ok so I just bought this car and have no idea what engine is in it. It is stamped zc and has the p28 ecu. check engine light is on it is a sohc. I was told by the person i had bought it from that it was a jdm engine. but i have no clue and really needed a car to get to work. help please!!!!!

 

ZC's were older D-series engines, there were both SOHC and DOHC versions, I believe all pre-OBD (so pre '91 and older civics). If your running a P28 ECU, that's for a SOHC VTEC D16Z6 engine and if the check engine light is one, it's probably becuase the ECU can't see any of the VTEC equipment on the non-VTEC ZC engine. I would check the code and there might be other issues. I think 21 and 22 are the VTEC codes but there may be other sensors missing on the pre-OBD ZC engine that the OBD I ECU is looking for. Is the car driveable?

 

yes the car is driveable. runs perfect I just don't know what ecu to run in it or what the specs are.I was told by the guy i bought it from that it was a jdm 2000 1.6 liter vtec. I really don't know to much about hondas and got it for a cheap daily driverwith the option to upgrade it if I wanted to.

 

Look for the VTEC solenoid on the rear left side of the engine. The VTEC solenoid is a dead giveaway as to weither or not it has VTEC.

It is possible that it's an OBD-1 SOHC VTEC ZC. They do exist, they're just uncommon.

 

I looked for the solenoid but didn't find it. would it be on the top or the bottom of that engine? i'm guessing it is not v-tech. what would i use as a way to order parts? d-16 what?

 

It's on the head, to the left of the intake manifold. If it's not there, it's not a VTEC head.