I don't know if it's a problem or not (my first stick shift and I used to never take cars to such a high rpm) but anywhere from 5500 to 6500rpm at times the tachometer will jump and on a side note; up until 3k the car seems to lack power. Just today I hit about 5800 and the tach jumped up to just under 7k and continued to rise, the motor stayed constant (acceleration felt smooth) and it was almost as if the tach didn't even match with the engines true rpm. It's not a constant jumping, sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. I tried to get it on video on the way home but of course, the tach didn't jump. Recently I replaced the spark plugs and spark plug wires with Accel 8mm wires, the jumping seemed to occur less often and not as extreme, it was much worse with the stock spark plug wires. Correct me if I'm wrong, but when accelerating even under full throttle the tachometer should be rather stable right?

Edit: The motor btw is the stock d16, it was rebuilt awhile ago though

 

get alternator checked. had the same problem on my 98ex. alternator was bad.

 

Go buy a re-built dizzy from the auto parts store. The tach jumping is the first sign of more dizzy issue to come.

Trust me, been there done this...the hard way.

 

Thats great, it's nice to know I could have a bad alternator or distributor cause of a small tach issue.

About the distributor; that could be the problem even though the engine runs/idles smoothly?

 

Yes. Unless this is a 99-00 Civic, the tach signal comes from the igniter unit/ICM in the distributor. Jumping tach signals can be an early sign that the ICM is on the way out.

What year Civic?

 

1995 ex sedan

 

sounds like your ingnitor inside of your dizzy is going out

 

my temp gauge was jumping with the RPMs...the alternator tensioner was loose and it caused the cars electrical system to die...check the alternator then have it tested at auto dome for free.

 

I had a similar problem when clutch was going out. I would step on the gas and the rpms would rise but the engine stayed constant. This may be similar too what you have going on....maybe. Since if the clutch flywheel is slipping you will see a jump in the rpms and no noticeable speed increase.

 

GO BUY A REBUILT DIZZY.