california civic hx

[fernhx]

hey guys im new on this site, and just recently i found out that the califonia model 2000 civic hx that i own does not have lean burn mode because of emission laws in california. does any one know if i could swap the ecu out for a 49 state hx ecu that i could finaly start getting the mpg that the hx is supposed to be getting

[PaleMelanesian]

You may have to use a different O2 sensor as well. I'm not sure.

On the plus side, a Scangauge will be accurate in your case. It can't read lean-burn and over-reports fuel usage in that mode.

[fernhx]

it has a five wire o2 sensor.....

[SVOboy]

You need both the ecu and the 5 wire from the 49 state model to make the conversion, but you might not pass smog.

Welcome to ecomodder!

[fernhx]

so the 5 wire o2 sensor out of the 49 state car is also different than the california car?

[Red]

CA spec HXs should have lean burn and the 5 wire LAFs. They were CA certified

[cfg83]

Red -

Originally Posted by Red

CA spec HXs should have lean burn and the 5 wire LAFs. They were CA certified

That was my impression. My assumption was that the ECU programming would not be as "aggressive" when it comes to lean-burn in order to comply with California emissions.

CarloSW2

[fernhx]

in the honda dealers parts catalog they do show a (KL) meaning califonia spec ecu part number, and a (KA) meaning 49 state ecu part number, so there are two different ecu avaliable. which makes me believe that they are not equal

[fernhx]

maybe my driving is to aggressive:

[WTFM8]

My HX is a 49-state model, but from what I can tell there are no physical differences between CARB and other models sold in the US. The ECU may hold the key. If you have a scangauge, does it go to 9999 MPG very often? Mine does this when I hit the throttle sweet spot, so if you don't get this in regular driving, the CPU is probably different.

Lean burn does pollute more while burning less fuel AFAIK, but that probably wouldn't cause you to fail an emissions test... then again...