My son has a 97 Civic EX that a previous owner put an engine from a DX into. So it doesn't have the VTEC like it's supposed to.
He has a cold air intake on it that places the cleaner down behind the bumper near the right wheel well.
A couple nights ago, it had been raining relentlessly and he went through a big puddle he didn't see until he was on top of it. The car instantly stalled out on him. My first guess was he sucked water into the engine andseized it up. You can hear a loud click when you try to start it but it won't crank at all. I tried jumping it in case the battery got damaged somehow but that didn't make a difference. It's on its way to the garage now for diagnosis.
If we end up needing to replace the engine, I want to put the VTEC in it that it should have. I looked in the engine code post but didn't see the year and EX type car he has. How do I know what to put in it and does anyone know where the best deals can be found on these engines? Will the tranny need to be replaced too or can we use what we have?

 

The engine code for the ex engine that year is the D16Y8, as far as the tranny goes, u need to find out if they swapped the tranny at the same time, i dont remeber how to find this out, because either tranny will work, but the dx has longer gearing so it accelerates slower.

 

^ what he said.

 

+1^

Also, be sure to get a d16y8 from a 96-98 (OBD2a) Civic EX. If you get one from a 99-00 you'll have a couple extra spots for sensors and what not

 

To hell with that non-sense drop a b16a in that thing dude cost you just as much b16a is easier to work on and you can get it to respond the way you want with out throwing a truck load of money into it

 

All he wants is the correct engine, not looking for a swap.

 

All im saying is if he is going to replace it might as well put beefyer motor O.o for almost the same price...

 

He's just looking for the proper motor, and is not building a race car by the sounds of it. Theres more to a b-swap than just "dropping it in"

 

I appreciate the feedback. At this point, we are definitely not looking to make a racer out of it, just get it running again with the correct engine. The report came back that it was hydro-locked and has at least two bent rods and the crank carrier is cracked. So it looks like we are indeed in the market for a good used or refurbished D16Y8 and probably a matching 5-speed tranny since it had a couple issues before the water incident. What designation do I look for when hunting down this tranny?

 

Tranny is expensive i have connections for parts ALL over the place and there like 250-300 dollars your better off with brand new motor and tranny plus like 300 in labor not nessesarly new but used ya know.