EF wiring harness in wagon and lots of problems.HELP

2jzmiata

I just bought a 1990 civic wagon that had no motor no trans. I swapped in a d16y8 that is modified that I had in my 91 hatchback. The wagon did not come with an engine harness so I used the one out of the hatch. Both hatch and wagon are DX models and I did the MPFI swap on the harness as well as a vtec swap and all worked perfect in my hatchback. Here is my problem when I hook up the battery nothing works the lights do not come on the fuel pump does not come on nothing. I am not new to cars I have checked all the normal stuff like fuses and checked that everything was hooked up right. This is what happens the fuse box under the dash buzzes from one of the relays going crazy, the oil light is dimly lit without the key in the ignition and if you press the brake pedal the oil light and check engine light light up, when you put the key in and turn it the buzzer under the dash comes on but still nothing. The brake lights do not work the headlights do not work nothing seems right. The ignition switch is doing something but unknown what at this time. So this is what I need to know. I also checked all the fuses under the dash and none of them have power but the relays have power and the ignition has power that blinks on the test light.

Is there a difference between a civic hatchback harness to a civic wagon harness all seemed to hook up fine.

Has anyone had a problem even close to this before.

Could it be as simple as one or two power or ground wires are different in the wagon.

Any help would be great so please any input would be good input.


Here is what I have.

1990 civic DX wagon stock under dash wiring 5 speed

1991 civic hatchback DX engine harness 5 speed

PR3 ecu with MPFI swap wired in and Vtec wired in (Worked perfect in my hatch so I know the wiring on that is right.

motor is a d16y8 with a d16z6 head, d16a6 dizzy, dohc ZC 5 speed trans. This setup worked great in my last car just do not under stand why there seems to be not power other than to the oil light and check engine light.

turbo_teg

maybe a bad ignition switch?

2jzmiata

I unplugged the ignition switch from the under dash fuse box to check that and it still showed the same problems minus the key chime stopped.

503Wagon

www.rywire.com you'll thank me later.

Darin

did you remember to put the ground back on the T-stat housing?

2jzmiata

Yes the ground is back of the t-stat housing I checked it twice.lol

503Wagon- what is rywire.com gonna do for me. I know how to wire a car and I have done many dpfi swaps and vtec swaps my wiring is not the issue. I think my issue is some sort of difference between the hatch and the wagon. Also why would I spend $350 on a harness when I can wire it myself for around $20 and it only take a few hours. My harness on my car looks like theres completely re loomed and semi tucked just because. I am not attacking anyone just I have a series problem and even with a new harness from rywire I guarantee it will not fix the problem.

bam-bam

I agree that the problem is probably a difference in the pin locations from the wagon to the hatch, but I don't know what. You,ll have to check it pin-by -pin . Do you still have the hatch to look at?

503Wagon

you must not know ryan at rywire very well....the man can wire any harness for a honda. B series D series K series....any franken motor you can think of thats been done, the man can wire it by memory for hondas. Is 350 expensive for him to do your custom wire harness and ship it to you? depends how long you want to dick with your harness and continue to have problems. if you have to ask for help, obviously you're stuck. Not trying to put you down, im sure you've done tons of wiring. i just suggested him because i have used him as well as other people and everyone i've ever known has gotten their harness, plugged it all in, and boom car started up no problems. No CEL, no nothing.

He is the wire king. End of story.

2jzmiata

Does anyone have any input on this on what it might be. I was thinking maybe because the harness I used was a non power steering non A/C harness maybe the large connectors in the engine bay are pinned wrong or something. I know when you do a swap on a sc400 and you put a 2jz in it the big white body plug is pinned exactly opposite of a sc300 for unknown reasons could something like this be going on?

JDMWago666

This might sound dumb but try another cluster. We just had a similar problem with a crx at the shop. Nick(Stampern) swapped out the guage cluster and that fixed the lighting issue.
As for the buzzing noise that you are getting from underneath the dash, check your main relay and try another one if possible. One that you know is good. I heard a buzzing on my car under the steering wheel area, replaced my main relay and BOOM my problem was fixed.
Hope this was somewhat helpful. Good luck on your car hope it works out for you.

2jzmiata

First off I have used rywire.com in the past and I will agree that they make some of the best harnesses out there, but in my eyes for something this simple I would always do it myself. If it takes too long I will order a new harness if I have to. I kinda like the challenge of figuring it out.

I have my whole hatch back still sitting outside the shop. It was a perfectly running car before the wreck so I have all the extra parts at my disposal free of charge. I will swap out the gauge cluster and the main relay I already did so if anyone else can think of something I could try that would be great. I am currently tracking down the pinouts for the engine compartment harness connectors and I will have to check pin by pin to see what is different from the wagon to the hatch.

cmyrex

i have ran into something similiar like this but it was with a crx and a messed up dpfi to mpfi swap. i know that there is a subharness that goes from the fuse box to the cluster that has the same amount of pins and can easily be mixed up. if you had some etms available it would probably lead you in the right direction but for all the dim lighting off the cluster sounds like a ground issue. do you have the grounds on the inside harness hooked up aswell.?

2jzmiata

I did not mess with the harness inside the car at all other than to do the DPFI to MPFI swap. I looked around and did not see any obvious missing grounds but I guess I just have to start tracking everything down. A friend of mine who works at Honda is getting the pin outs for the engine harness plugs for me today so I can look over those and see if anything my be different. I have a feeling this is a gonna be a long and slow process. Does any one know if there is a gound that comes off the battery that goes to the inside of the car. I do not have one and was unsure if there is supposed to be one.