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2005 I4 2.4 Engine Swap to 2006 I4 2.4

6K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  T9_Timbo 
#1 ·
Hello,

Quick question. I just did a swap in my 2005 Accord and dropped an 06 model Engine in the 05's place. It's been pretty straight forward but I noticed the throttle bodies are different. I think I got that part straight but now am into the harness and a couple of connections that aren't matching up. I think they are related to the throttle body the wire colors match up for the most part but the connectors aren't compatible. What do i need to do? Just splice the old connectors in? I transferred the 06 tranny in too. Will I need the 06 ECU as well?

Thanks for your help guys!

Tim
 
#2 ·
Hola Tim,

The 2003-2005 inline 4 cylinder Accords have a cable. They are NOT Drive By Wire (DBW).

The 2006 and 2007 Accords with the inline 4 cylinder engine have DBW.

The V6 Accords from 2003+ have DBW.

Because of your engine swap, I4 to I4 from different throttle body systems, yes, you will need the new ECU from the donor car as well as the wiring harness.

*By the way, this used to confuse the heck out of me because I used to think "cable" = "wire". But they mean "wire" as in "electrical wire connecting the throttle position sensor at your right foot and the throttle body in the engine bay"

Congrats on swapping out engines.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Your original engine was a k24a4, your replacement is a k24a8. The blocks and the bottom end are the same. I think the intake is the same, why not swap the throttle body and keep the original wiring and make no other changes?

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I am not a transmission expert at all, but it would appear that 2003 - 2007 are very similar. I would think you could bolt the 2006 transmission in with no changes. I know there were some internal issues on the earlier years.

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#4 ·
Thanks Rick! Greg I’m not sure if your question was for me or Rick but assumung me, that’s exactly what I did. I dropped the 06 motor and tranny in the 05 bay and put the 05 throttle body back on and left the 06 engine harness. Now I’m at a point where everything matches up except a few plugs. One plug for the throttle body has the same color wires as the other plug they just won’t work together because one is a 6 prong and one is a 5 prong. The extra wire is a black and red wire which I was missing at the main engine connection to the connectors from the car harness. It feels so wrong to do and even ask but can I cut those wires and the connector off and splice in the connector from the 05 harness to make it work? Either way it goes if i swap the harness I’m still going to Have 3 or 4 plugs that won’t match up and plug into one another. I read that Honda kept the wire colors the same from year to year, if I look at a wire diagram from each and they are the same can I do that or is pulling the 05 engine harness off the 05 engine and using it on the 06 the easiest way to go? Like I said I think I’ll still have a few that won’t match up if I do it this way. Thanks for the hell guys! I’m literally finished once I get this figured out. I’ll swap the computers today.
 
#5 ·
yo it will probably suck to do in the car and you'll hate your life and choices a little but your best bet might be to swap all of the wiring and sensors that go with it (if the wiring doesn't match up) from the old engine to the new one

generally that's something you want to do with both engines out but sometimes you learn that the hard way (i speak from experience here)
 
#6 ·
If I switch the harness the electrical connections at the throttle body will match up but I run into another issue with the cables coming from the gas petal for acceleration the the cruise control. So if I swap out the harness do I also need to pull everything from the donor car's accelerator forward to the throttle body? I just feel like one way creates one issue and another way creates another issue and I want to make sure I do it right regardless of how hard it is. The easiest thing isn't always the best thing. I want it to be correct and reliable.

Disregard! Thanks for your help. I've got to get to work that is going to work I think!
 
#7 ·
You guys are awseome. The harness from the 05 engine worked like a charm. There was one plug on the bottom of the transmission right behind the drivers wheel that didn't fit but I removed the heat shield and there was another clip plugged into the tranny. That clip came off and matched the end of the tranny in the car so I swapped this section of wire and good to go. Now, I haven't messed with the computer but I have a no crank no start condition. It seems the car isn't getting power from the batter. I checked the batter and it's full and I check the hot wire to the fuse box and it's got a good connection. Is the ECU doing this? No lights inside the vehicle, no nothing, completely dead. Ugh I thought this swap would be all mechanical work didn't realize how involved the electrical stuff would be. I massively underestimated what I knew would be a beast of a task even still. I'm soooo close though. Man the new motor looks nice and clean siting in it's new home. Sure would be great if it would, you know... turn over.
 
#8 ·
You guys are awseome. The harness from the 05 engine worked like a charm. There was one plug on the bottom of the transmission right behind the drivers wheel that didn't fit but I removed the heat shield and there was another clip plugged into the tranny. That clip came off and matched the end of the tranny in the car so I swapped this section of wire and good to go. Now, I haven't messed with the computer but I have a no crank no start condition. It seems the car isn't getting power from the batter. I checked the batter and it's full and I check the hot wire to the fuse box and it's got a good connection. Is the ECU doing this? No lights inside the vehicle, no nothing, completely dead. Ugh I thought this swap would be all mechanical work didn't realize how involved the electrical stuff would be. I massively underestimated what I knew would be a beast of a task even still. I'm soooo close though. Man the new motor looks nice and clean siting in it's new home. Sure would be great if it would, you know... turn over.
Check the main fuse in the underhood fuse panel. Also, make sure the ground connections from the battery and the engine are in place.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
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#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
71 days after I bought the totaled 06 Accord off of Cragislist I drove my resurrected Accord our of my neighbors garage and tore down the street at over MODERATOR EDIT: STREET RACING IS ILLEGAL, DANGEROUS, AND JUST PLAIN STUPID miles per hour. The neighbor on the other side of me stood in his driveway in disbelief like he had seen a ghost and the old guy across the street who normally sits on his porch and yells at people to slow down couldn't get a word to come out fast enough. I laughed histerically as I desperately tried to find a spot in the windshield that wasn't distorted from pennetrating oil and dirt from stuff I had sat on the windshield while working and didn't think to clean it because of the suspense and how excited I was to see how it ran. This was a big accomplishment, I had no experience doing anything close to this and it took a lot of courage or ignorance to give it a shot myself becuse I didn't know what I was getting into and looking back I underestimated it to an extend but more so on the electrical side of things. The mechanic stuff seems pretty easy and anything that wasn't Eric the Car Guy form Youtube was there for me. You guys in this forum were there for me on more than one occasion. I am going to think of the things I learned and probably make a seperate post. The biggest thing was in regards to confidence. Believe in yourlsef and give yourself a shot you might suprise yourself. There were a few things that hung me up and made me want to call a tow truck but I didn't. I now have a junk k24a4 and a 05 Accord 2.4 v4 with a k24a8, forogt to mention the tansmission came out and went back in with me. So now my motor and transmission went from 263K miles to 83Kmiles. It feels good to say that, again, thanks for your help Drive Accord! You people have no idea how much of a diffee you've made for me and my family.
 
#10 ·
I wanted to stop by this post because it’s been exactly 2 years since I swapped a blown k24 for a lower mileage k24 into my 05 accord. This was like a right of passage for me and for it to fire up first try the feeling when it started right up and purred was unlike anything else I’ve experienced so far in life. The odometer of the 05 is sitting at 290,917 miles and the engine/tranny had 82,160 at the time of the swap and is currently sitting at 110,353 miles. That’s a whole 28,193 miles in 2 years. I’ve had a couple of issues since but it’s all routine type of stuff. I rebuilt the power steering pump Becsuse it was leaking terribly. The front and rear suspension have been rebuilt and the headlights have been retrofitted with 4 2.5 inch projector assemblies and hid systems. No oil leaks but I do have a leaking water pump which will be the next item to address. I’m no longer scared of my car I know it inside and out as I should. I wanted to thank the people on this forum for being so helpful and generous. Seriously, I couldn’t have done it without you guys. This is an awesome community of people. I believe Honda has a customer out of me for life, after working on chrystkers and fords I am appreciative of Honda engineers. They make a solid product and keep the mechanics in mind who will be doing repairs hundreds of thousands of miles down the road. I’m going to roll this odometer over. Lessons learned and I’m glad I kept my car and didn’t scrap it like everyone told me to do. To this day some of those folks still mention how jealous they are that I had the courage to attempt the swap. You never know until you try and when you have resources and people in your corner to help you why be scared? Have some confidence and be positive, it may not be easy but if you really put your mind to it you can do anything.
 
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