i have a d16a1, it starts easy when its warm and it runs stong when its warm, i have to prime the fuel pump a few times to get it started when its cold, then it idles for a bit then when it warms up i can drive it it only takes a minute for it to get ready to drive, it stalls out and lacks power when its cold for that minute but it has full power after that, i think its the ignition timing, i put that junk yard distributor on it, maybe its not adjusting the timing for me? do i have to plug something in on this ecu or wiring harness to adujst it?, the motor is an 89, i didnt check the timing yet, but i could have changed it putting that other distributor on?

 

You definitely changed the spark timing when you swapped distributors. I don't know whether you have to jumper the SCS connector for '89, like you do for newer ones.

You can also look for arcing in the dark, along the plug wires & distributor cap. That seems to happen more when it's cold, & it's easy to check & rule it out.

 

i advanced the timing the motor has more power now, and i fixed a vacume leak and it starts perfect when it is cold now, i have a code 20 now it didnt show after i fixed the vacume leak, and the motor starts and runs perfect for 15 secs untill code 20 shows then it bogs down and loses power, and wants to die, if i shut if off and start it again it runs perfect for 15 secs, then bogs i was reading that this happed to somebody with a bad battery ground, battery isnt losing charge or anything, i got a flow chart to fix the problem from redpepper racing, but somepeople say code 20 wont make you lose power, some say it will, it may be a bad distributor or bad coil within the distributor? or a bad ecu according to the flow chart if there arent any shorts.

 

So did you have code 20 before? Or is that something new?

Code 20 is the electrical load detector (ELD). That shouldn't have anything to do with the distributor. The ELD is built into the under-hood fusebox, so look for messed-up wiring under that.

 

code 20 is new, i had it before and it was a bad fan relay, i fixed that, code 20 went away, now it is back, and i cant find the problem , my ground connector from my negitive terminal on my battery, there is a connector to the chassis and one to the transmission, the one on my tranny is good and the one to the chassis is broke, it ran fine before broke, i installed a brand new airtex fuel pump for the 86 si, should i have bought an 89 integra fuel pump? i didnt install a new fuel filter when i did the pump, could the pump be ****ed up now, do you think just the filter could be clogged? it happens everytime i run the motor now, it seems something is losing power when i run it for 15 to 20 sec, either the fuel pressure is dropping to low after i run it for a bit because of the filter being clogged, or the fuel pump cant keep up with my 1.6 motor after long trips, i was racing the car and on my way home it started to bog down and cut out, then up till now it starts and runs perfect for 15 sec full power for 15 sec then bogs and sputters and doesnt have enough power to get anywhere, if i key the ignitoion on and off it will get me somewhere but i dont want to do that. the coil pack in the distributor might be going bad? maybe warms up and cant keep spark going ? or the fuel pump is warming up and cant keep up with the throttle, i have about 1000 miles on the fuel pump for a d15a3, but i have the 1.6 d16a1 118 horse, and the pump was running it fine it had full power all the way to the redline. maybe i sucked shit into my fuel filter from racing? I know im going to have to swap parts, what should be my highest priority?

 

Broke battery ground connection? Fix it!

Code 20 wasn't the fan relay, that sounds like some kinda coincidence. The ELD is built into the fusebox.

I don't know about pump compatibility. NOT replacing the filter shouldn't screw up the pump, but maybe the filter IS plugged? Won't hurt to replace it, if you don't want to measure fuel pressure.

After it runs 20 seconds & dies, will it restart immediately? If not, check for spark. Don't just automatically blame the coil unless you see there's no spark.

 

motor doesnt die at all it starts with ease and it will run constantly for hours, it just does not have full power after 20 sec! If i shut it down manualy and restart it immediatly it has full power which means i can redline the gears for another 20 secs, and stays running, i know im getting spark i just dont know if the coil is working properly, or giving me enough power for what im calling for, which is 7500 rpm shifts and long trips more then 20 secs, it starts perfect even when it is cold, my ecu just threw a CPS code 4 and TDC code 8, i havent seen these when the car wasnt running, my cam sensor maybe going dead? the motor sat for awhile i was racing it, do they go out from using them hard? Could it just be the CPS and nothing else, because i have a code 20 now and i hope this doesnt effect my performance

 

i know code 20 isnt the fan relay, but the shorted fan relay caused the code 20, it was an electrical load! now i cant find any shorts and code 20 is up again.

 

why would the motor run fine for 20 sec then bog down and sputter when i touch the gas pedal if the CPS is bad, i dont think the motor would run correctly for 20 sec or even start at all with a bad CPS has anyone else seen this problem?

 

I think the ELD just measures the loads, I wonder why it got messed up by a shorted fan relay... Is that fan relay in the same fusebox? Maybe it messed up some connections underneath?

Runs fine for 20 seconds then bad... I can't think of anything obvious. I'd probably go around & verify all the basic stuff. You want to rule out as much stuff as you can. Plugs condition & gap, spark timing, plug wires arcing, vacuum leaks around the FITV & TB...

Maybe put a timing light on it, watch to see whether the spark timing does anything strange at that 20-second point?