8 ), which is what is recommended I believe.
I will check the VTEC solenoid later, along with the wiring etc.
Just seems weird, as I haven't touched any of that, and now the oil has been changed it's suddenly stopped working.

Post by **Donald** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:51 pm

How many people have had problems now after changing to 5W-40? What were you running previous to that?

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:58 pm

I didn't mention about the change to 5W-40 full syth, because with the engine at temp it should be behaving the same as 10W-40 but yep, that was something else I picked up on Donald.
All have been 5W-40 full synthetic, apart from crigal (which had just changed to 10W-40 IIRC? Though we've no idea what it was running before)

braziers · Post by **braziers** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:00 pm

Donald wrote: How many people have had problems now after changing to 5W-40? What were you running previous to that?

No idea, bought the car a month ago, and the oil was pretty damn dark, hadn't been changed in a while I believe.
No indication of what it was though.
I'm starting to think it's just the oil, 5w40.

What oil do you guys use in H22A's?

braziers · Post by **braziers** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:00 pm

wurlycorner wrote:I didn't mention about the change to 5W-40 full syth, because with the engine at temp it should be behaving the same as 10W-40 but yep, that was something else I picked up on Donald.
All have been 5W-40 full synthetic, apart from crigal (which had just changed to 10W-40 IIRC? Though we've no idea what it was running before)

It must be the oil. It's the only thing I can think of, and it must just not be creating enough pressure.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:02 pm

That sucks because I've just changed to 5W40 fully synth too.. when will my VTEC problems start I wonder?

braziers · Post by **braziers** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:03 pm

bb1boy wrote:That sucks because I've just changed to 5W40 fully synth too.. when will my VTEC problems start I wonder?

Mine has started immediately