Normal is around 240psi. 185 is seriously low. Was this a harbor freight gauge? They seem to be wildly inaccurate. Especially at higher compression. They don't seem to be able to read anything 200 or above.

If its not aHF gauge... its said its more important to be uniform across all cylinders, rather than absolute number. But seriously low is still low.

 

I think between 200 and 230 is more realistic but honestly different gauges are going to read different numbers. What you want is consistency across the different cylinders. if your dial is showing within 5 percent on each cylinder then you're probably just fine. dont sweat the 185.

 

185psi is not "seriously" low.
Page 2-2 of the Service Manual notes
Nominal 228psi
Minimum 135psi
Max Variation 28psi

-- Chuck

 

If VTEC is actually not engaging, you would get a CEL.

VTEC looks for:
Coolant temp
Speed sensor
IAT
RPM signal
Oil pressure
MAP signal
TPS signal

If any of those sensors have failed OR if the VTEC solenoid has failed, you'll get a CEL.

Is your CEL on?

 

The wire was completely broken off of my VTEC oil pressure switch and I drove it to an autox event not noticing it at first. 80 mile drive. Never turned on the CEL and of course would not engage VTEC during the drive. Had to do a quick hack mod to wire it back up at the event and then re-pinned the connector later (wire broke right at the connector). So you may not get a CEL if it is due to that specific issue based upon my experience.

 

This was my experience when I broke the connector on mine while changing the oil filter. No CEL, no VTEC.