jmm081489

Forgive me as I am new to the Honda game and am in desperate need of help, but i bought a 4 door 04 civic (not sure what model no badges on the car and doesn't say on the title) I believe it is a dx (basic crank windows nothing fancy in the vehicle) with a blown d17a1 motor and want to buy a complete d17a jdm motor and tranny swap from the warehouse to put in it's place. the car has about 200,000 on it so i figured why just swap the motor when for an extra $200 you can get the complete motor and tranny with all the bolt ons and just drop it in. well after doing some reading i have found that people are having issues with the jdm tranny since there is no d3 in the tranny that comes with the d17a ( something to do with the TRS), also I have read some people say one is vtec and the other not (I was under the impression neither were). If one is and the other isn't what will I have to add/remove/modify? Like I said please bare with me this is a first for me, the warehouse specifies to make sure your vin starts with a 1. well mine starts a 2. can anyone please enlighten me on the issues i am going to run into if i try and swap out the original d17a1 with the jdm d17a. thank you all i really appreciate all the advice/help I can get.

jmm081489

So i was able to complete the swap with one complication. Couple things needed to be swapped. Basically the D17A got stripped down to a long block, and i used all the bolt ons from the old motor (D17A1), starter, a/c compressor, alternator, and the TRS from the BMXA Tranny, also i replaced the thermostat, new radiator, condenser (condenser was hit and pushed into radiator, radiator was nasty inside didn't want to take any chances), hoses, and the belts (alternator and power steering). I didn't due anything under the timing belt covers due to a time crunch to finish the swap. Ill get back to that once the bugs are straightened out. Started up and ran fine. After it got up to temperature and was holding steady for a couple minutes i decided to turn on the heat, and i got nothing... Then the temperature started to rise, and rise, and rise.. The fan never kicked on so i checked the fuse, no issues there. So I shut it down and that is were i'm at now. Does anyone have any ideas? Do you have to bleed cooling system, or am i missing something? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Again

ezone

No heat and overheat = low coolant/air lock or the water valve is not opening for the heater core.

Yes you must bleed the cooling system.


It only takes a little to blow a head gasket.

The engines are well known for blowing the head gasket without overheating....maybe yours already needed one before you got it.

jmm081489

Thank you ezone. It was air bound in the heater core. Was able to bleed it out and now she's running good, and heat is working good. And no bubbles in the radiator, always a good sign. Thanks again