"Dave Garrett" <dave@compassnet.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.2021dcb2372f941698a156@207.14.116.130...
>I think I posted about this when my timing belt was changed a couple of
> years ago; the short version was that my usual mechanic told me after
> he'd finished the work that he thought my 90 CRX Si had a 1.5L engine
> instead of the usual 1.6, because the timing belt for a 1.6 didn't fit,
> but the belt from a 1.5 did. He claimed to have called a friend at a
> Honda dealer who told him that 1.5L engines had been installed in some
> Si models. I asked around, but was never able to find anyone else to
> confirm this, and since the car was running well, I eventually just
> chalked it up as a curiosity.
>
> Fast forward to several weeks ago, when I had (among other things) what
> I thought was a leaking rear main seal looked at, but which turned out
> to be a leaking oil pan gasket. In the process of trying to confirm
> where the leak was actually originating, the dealer where I had the work
> done cleaned off a fair amount of the gunk that had accumulated on the
> various surfaces of the engine.
>
> Yesterday I was poking around under the hood while attempting to change
> a burned-out low beam, when I happened to shine a light on the front of
> the block, and there it was, plain as day: D15B2, otherwise known as the
> motor used in DX models. Sis of this vintage are supposed to have a
> D16A6. The difference is a longer stroke, slightly higher compression
> ratio, and, depending on who's counting, between 15-20 horsepower.
>
> I bought the car from an Acura dealer in 1992 with roughly 20K miles on
> it. I have no idea whether they knowingly sold me the car with a DX
> motor, or whether it came to them that way and nobody noticed it before
> it went out on the lot; it's not exactly a difference that's easily
> spotted visually unless you examine the stamp on the block. But either
> way, I'm not too pleased. I've been thinking more and more about an
> engine swap lately, but the reality of taking that path is that it'll
> cost a lot more for me to do that than it would to be patient and keep
> my eyes open for a reasonably clean, non-riced CRX that's already had a
> B16 swapped in by someone who knew what they were doing.
>
> Dave
>

Oddly, it may be that way from the factory. There is nothing unusual about
smaller components being substituted - why not engines? Okay, sometimes
specific engines are offered as extra cost options, and in that case it
would be fraudulent to supply a motor that wasn't what the buyer paid for.
Otherwise, if the purchase contract didn't specify the engine there isn't a
strict legal issue, is there? (I am not a lawyer.)

I recall a while back a commotion about Oldsmobile engines being used in
Cadillacs. I don't know if anything came of that.

Mike