1990 Honda CRX no electrical power

Hi steveal01,

There should be 1 wire running from the battery to the underhood main fuse box.

Use a test lamp to test the main fuse.

ok, tested power and there is power traveling into the fuse box (under hood) through the other end through 3 terminals. Result is that there is an alarm in the vehicle and a door popper. when i plug in the battery, the door popper activates, the battery and engine lights lite up dim. No exterior and interior lights activate at all. When turn on the ignition, those same lights lite up like normal. Discovered the starter is possibly bad, pops out but does not engage (spin). also noticed that the wires that plug from the other end of the ignition switch is not even plugged in and cannot find the home for those plugs. are we over our heads?


VEHICLE decription: its a 90 honda crx HF shell, had no engine harness. he bought a full swap from a 88 honda civic dx (dpfi), came with engine harness engine, trans, ecu, axles.

ALSO ENGINE HARNESS DONT MATE ON DRIVER SIDE, BUT DOES ON PASSENGER SIDE!!!

Intermarriages would always come up with many objections and opinions.

Was the CRX originally a fuel injected model? I would like to know the Vehicle Identification No to get the correct information.

Let me know as much as possible about the new engine. The engine code would make it easier to identify.

Hopefully the wire color codes matches up with minimal problem and you would have to perform a lot of wire reconnecting and relocations on the connectors.

I am not sure the hystory of the car just that they has installed a b16 at one point then removed when my son bought. model was a HF, possibly DPFI. jhmed8367ls015935. The engine now installed was from a 88 civic, d15b1.

The VIN indicates it is a 1991 model with either D15B2 ( TBI ) or D15B6 ( SFI ) system.

I will send two wiring diagrams for the fuel injection system to your email as the file is too large to show well in the post.

I had to update my e-mail sorry. old one was bad. thanks.

Resending the files to your new email.

Thanks for the diagrams and now i can see why nothing worked. Almost non of the wiring matched from each harness to the ECU. We will have to create a jumper so we don't have to cut the original harness. Already ran though and did the matches on the diagrams. Now will have to go to the junk yard and pick up some connections and new wiring and get to work. Thanks for all your help. Also, Would you happen to know where just i can just pick up some new ECU connectors, if possible? Because i will need the male and female connections. Thank You

You're welcomed.

The only place you are likely to be able to get the ECU connectors would be the junkyard.

Dealers would only be able to provide the complete harness and is going to be pricey.

ok, so we got the electrical blocks from the junk yard, matched diagram and came out very nice, but when we connected back to vehicle the same problem occurred. Basically the problem has not changed. did notice some cut wires as well. would the best thing to do would be is get the hole new main harness for that motor and ecu? would it work in this vehicle? help

Since everything is in a mess, I would suggest starting from zero.

As engine wireharness to the ECU etc are complete, you need not bother about them.

What you need to do is to check the fuse box power supply from the battery. The wiring diagram should give you an idea what to look for. Some wires might require splicing.

Compare the 2 diagrams and understand what to splice to get the wiring complete.

Getting a new harness would work but would it be worth it?

Checked the power from the fuse box under hood and there is power flow throught the box. Just when reaches inside car, it's another story. Son found a whole block of wiring under dash (not stereo wiring because found that block also) that were all cut for some reason, and tried searching but no home for them. Right now, my son had gutted out the whole car because thats what he wanted to do, except the driver seat. Yesterday we decided to pull the dash for easier access to the wiring instead of crawling under dash. Alot easier to work with thats for sure. Looks like the last owner that had engine swapped messed up the wiring as there were slices and cuts which did not make sence. In that case, not even sure why they did what they did. Probably why they got rid of it because they screwed up the wiring. Funny is that we even found some (i think 10 ga.) wiring respliced back together with speaker wire, oh boy. I think in this case, there would be too much time spent to figure what they did and to correct and don't want to make it worse, so since car is already gutted, would be worth while to just replace.
So, would it be fair to say i would replace with a harness from that vehicle the engine came from so the ecu and engine harness match??

Yes, if you are able to get the wireharness from the donor engine, that would solve the problem, but not completely as the wiring to the rear might need some attention.

I do have a question though, when we were putting the conversion wires together, i did notice that each wire slot on the plugs were numbered but did not match the diagram from the civic, still went by the diagram. I wondered since i went by the color codes, that since the numbers did not match is why the problem still excist? the diagram went as a1, a3, a5 and so on, then a2, a4, a6 and so on. this could also. Also the plugs were did not seem to match in the position on the diagram also. something seems wrong or i did something wrong. The plugs are double row and teh diagram show as single.

The schematic are only for illustrating where each wire should be. You need to understand the connector layout to get the correct position.

Ok, finally made time and we got everything hooked up. Then discovered that there was very little compression on the cylinders (60#'s or so) on about all. Was curious and asked son when installed head back if he installed correctly w/#1 at TDC. Was not sure so rechecked and was off, re-aligned and got the compression back now. Whew. Cranked her, wants to start but back fires (and flares) in throttle body (DPFI) when i put fuel directly in Throttle body because seems like no fuel traveling. Adjusted timing through the scale and same result. Could we be off a few teeth or somthing? Checked spark to plugs and all good.

Recheck the timing belt installation and retest the compression again.

Is the firing order correct?

When fuel was put directly into throttle body, it tried to start but without it it would not even try to fire up? If yes, check the fuel pressure. Test if the fuel pump is working.

Had time to work on it and fired up finally. Did not check compression, had no tester, just by feel of presure from spark plug location. No timing gun neither, just by sound and feel. Has fuel gage in engine comp and reads 40#'s. Fuel is flowing. Sounds rough because only have the manifold hooked, was too short to reach piping so have to get pipe added to connect. Took for test drive and would not stay on. Shuts off when release the clutch, could not stay on unless clutch is pressed. Adjusted timing accross the board but sme result and throttle backfire. possible off a tooth in timing, not sure. Limited on tools on hand (of course).

At least somethng is working and some tweaking around should have the problem fixed son.

Check the idling speed, if it is too low, increase it.

Did that also but no change. Timing belt was not snug, slightly loose. Possible coulpret. Adjusted tensioner to tighten belt. Will test later today.

Yes, a loose belt can cause erratic idling.

You would have to get the timing light to check the timing.

Let me know if you require additional assistance.

well finally got it going. My sons friends buddy that goes to UEI stopped by (since i had no available time to get on it) were checking the car out. were re adjusting the cam and made the problem worse, car would not even turn over. Oh boy, remember it was running when i touched it. oh well. after they left, i was so uptight that i got my tools, went to the garage and checked it out. They adjusted the cam so far off, i am suprised they didn't damage the valves, geez. I checked, corrected, checked again and bam, ran. adjusted timing 16 degrees and runs sweet now. I hope those kids get their money back or at least pay more attantion in class. son is now excited, but now told him he could not drive it, car permit expired, dmv closed fri & sat, lol. he wasn't too mad though at least it's now running great. thanks you for all your help and directions. My heros..

You're welcome.

Great to know you have fixed the problem.

Have a nice day.

Sorry for everything KHLow2008, but can you resend me the dragrams agin please. Misplaces last printout, and my e-mail deleted itself. Can you send to teggydrew@gmail, please. experiencing new issues and want to go through everything again. Thanks.

I have already sent the files so you can check your email and let me know if you do not receive them.