I am posting this for a friend..

He has a 01 Civic, EX I believe. It has the D17 SOHC Vtec motor..

He ran low on oil and wasnt aware of it..

here's what started happening.

- The car wouldn't rev past 4k rpms. I'm guessing it went into limp mode.
- CEL kicked on

He went and got his oil changed, but was still having problems..

- Now, the car revs up to 6k, but struggles to get to 7k, so he lets off. (I told him to be extremely easy on it til he figures out what it is, so no more of this will be going on)

He went to autozone, and got his CEL checked, they said it was some kind of VTEC malfunction, and the possible causes:

Code: P1259 - VTEC system malfunction
Causes: Low oil / pressure | Blocked oil passage | Failed VCT Oil control valve.

It sounds like something a bit more serious to me though. I didn't hear any knocking, or any severe valve ticking though.

Is there any way for me to check the CEL codes? I know how to check on pre 00 Civics, but I've never worked on EM2's.

What do you guys think it could be? What should he check first?

Thanks.

 

whats the mileage and mods. has it ever been taken apart?
i blew my engine and it never threw a code so that dosent really matter to me.
get a code reader from wally world there like 20 bucks.

 

vtec wont engage if the oil pressure it too low. the vtec oil pressure sensor is a common part that fails and causes the symptoms youre describing. If the car still runs, despite being run on with low oil, chances are there is just something wrong with the vtec system.

 

hi,that last post there is kind of where im at, engine runs fine but the low kick (2.5k) is non exitstant and at 3.5k just about kicks in, wound it be worth changing the oil pressure sensor above the oil filter first? solenoid seems to working as high end revs its seems to pick up power but nowhere near as good as when first got it, ive only done oil and filter change and new plugs, all stock parts and top spec oil, not cheap ****.