so yeah...

[Christ]

so yeah...

I got the car, it runs and drives, put the HF tranny in it, and it goes, but not fast.. not enough power.. I find out that the guy I bought it back from put yet ANOTHER ECU in it... it's a "91 Si"... funny thing is, I'm getting a code 17 from it all the time now... which according to all te things I've seen is a VSS code.. .I'm not aware of any ECU's needing the VSS until Vtec started popping up... which would be the Z6/Y8 era..

Help?

I still have a '89 Si ECU laying somewhere, he said that one was throwing code 1 all the time, but I haven't seen a single code 1 off this one..

Oh, and I have to take my gauge panel apart to get the speedo to work again... have a feeling the gear isn't turning.

And I need to put a spacer behind my steering wheel, since it came from a '89 teg... b/c the headlight switch is too close to it, and you can't turn the headlights high/low unless the wheel is turned slightly..

Other than all that and the apparent power issues, all is well aside from one more deer impact and a few lil problems the car has always had... but I"m still going to replace most of the front end... b/c alot of the small pieces of tin up there are bent/dented/fubar'd...

...so yeah.

[Tony]

Sounds like you like cars like I do

VSS wouldn't cause the lack of power...I had that in mine before all the BS happened to it(because I swapped clusters and didn't have a VSS for the new one)

[turtlecrxsi]

Maybe your VSS cable popped out. Just put it back in. I drove all the way to NJ with the damn thing popping out and fucked up my mileage on my odometer. I was so cold then that I didn't realize I could simply reach down from above and plug it back in until I got back to the warm south... freakin' cold north...

[Tony]

My VSS never affected my odometer...speedo cable yes, VSS, nope. What happened with mine was I put that 88-89 cluster in my 91 and it didn't come with a VSS on it and they are different between the years...only difference it made for me was I had an orange light shining.

[Christ]

This car never had a VSS in it... the ECU has been changed to support the MPFI swap.. I"m just going to put the other Si ECU back into it... but yeah, thanks for the suggestions... I thik the gear in teh speedo came loose again is the reason it's not working, I kinda jarred the cable getting it out the old tranny.

[turtlecrxsi]

I don't understand how the VSS isn't effected if the speedo cable pops out of the tranny? Vehicle Speed Sensor right? I know the 88-89, 90-91s were different. All I know is when my speedo cable popped out, my speedometer stopped moving and my odo stopped turning...

[Tony]

Yes, speedo cable will affect that...I was just saying the code for the VSS won't effect anything like that. The Speedo on these is purely mechanical, what exactly the VSS does other than probably tell the ECU your speed, I don't have a clue but never had a problem with mine when I was running without one.

[Christ]

well, I put the cable back in the speedo, works fine now, was cruising 65 mph @ 2k rpm even... VSS is to report Vehicle Speed to the ECU to adjust fuel/air ratio for high speed (over 30 mph) driving, due to drag, etc... also to tell the ECU to engage (or allow the engagement of) VTEC, on vehicles so equipped.. but, as soon as I change the ECU, it won't show that code anymore, and I finally got the O2 code again, just today.

Once I get the headlight and corner lens fixed, get one piece of the exhaust welded, and get a pair of tires changed, it's good for inspection, and I"m good for a year.

I'm giddy.. this doesn't happen often..

Tony, forgot to check about your header piece, I'll find out around thanksgiving if you still need it by then.

[FrodoGT]

You can disconnect the speedo cable and not throw a vss light.

[Christ]

Frodo, you're missing the point... the VSS light is b/c the ECU isnt' the one for this car.. THIS car never had/doesn't have a VSS... the ECU is expecting one, and is throwing a light b/c of it.. the fact that the speedo didn't work was b/c the cable came out of the gauge when I dropped the first tranny out, and it literally pulled the crimped metal lock off the casing of the cable.. so we had to round the metal end off, then re-swage it on there... we have tools to do that stuff tho.. it's what I do @ work every day.

The question was whether it would be a VTEC ECU, since I didn't remember having VSS on any 91 Civic... but I was wrong, it was on some of them.

[thefooshmeister]

jeez frodo lol

[Christ]

BTW, I wasn't trying to be rude there, I was just redirecting your attention.. so no offense, bro.

[FrodoGT]

I wasnt actually saying anything about your situation. I was more referring to the wild string of what kinda sounds like people guessing at what the hell the thing actually does/is for and how it could throw a code. Someone suggested that you put the cable back in to eliminate the code and thats more of what I was replying to. Sorry im tired after work and didnt explain my random comment

[Christ]

ah, no prob there... yeah, you can get a VSS code whether the speedo cable is in or not... it's actually an electronic device that sends a signal back to the ECU.. not sure if it needs the cable plugged in to report the proper speed or not, but the ECU only knows that the engine is revving and knows about what speed it should be at in each gear, not that it knows what gear (if any) you're actually in... that's part of the calculation of the VSS's input... checks speed against RPM to determine what gear you're in, then checks that info against TPS and CPS to determine what throttle and how much advance to create more power for the current conditions/speed to accelerate when necessary.

at least that's how I understand it.. if anyone has PROOF of anything otherwise, please feel free to post it and correct me and others, but if you can't provide evidence, don't bother posting... nothing I hate more than ppl who will correct someone just to argue, and don't have any evidence of what they're saying...

[FrodoGT]

Well I know thats how a chipped ecu can limit boost per gear, it goes by tranny final drive vs rpm. The vss also gives the ecu speed limiting capability. However if you just unhook the cable with the vss intact then the car will simply think its sitting still and just revving with a load on the engine.