Hey guys. Ive had my 02 si for about a week now. And as i was coming back from the dealer i bought the car from to get the title, when i went to take off from a traffic light, the car would not let me go above 4000 rpms, it would buck violently if it hit 4000rpms, and my check engine light came on. It proceeded to do that the whole ride home, but if i kept it under 4000rpms it was fine.

I searched and it said the problem might be low oil pressure or oil level, but i checked the level and it is fine. I really am pissed off that this already happened, and i have no clue what it could be.

Any suggestions? Im going to change the oil tonight so we will see if that solves any problems.

 

first: Go back to the dealership you just bought it from and tell them.

second: if they wont help you go to autozone and get a free CEL diagnosis and tell me what the code it.

 

I already told the dealership, but since i bought it as is there is nothing they will do to help me.

And yeah im gunna scan it tonight at my friends shop when I go to change the oil

Thanks

 

Ok so right as left to change the oil, all of the problems went away.. no more bucking at any rpm.. then a few minutes later the check engine light went off.

When we got to the shop we scanned it and it said "vtec system malfunction" i forget the code #. We tested the vtec solenoid just to be safe and it was fine.

The oil was basically like black water... we changed it with full synthetic and the car is running much smoother now.

Any body know why it would throw a code like that at random? remember, the light went off BEFORE we changed the oil.

thanks guys

 

Hi,

It is definitely an oil pressure issue.

It might be the oil itself, which I doubt, or problems with the engine's internal oil canals. These canals might be blocked with rubbish and don't let the oil activate the vtec. This is a serious problem as the vtec is the first to "suffer", but at higher rpms everything suffers!. I would strongly recommend checking this even it requires to open the engine bottom.

Regards,

Luis

 

Were you cornering hard? The usual case is low oil pressure. The K20A3's oil pump has issues maintaining oil pressure under high cornering loads. Or simply, the oil was really low and minor cornering triggered the Limp Mode. Another case could be a bad sensor, but this is rare. If the car isn't properly maintained and a lot of oil crud builds up on it, the sensor will toss the car into limp mode. Enjoy your EP!

 

Do an engine flush to try to get any possible blockages out of there. And then pray you didn't get screwed. There are ways you can get the dealer back if you can prove they knew there were existing issues with the car.

That is messed up.

 

Thanks for all of the replies guys, but I think it was just the oil was way past its life time. I changed it last weekend and Ive been driving the car for a week, with no problems whatsoever.

And it originally started in stop and go traffic, no cornering.

 

remove the vtec solenoid and replace the gasket. it has a screen that gets clogged.

 

Correct sounds like the car is going into Limp Mode... disconnect the battery for five minutes and connect it back that should reset it... another problem could be your O2 sensors being done and the right air and fuel ratio might be thrown off from that...

 

I had this problem too. I was planning on bringing it to the dealer, but with trying to find a house and just generally being busy with life, i hadn't had the chance...

I had resolved last friday to bring it to the dealer after the weekend. On Saturday, after visiting a house with our real estate agent, my car started hesitating, as though something was cloging the fuel delivery. I limped the car to my sister's. Went to leave a few hours later, and the car would start then stall right away. After 3 tries, it was decided i'd just tow it to the dealer.

Dealer called me back on monday to inform me the engine must have been running low on oil, (but apparently the oil pressure sensor was cloged) and the timing chain skipped a beat... i now have mashed valves.

Anyone having this problem should check and change their oil immediately.

Anyone selling a used k20 or k24 engine?! or perhaps some valves?

E*

 

yeah i was about to say it sounded like it was running in limp mode.