Rev Limiter Kicking in at 5K? Why?

[Felony2030]

Alright heres the situation. Looking at this new car, 01 GSR, JRSC (stock), DC sports 4-2-1 Header, AEM Cold Air Intake, 5Zigen Exhaust, Stage 3 Clutch (not sure manufacter), Skunk2 short shifter, 28k miles with some change. Car runs fine, carfax and title are clean, looks great. I took it out for a test drive and aside from some small things it ran fine on the city streets. Well I took it up onto the highway to see what it could do for the most part and as I got it up to about 5k the car started bucking as though it hit the rev limiter, i was in 4th gear at the time. So i let off the throttle and tried it once more, and again it kicked in, bucking and not letting me get anymore out of it. So i took her back to the shop and talked to the lead mechanic there and then we both went out on the car, i was driving and we tried again, this time he had me do rev it in 2nd and again the limiter kicked in, on the way back i tried in both 3rd and 4th, and he was bewildered. The Check engine light is always in and so is the SRS, we checked the ECU and nothing, the only thing that they've done mechanically recently (within the last month) was replace the belts, fluids, and plugs, and they have been working to fix an injector that wasn't firing properly, that problem is no solved, no more misting. My thoughts are that they didn't rewire the injectors right and now the rev limit has been placed on (i remember reading it somewhere). I've talked to some people and have gotten anywhere from holes in vacuum lines to the Crank Shaft indicator or the distrubetor. Any suggestions or experiences with this issue would be greatly appreciated. On another note those same people have told me that they've only heard or expiernced the rev limiter kicking in like that at about 3k RPM, not 5k, which is were it kicked in everytime. Now this may be an acura/teg thing or no, but it still warrants investigating. And also does anyone know what this "safe mode" for the ECU is, I've heard that lightly thrown up but I don't know anything about that. Any help would be appreciated

[integralover]

when the cpu goes into safe mode that is when the revlimiter kicks in at 3k rpm's. i have to say i have never heard of it kicking in at 5k. the fist things that i would try to play with would be the injectors. then the ecu. make sure it is reset. those would be my guess's. but the reason the car goes into safe mode is that the ecu know's something is not right and does not want to damage the engine so that is why it limits what the engine can do. the thing i would also do is ask the mechanic if the car was like this before the injector problem?

[pepsihatman]

I agree with integralover. I think that sounds a lot like a fuel problem. Usually fuel cutoffs are like that, they just make the car buck and heave. I have experienced it on my friends 240, and another friend's Saab 9000 turbo (which was incredibly violent)

[whtteg]

Well it is under boost so typical things can no longer be automoatically assumed.
I am wondering if there is some kind of problem with fuel during the VTEC cross over. What ever it is I would think that it is directly related to the JRSC.
I would stay clear of this car IMHO.

[Tano016]

I had this problem with my 2001 integra gsr, after the dealership had to take my engine apart to change the head gasket and valve seals.BTW, Your rev-limit cutoff is at 4400 rpm, right? Thats because that is the vtec engagement point, your engine light should be on and if you read the diagnostic code it will be either code 21 or 22, (vtec system/solenoid malfunction), if your engine light isnt on, there is sometyhing wrong with the ecu in that car. In my car the problem was solved by "flushing" the vtec solenoid valve/filter system. Vtec works with sliding a minature piston thru the rocker arms and using a more aggresive cam to create the high lift. Oil pressure is what actuates this piston movement, if the oil is dirty and the vtec filter doesnt trap it your engine light goes on and your vtec system is disabled " hence limp mode", this can also happen if your timing is off. The mechanic at acura told me this sometimes happens when major engine work is done on a vtec engine, in your post you said "belts" were changed, do you mean "timing belt", if so maybee they didnt adjust the timing right when they changed the timing belt. Anyways HAVE THIS ALL CHECKED OUT by acura, and even if they solve the problem, i suggest you do a compression and leakdown test before you buy the car, hope this helps.

[Felony2030]

Alright, Talked to the lead mechanic on Monday and told him what I thought it was up till that point, mostly pointing to the injectors but also including anything else that I thought could be the problem. Well, all day monday and tuesday the shop was troubleshooting to find the problem, they checked the injectors, made sure they were wired right and pretty much did a thorough inspection however not thorough enough. Today (Wednesday) was the first day I could make it out there and when I got there they said the problem was fixed, that it just kinda went away, well, I work with pumps and compressors and generators, and I know that problems don't just ever "go away" so I checked it out as best to my knowledge and he was even confident enough to have me take it out for a ride again. Well this time everything went great, I took her onto the highway, speed her up fairly quickly in first gear, right up till 8k where I shifted and then the same in 2nd, I was sitting at about 6.5k in third for quiet some time, with no indication that anything was wrong so I continued to drive for about another 2 miles down the highway upon which i turned off the next ramp to do some regular street driving. At this point when i was going down the ramp I shifted from 5th to 3rd and speed up slightly enough to cause the rev limiter to kick in again. Well needless to say I was very upset but this time I watched carefully when it would kick in, no letting me exceed 4700 RPM at anytime in any gear, if I downshifted into a higher range then that I got nothing till it was lower (like it should be if the limiters on). I went back to the shop and told the mechanic that he was all messed up and told him to check the vtec solenoid, the oil filter and line and to change the oil and check it out. I also told him that I'm not gonna get the car after all as well and then I stormed off.

[B16Z6+S20]

i had the same problem with my 94 coupe ex, i thougt taht it was reving at 5 and it turns out that the gauge was bad, so it had nothing t do with the engine or ecu o fuel, so i took the gauge apart and found out that it has a potencimeter( if you mesed up a PS2 lens u know what it is) and it just needed to be adjusted, i had to take the car to the shop so they would put the computer to find out the real RPM and andjusted de pot to its new seting.

[pepsihatman]

Old thread...

[superbluecivicsi]

you said your looking at a new car, but, further down the post you say its yours?

you changed belts? the blower and alt belts for the jrsc?

engine cuts off at 5k or it just wont go over 5k? rev limiter will not kick in at 3 or 5k unless the ecu has been chipped and changed to do so.

you have the jrsc...................just the jrsc itself or with the jr banaids? engine management? is there an ecu other than the p72? you said you checked the ecu...................for what? ecu has not been chipped? if so, by what and what is running it?

rewired injectors? using saturated or peak n hold? what kind of injectors? what is controlling them?

plugs? what plugs are you using? gapped at?

check engine light is on? what is the actual cel code pulled? srs on the other hand has nothing to do with it.

are you bucking in boost or part throttle? if so in boost, where are the boost levels at when you buck? are you boosting in WOT or part throttle? no noise from under the hood while in boost?

[superbluecivicsi]

god damn noobs just wasted 10 mins of my time.