my friend just got a 97 prelude, and it acts very weird.
start up is fine, but when you rev it in neutral it will hit vtec, but it will get stuck there for about .5 seconds, and then the needle will jump straight to redline.

and when you drive it, if you just go WOT, it will rev fine up to 5000 RPM ( or whenever vtec kicks in ) and then vtec will disengage and the motor will sound like its bouncing off the rev limiter all the way to redline. the rpm needle still sticks when your driving, but its not as bad as neutral.

 

are you throwing any codes?

 

nope, no codes.

 

well it sounds to me like the cam isnt shifting to the VTEC lobes. i dont know if this would throw a code or not, but check the vtec solenoid. maybe it is sticking. (but i would talk to others first lol)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JUN EK9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> but when you rev it in neutral it will hit vtec
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so your saying vtec engages in neutral?

sounds like you got a fucked up engine. possible work of the previous owner.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Phast Life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

so your saying vtec engages in neutral?

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yeah ive never heard of VTEC engaging in neutral :scratching my head:

 

If VTEC engages and you switch to the high-cam fuel map, but then the VTEC disengages due to lack of oil pressure, you might still be on the high-cam fuel map. Basically you are getting way to much fuel to be running on the low-cam, this would explain the sputtering, or 'hitting the rev-limiter all the way to redline'. Do an oil pressure check, then check the vtec oil pressure switch, then the vtec solenoid.

 

how old is your oil and what weight are you running. and do you have a vafc

vtec is not supposed to enguage under 16mph. however if you have a vtec controler it will...

also check all the engine grounds, a loose ground can make the car do funny stuff

 

well, his head gasket is for sure fucked up.

he picked the car up from a shady dealership. and he thought everything was fine.

on further inspection, the car had one of those pillar bar gauges.

4 holes in the floorboard going straight down the the ground about | | that wide.

we were thinking it was running a fogger system.

we dont know how old oil is or what kind was used, but we didnt bother to change it because it was way too fucked up anyways. my friend was PISSEd, so he took it to a honda dealership to get a full diagnostics check. and then he took it back to the dealership. stopped payment on the check. and he left the car and keys there.

the owner of the dealership said hes going to sue them because they took the vin plate off the DASH!! that is the stupidest thing i have ever heard. they didnt touch the dam vin plate.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93 VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If VTEC engages and you switch to the high-cam fuel map, but then the VTEC disengages due to lack of oil pressure, you might still be on the high-cam fuel map. Basically you are getting way to much fuel to be running on the low-cam, this would explain the sputtering, or 'hitting the rev-limiter all the way to redline'. Do an oil pressure check, then check the vtec oil pressure switch, then the vtec solenoid. </TD></TR></TABLE>

wouldnt this throw a code?