Just bought my second car which happens to be a 1992 Honda Prelude Si and I have a couple questions that you guys may happen to have the answers too.

First questions that i'm curious about is the gear ratios mainly at highway speeds, is it normal for the car to be at 3500-3900'ish RPM's @ 120 KM/H (80 MPH)? I've grew up around toyota and honda so i'm no stranger to high engine RPM's at higher speeds but even my little 1991 Honda Accord EX-R was around 3000-3100 @ 120 KM/H (80 MPH) is this normal?

Second question is that the engine seems to take awhile to hit 2 bars on the dash for engine temperature, i'm just curious would this be a thermostat issue or can this be issue? I've noticed that it can hit 2 bars after a drive when you first start it up after a long drive but as soon as you get going it drops back to 1 bar (normal)?

Thanks again sorry for the boring questions but i'm sure i'll have more as I go, and for the record can't complain love the car especially the steering .

Edit: The car is a automatic.


Modified by iNexus at 4:29 PM 3/15/2008

 

i believe the auto only has 4 gears -> higher rpm at faster speeds

thermo might need an ohm test

 

wow these are the same questions that i wondered when i got my 4th gen prelude. My car is the VTEC version of the 4th gen and manual, but its should be pretty much the same, but yea, cruising at 80mph my RPM is at about 3500 and when i warm up my car it takes about 5-7 minutes for it to warm up and reach those two bars. i'm pretty sure its normal, especially the rpm rage at 80mph, these prelude are big gas consumers so yea get use to it, especially when yours is 2.3L, mines is 2.2L...have fun wit your new ride

 

Your Rpm at that speed is normal. It will fluctuate with tire sizes but on average thats on the ball.

As far as your temperature goes are you driving it in cold weather and does it have a CAI (cold air intake)?

The cold weather, when the air is drawn into your motor can cool it a bit and bring your temp down enough to change your guage. If It never reaches the second line even after driving for half hour + than somethings not right. Possibly thermostat.

Either way being it a new car, if all the fluids havn't been done, I'd do change them all. I'd also check your timing belt by removing your plugs/plug wires/ ground wire, pcv valve, than valve cover. You can't see much but you can see how new the belt is and what condition it is in. If your really good and didn't mind putting 4 hours in (probably less for you other H-T guru's) you could pull off your crank pulley (and a few other minor things and alternator pulley (the one bastard child of the whole setup)) and than your timing belt cover and look at your whole setup.

What mileage is on her anyway?

Congrats and welcome to the Fourth Generation!
BTW you better take care of her or you'll have 1500 angry H-T members beating down your door LOL, enjoy!

 

The first time my friend drove in my car on the highway he asked if I was going to shift into 5th gear. When I told him that I was in 5th his jaw dropped looking at the RPMs just chilling around 4K (you wonder why these H23s have bearing issues). I also have to warm my car up twice as long in the winter because it just takes forever. Good luck with it though, how many miles, what kind of shape, and how much did you get it for?

 

The car is a stock except for a couple cosmetics which includes tint, rims and tires. The car has 150,xxx KM (93,750 miles) and is frost white. The person who I bought it from had it sitting in his shop for the past few years (family friend). He was asking $5800 and I managed to pick it up with keys in hand for $4300.

Before I bought it I ran it through a pre-inspection at a local shop to check compression, fluids, brakes, exhaust, etc. Then once I bought it I had all the fluids replaced and or topped up, changed the timing belt and put new oil/oil filter in it.

That's dissapointing to hear about the RPM's being correct at highway speeds as that almost seems ridiculous being near 4,000 RPM even for a 4 speed automatic .

The weather around here is 10 degrees celsius (40-50 fahrenheit) sorry i'm canadian so my conversions may not be dead on. I've never seen the car hold 2 bars on the engine temperature while in motion, and the only time it does hit 2 bars is after it's been sitting for a few minutes after a drive.


I'll have to snap a couple pictures for the curious bunch later.
Thanks for the responses guys .


Modified by iNexus at 11:07 AM 3/16/2008