is this the correct ecu?

[chance98EX]

Ok so my car is a 1998 civic ex coupe. Im trying to find out if the correct ecu is installed. The current one is the 37820-P28-A02. From what i can tell its for a 92-95...is this the correct ecu??? Please help!!!

 

[XpL0d3r]

Yeah, you're correct. A P28 is OBDI. The correct ECU would be a P2P, assuming you have a D16Y8 motor.

 

[chance98EX]

Ok so the p2p would be the correct one to have installed? Would the p28 be the reason my v-tec is not working?

Also yes it is the d16y8.

So just for my info...the correct ecu i need to have installed would be the P28? Sorry but im mew to ecu's and which is which!! Haha and its a d16y8. Would the p28 be the reason the v-tec is not working?

 

[XpL0d3r]

You have a P28 on there right now, right? A P2P is the correct one for a stock D16Y8.

Is your ECU chipped? It should be to run a Y8 basemap. It WILL run without it, but I believe timing and ignition tables are different. Vtec should still work though, they're both Vtec ECU's. Do you have a Vtec head on there? Look for the vtec solenoid behind the head:

It's the bell looking thing with the green plug.

Do you have a CEL by any chance?

 

[chance98EX]

Yes it's got the v Tec head and solenoid. How would I tell if it's chipped? I bought the car used and it's got a lot of mods. It's got an apex v.a.f.c. controller too...could that be the problem? And no c.e.l's

 

[XpL0d3r]

Yes it's got the v Tec head and solenoid. How would I tell if it's chipped? I bought the car used and it's got a lot of mods. It's got an apex v.a.f.c. controller too...could that be the problem? And no c.e.l's

Take off the cover to the ECU and look for a 28 pin chip. If there's nothing there then it's still a virgin

But yes the VAFC could very well be it. The point of that is to alter when Vtec engages.

 

[chance98EX]

Ok so it's a virgin Ecu!! What would be the best rpm to set the crossover? I've done some googling but I'm not sure where to set it. It's nicely modded with skunk2 throttle assembly, aem fuel rail with larger injectors, Megan racing exhaust "headers", skunk2 coilovers, strut bars, no name air intake, no name short throw shifter, etc etc all for 800 bucks!!! Also what would be the point of the different Ecu? I read something about it being converted to an obd1 and this Ecu is tunable??? How does a person go about "tuning" it?

 

[chance98EX]

point of this ecu swap?

Was wondering if anyone knows what the purpose of the ecu swap is for? The car is a 1998 civic ex and right now it has the 37820-p28-a02 installed. It runs perfect but that ecu is for a 92-95 civic. The ecu for the 98 year is the 37820-p2p-a34. Any help figuring out why the ecu was swapped would be great!! Thanks..

 

[lethal6]

Merged threads. There is no need to have 2 threads going about this ecu swap. Any more questions or things to add put them in here.

 

[chance98EX]

Sorry...new to the whole forum thing...my bad.

 

[XpL0d3r]

Was wondering if anyone knows what the purpose of the ecu swap is for? The car is a 1998 civic ex and right now it has the 37820-p28-a02 installed. It runs perfect but that ecu is for a 92-95 civic. The ecu for the 98 year is the 37820-p2p-a34. Any help figuring out why the ecu was swapped would be great!! Thanks..

I'm guessing the main purpose for the OBDI ECU is for tuning purposes. ODBII ECU's can't really be tuned. Older ones have much more capability such as tuning fuel / ignition tables.

I did a quick Google search and it looks like a lot of people are misunderstood and believe that you need an OBDI ECU to properly run a VAFC. That's not true, but this COULD be the reason why you have an older ECU. That, or the previous owner had plans to tune the car and never got around to it.

If your car is running fine, I wouldn't worry too much! I'd just set Vtec to it's normal crossover point or (5500RPM I think?? Somewhere around there). I've never used a Vtec controller so I couldn't tell you much about them unfortunately.