I have a friend that has a 98 accord 2.3 and bought a 97 accord 2.2 engine and put it in the car. He didn't realize they were different. Question is can he get this to work with an ECU swap plus all the other things that needed to be swapped off the engine (exhaust, distributor, sensors etc) or is it just not going to work.

 

Did the motor mounts line up and it bolted to the transmission?

 

Everything fit perfect. The engine just will not start. I let him know that the ECU is the only thing that's missing. I was trying to see if anyone knew before he went and got it.

 

The connector for the ECU should be the same, but you will have to look at a shop manual for a 96/97 vs the 98 to correct differences in the pin-out. I don't know what differences exist.

The 96/97 won't have an immobilizer, so you won't have to worry about programming the key.

 

I have him looking at fuses and relays tomorrow. He said it's getting fuel to the engine but the injectors are not spraying (he put the old injectors in the replacement engine). He can get it started with carburetor cleaner. Have to figure out the lack of spray.

I will check to see if there is a difference in the ECU pinout. More to follow after I talk him through a couple of things. Sadly he's not good at troubleshooting so I've been on video talking him through checks.

 

So got up early to have him check fuses and wiring. Come to find out the body ground had a bad connection. Fixed it up and it started on the first try.

 

I'm not sure about this because I didn't have a '97.
My guess is that it's not just the pinout, but rather the PCM itself. I have a hunch that the overall scheme of the timing signals from the distributor and crankshaft might be different across generations 5 vs 6.

The other thing is to know whether the 1998 car was a ULEV. The PCM pinouts are very different between 98 ULEV vs. 98 non-ULEV.

 

Ok, no need to change out the computer. Did a 160 mi test drive and everything worked perfect. I had my maxisys hooked to it and had no alarming data recorded. I will have him observe it for a couple days but I'm thinking it was a successful install. Thanks for the input.

 

About the only thing I'd be worried about is whether or not the 97 engine had VTEC or not. I only say that as the 98 ECM will be looking for it. Otherwise, I don't think there will be any issues, and his fuel trims might be on the low side.

 

Both engines are VTEC. I think that's why it worked without any issues