FijiEM2

So I've got an 05 civic EX.

had a vicious oil leak and Honda dealer confirmed to be a faulty vtec solenoid (spool valve) I had previously changed the gasket on it about half a year ago. Honda dealer says that its leaking internally pushing it out.

Took car and had vtec solenoid and gasket replaced new. Bought a remanufactured one on eBay. They are identical to the old one even the gasket.

drove car for maybe 25 minutes and check engine light comes on, scan it and find P2646 and P2647. Reset the light and it came back on about 10 minutes later.

did forum reading, read that low oil could be the cause. Car needed and oil change so had the oil changed and reset the light again. Only P2646 came back and remains.

I'm not sure what's happening, I'm out of ideas. No other work were preformed on the engine other than this valve replacement. I've had an oil change, new filter, fresh oil topped off to proper amount.

PLEASE HELP!!!

This is also causing car to stay in limp mode, car will not move past 4k RPM. When you reach 4k is like it's being governed.

Is it still safe to drive?

NDNV

May need an OEM Vtec solenoid. There are 2 gaskets - make sure they are clean. Low oil or restricted oil filter can cause this code. Try searching on P2646 on this site for more threads and info.

FijiEM2

What I got was a remanufactured OEM valve, car has oil with less than 100 miles on it, and brand new filter. I've spent over an hour on this forum and on google. I've read something about a screw/bolt on the inside of the head bit we never messed with or even took off the valve cover, the other is doing continuity reading on the pressure sensor at 3000rpm, which shouldn't be necessary as the the sensor on the new valve is brand new.

ezone

Put the original vtec valve back on it.
Erase codes.
Drive it.
Codes gone now? (assume yes)

Now fix the leak. Does the vtec valve just need the upper gasket?

FijiEM2

they told me that there was no fixing the old valve, something inside it wasn't holding this causing the leak, I changed out the larger 3 section gasket that has the wire mesh on it.

could put the old one back on but it still leaks real bad, thus the reason I changed it in the first place.

If the problem is handled will this code go away in its own (light goes off) or will I have to clear it on my own.

ezone

Search the forum, I've posted the part number for the upper gasket the dealer catalog doesn't show, many times.


Battery disconnect should erase engine codes.

FijiEM2

Accord to the part number you posted it says it doesn't fit my car.

FijiEM2

The main gasket in this set is the one that I used. Is this smaller one, the one I need?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F17 3233307894

ezone

URL fail



That's absolutely correct.
Now you see why the dealer can't replace the leaking upper gasket------ because it doesn't exist in the dealer parts catalog when you look it up for that car, therefore they must sell you the entire valve.


The dealers parts catalog does NOT make it easy to figure out interchanges, like what dealybob can be used to fix another thingy.
We had to go back several years in the parts catalog to locate the upper gasket, and someone had to actually order it up and try it to confirm it actually fits on the D17 engine

FijiEM2

Good lord, I hate using a cell phone to do my posting and commenting.

Alright, the part DOES show up on the hondapartsnow.com catalogue but as previously stated it does say "This part does NOT fit your vehicle" I'm just now seeing the broken link on the post I had previously made. I'll try a different approach here with that. I DID tell my mechanic to save the original Vtec solenoid so that we can try to repair it.

Image of the solenoid is the style I have on my vehicle. Little searching online yielded this other image of the gasket I replaced PLUS this smaller one. If I'm hearing you correctly, THE SMALL one is the one I need to replace to stop my leak?

FijiEM2

HPN shows the valve but does NOT show the other gasket. Think I should do the o-ring on the sensor too?

ezone

It's the only other gasket that can be replaced, (unless the leak is from the pressure switch).

FijiEM2

I'll buy the gasket and give it a try, will report back once I've done the job and it's fixed.

Slumpertcivic

FijiEM2

We took off the top solenoid on the old unit and it cracked the moment we touched it, stiff as a board so it was definitely toast.

FijiEM2

Today we reinstalled the OLD original OEM valve assembly, swapped the new pressure sensor over and changed the gasket on the top portion. Put engine parts back on and cleaned everything off and cleared the code. Drove it and took it to vtec 5 or 6 times and the light has NOT come back. I guess there was something wrong with the re-manufactured valve I bought on eBay, so after cannibalizing it for parts I'm only out 35$

Slumpertcivic