I have a 15 min drive to work which is all back roads. Because its a relatively short trip I hardly ever push the car, maybe going to 6500rpm here and there.

The past few days I have been taking a longer way home and have been in the VTEC range a lot more (basically after a curves into an open stretches) and the car feels much more responsive and revs more freely. Has anyone else experienced this?

It also seems to burn less oil during this kind of driving. How is that possible?

 

If you are just putting around daily and not wringing it out you can develop carbon deposits that may make it feel sluggish but I don't think just zinging it up a few times or just a bit longer will make any drastic improvements immediately noticable.

oil consumption is usually the opposite of your observation.

for the most part though it sounds like it's in your head. but hey be safe and have fun, I can't imagine just putting around in mine. redline shifts are so much to me of what the car is about.

 

Yup, there's nothing quite like an Italian tune-up!

 

Hey, i noticed that aswell.

When i baby her, she seems to run like ****...when i redline and do spirited runs, she drives like NEW! more responsive and fast.. especially 3-4k shifts.

 

Glad I'm not the only one..

I just thought it was better for the car because 15mins isnt really a long time to warm up. When its chilly outside I'll let it warm up a little before I leave.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ford Prefect &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yup, there's nothing quite like an Italian tune-up!

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not complaining or anything..might have to take the long way home everyday.

 

It's really better for the engine to have it driven hard once a while. Just like humans, appropriate exercise makes us healthier.

 

I have experienced something similar with my coupe. When I put-put around for a couple days to and from work, it seems to run like crap.

Then, I sometimes go through periods of driving a little harder, and it seems to feel so much better.

That, and if I let the car sit for a couple days, then drive it, it feels like crap until I lay into it a couple times.

Maybe I'm just crazy.

 

ill be seafoaming my hype r in 900miles during my oil change.

i seafoamed her before and i felt a difference. this time ill put some in the crankcase and make her scream like a raped ape

 

One of my friends, a former Acura tech, told me an amusing story about the negative effects of treating a B-series like a GM 3800.

He said this middle-aged lady brought her GS-R in for service, complaining that it was losing pep. He did the typical tune-up stuff, like replacing the plugs and rotor, changing the oil, etc. He then took the car for a road test. But when the 4,400-rpm VTEC switchover was supposed to happen, the car coughed and started running roughly. He immediately took the car back to the dealership to see what was wrong. Upon disassembling the valvetrain, he found that most of the oil passages that allow for the VTEC switch were gunked-up with sludge. So he cleaned everything out, put it back together and tested it again. It ran beautifully.

When the lady came to pick up her car, he explained what he had done, and asked the woman what her typical driving habits were. She, not unexpectedly, didn't know what VTEC was, and told him she never took it past about 4,000 rpm in the years she'd owned the car. He told her about the high-revving nature of her car's engine and recommended that she take it to redline at least once per week, then offered to demonstrate what the car was capable of.

So with her driving, and him in the passenger seat, he directed her toward a deserted stretch of road behind the dealership, and instructed her to accelerate from a stop and redline the car in first and second gear a couple of times.

The lady reportedly left the dealership with a huge grin on her face.

The moral of the story is use it or lose it.

 

If driving ur car hard is good then my car is one happy SOB!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by walker111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If driving ur car hard is good then my car is one happy SOB!!</TD></TR></TABLE>
I know mine is

 

hahaha, great story
I think this applies to all motors, not just VTEC. Running an engine hard at least once a week, within its limits, keeps everything clean and clog free from the injectors to the catalytic.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by walker111 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If driving ur car hard is good then my car is one happy SOB!!</TD></TR></TABLE>
Same here

 

when i purchased my used 94 gsr, it came with a bike rack on it and a baby seat in it. older lady had it. 100k miles. the vital signs were excellent. under the valve cover, everything was golden colored. it drove fine during test drive. while taking it home it was running and idling rough, hesitating etc etc. opened up the throttle a few times and never ran bad again. kinda funny.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MK Ultra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">One of my friends, a former Acura tech, told me an amusing story about the negative effects of treating a B-series like a GM 3800.

He said this middle-aged lady brought her GS-R in for service, complaining that it was losing pep. He did the typical tune-up stuff, like replacing the plugs and rotor, changing the oil, etc. He then took the car for a road test. But when the 4,400-rpm VTEC switchover was supposed to happen, the car coughed and started running roughly. He immediately took the car back to the dealership to see what was wrong. Upon disassembling the valvetrain, he found that most of the oil passages that allow for the VTEC switch were gunked-up with sludge. So he cleaned everything out, put it back together and tested it again. It ran beautifully.

When the lady came to pick up her car, he explained what he had done, and asked the woman what her typical driving habits were. She, not unexpectedly, didn't know what VTEC was, and told him she never took it past about 4,000 rpm in the years she'd owned the car. He told her about the high-revving nature of her car's engine and recommended that she take it to redline at least once per week, then offered to demonstrate what the car was capable of.

So with her driving, and him in the passenger seat, he directed her toward a deserted stretch of road behind the dealership, and instructed her to accelerate from a stop and redline the car in first and second gear a couple of times.

The lady reportedly left the dealership with a huge grin on her face.

The moral of the story is use it or lose it. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha, great story.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Doespike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hahaha, great story
I think this applies to all motors, not just VTEC. Running an engine hard at least once a week, within its limits, keeps everything clean and clog free from the injectors to the catalytic.

Same here </TD></TR></TABLE>

I usually hesitate running it hard for the reasons i first posted and because of its oil consumption issue. I'd hit VTEC every few days and the black cloud of smoke made me think I was killing it more.

Now I'm going to do it every day.

 

Rev the snot out of it....it will thank you for it

 

Black smoke = rich mixture. This is totally normal for VTEC B-series engines.

Blue smoke = burning oil. Unfortunately, this is also rather normal for B-series engines.

 

Driving any kind of car hard will incresce break wear, the faster you go the more you will need your brakes, just keep an eye on your brakes and oil and you should be fine I dont know if running it harder will make it perform better but i know getting new brakes sucks when you dont have much money...

 

This is just like with old carburated cars. My grandpa owns a 70 ranchero w/ a 302 w/ a 4 barrel. Well he drives like a little old lady and complained one day that he car was running rough and just flat out bad so i took it for a drive. As soon as i floor it and the secondary butterflys open on the four barrel pure black smoke pours out the tail pipe, so I continue to hammer on it till the smoking stops and Ill be damned if it didn't run like a bat out of hell. This is caused by him never opening the secondarys which in turn causes lots of build up that inevitably causes poor running conditions. I can only imagine that even though these cars are fuel injected that a simular situation might occur.

 

Yes and no.

It is similar in that carbon deposits build up in the combustion chambers.

But carburetors have fuel constantly in the bowls, and that crap turns to varnish after a couple of months, meaning both carbon buildup in the combustion chambers and gunk in the carb.

 

I've noticed this also, when i drive my car faster, it feels like my car is faster...

 

Thanks for clarify what I was trying to say. Just figured that was a good example of driving harder can improve performance.

 

cool, same observations here.
I have a 10 minute drive to and from work.
Once in a while I'll go all-out and keep trashing etc: the R actually runs better!

So I guess it's normal

About the story about the lady: there was an older guy here in holland, that owned an S2000. Basically the same thing happened, but the reasons behind it are different.

But basically, the mechanic showed the owner what the s2k was capable of and the guy sold it that same week.

He got scared!

 

i make sure i hit vtec 1-3 once a week to make her happy. its an adrenaline rush for me

 

Doesn't it always seem that the car runs more and more like new right after you wash it inside & out? I know it doesn't but it's just one of those psychological things...