Hi

I just wanted to post some info here with some of the issues I am having. I have a 95 accord that blew a head gasket last year w/ about 200k miles. I decided to replace the engine in it and transmission due to the age of both, the rest of the car works quite well. I bought an engine/trans out of a 97 accord wagon ex (f22b1) and it's obd2 with only 82k original miles on both. It's an automatic.

I pulled the original engine/trans out from the top with a cherry picker and had to use a good leveler on the hoist to take it out at quite an angle.

The issue I am having right now is that from most threads I have read, others have only said the distributor was the only issue (e.g. obd2 distributor must be replaced w/ obd1 from the original car and the engine harness). I moved over the engine harness from the 95 accord to the 97 accord engine. In doing so I found a couple of sensors related to the emission system from what I can tell that are not on the 97 intake manifold, but are on the 95 intake manifold. I am thinking at this point I will need to swap the intake manifold from the old car. It's a shame because the 82k mile engine and intake is so clean and the injectors are only 82k miles. Unless someone thinks I can bypass the sensor with a resistor or something - it's on the drivers side near the throttle cable linkage. There is another sensor on the 95 right near the ect2 sensor that is related to the whole evap/hose assembly that had a plug on the 97 motor, but it was easy to pull the sensor and move it to the other engine on that one. I was looking at moving over evap/emission assembly to the other intake manifold on the 97 but there is no outlet to feed one of the hoses, so I am kinda stumped at this point. It's really only one sensor being an issue right near the throttle linkage, and in fact that sensor attaches to the same bracket as the throttle linkage. I don't have any good documentation, the haynes manual is crap for doing really anything and it does not identify some of these sensors so I can't be any more specific.

If nothing else it looks like a complete intake manifold swap will be required to finish the migration. If I knew this I would have just looked for another engine from a 94-95 ex instead of buying the setup I did.

Any info or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks
Brock

 

Can you take a picture of the sensor you are describing? What are the wire colors going to the 95 engine sensor?

 

Sensor near throttle linkage
Picture of sensor

 

Possible oil pressure sensor on 95 not on 97

 

97 fuel rail area

 

95 hose assembly and fuel rail

 

I'd swap the entire intake over, and use the 97 injectors if you're sure they are still good (not dried out). That way everything should bolt right up. Re-use or replace the 95 distributor, so everything will plug and play. I'd probably change the timing belts and add a balance shaft seal retainer clip while I have the engine out, and replace the water pump too. Ideally you want to do as much of that kind of work while it's out as possible, as it gives you more room to access stuff.
But, would you have found a low mileage 94-95 engine?

 

I think you're right on the manifold. The old one is a mess and will need to be pressure washed, then new gaskets on everything connected to it.

I an not sure how long it takes for injectors to dry out, but the stock injectors are still good and the car ran just fine as of a month ago w /the blown head gasket, it would just over heat within 10 minutes due to exhaust gases in the coolant.

The donor engine has been sitting for about a year. I already replaced the timing belt and water pump on the engine stand, and the 97 block had the retainer clip on the balancer shaft already, so that was good. I used a kit from napa that included asin water pump, toyo balancers and mitsubishi belts for about $160. I am also going to replace the rear-main seal on this motor and already have a oil pan gasket set and a intake manifold gasket. Will need the whole intake assembly now and an o-ring for that oil sensor that was moved over. I used a dewalt 300 ft pound 1/2 impact (20v) to secure back the crank pulley. That was pretty straight forward, but I will take your suggestion and just get this thing done and piecemeal it. I will just leave the 95 injectors as is at this point because I know they work. I do believe the only difference is the intake manifold portion, the throttle body assembly is identical from the 95 to the 97. All the sensors line up. I might just use the 97 throttle body because it's clean and the sensors are newer with less mileage and migrate the intake manifold from the block from the 95, evap assembly and fuel rails.

BTW, when moving over the wire harness the grommet that connects to the knock sensor on the back of the motor (I think that's what it is) broke, but the connector is still fine. I am not sure if there is a replacement boot for this or not out there because that connector gets really hard over time and it is not pliable.

Brock

 

I think it's the VTEC oil pressure switch, which isn't used on the '97. The port is plugged with a bolt, so you can swap your switch over from the '95 engine.

But your photo in post #5 looks like the VTEC oil pressure switch IS there...? You don't have a photo of the '97 engine that directly corresponds to the photo in post #4.

 

The sensor on the back of the motor with the rubber boot (that typically hardens to a plastic and cracks) is the oil pressure switch. It turn on the oil pressure light on the dash when your oil pressure drops below a set level.

I'm not sure if Honda sells it. You might be able to use something like a spark plug boot for replacement. I think I wrapped my broken plastic boot in electrical tape when I had my 95 accord and reused it.