Saab9-3

ok, I was pulling out of the driveway from work and i had to floor it so as to not slow down the rest of traffic. When i reached about 6000 rpms, the engine felt like it hit a brick wall. This happened 2 days in a row. I know you arent supposed to vtec in a cold engine- is this what happens?

ssanae77

oh boy, I remember posting exact same question about a year ago. yes, it is the engine telling you to warm up first. let her warm up all the way to 3 bars.

Prancing Horse

Waiting for the water temp to reach normal is by no means a gauge of the engine operating temperature. That indication is the oil temperature and is the only way to accurately measure the engines operating temp.

So, before you decide to 'floor it' or rev passed 5-6K, make sure you have been driving for at least 20mins (preferably on the freeway at highway speed and relatively high rpm).

I myself have the following regimen before redlining :

1. 5 miles of freeway driving at low engine speeds

2. 7-10 miles of higher engine speeds (4-5K)

3. Redline to your minds desire

Since I do not have a oil temp. gauge, this is the procedure I follow before EVER running at high engine speeds.
High engine speeds and cold oil = almost as bad as being low on oil! Reason being is that the oil has not reached proper temperature therefore the weight of the oil is extremely low and will shear and tear when cold at high engine speeds, resulting in minimal engine protection and lubrication.

A perfect example of the is the E46 M3s led bars on the tach. As the oil temp rises, the led bars diminish 1K at at time. After full OIL operating temp. has been reached, all the bars are gone and you can rev to 8 grand. I wish Honda had something similar to this, or at least a oil temp gauge.

-Nader

Saab9-3

Just so you know- I wasnt just flooring it for fun, I had to match the speed of traffic because I pulled out onto a busy street. I normally give my engine sufficient time to warm up before driving it hard.

Euclid

You are fine in what you did. It's not going to ruin your motor, that's why Honda put a limiter in place. My Celica has the same feature. It won't let you go past 6000 until the engine reaches proper operating temp. People are just very cautious about their cars.

S2KTerpNut

TTT

I've been having this same problem most mornings. If the engine needs this much time to warm-up, then this "issue" will seriously limit my future vtec'ing opportunities! My drives are rarely longer than 15 miles or 20 minutes going anywhere, and my car only moves 5,000 miles a year!

chengpeng

AS SOON AS THE ENGINE LETS YOU, THEN GO FOR IT. Why do you think the VTEC limiter turns off? Is it because the engine's too cold still? Give the engineers at Honda some credit, I'm sure they know when it's safe for the engine to VTEC, and I would rather trust their judgement.

Having said all that, 99% of the time, I won't VTEC until 3 bars, but I have occasionally at 2 bars.

evf2000

I just did this last week..first time in awhile, I feel so bad when it happens. I also noticed that (showing off once) if you rev a cople seconds after starting even with 3 bars it cuts off.

djohnston

[QUOTE]Originally posted by chengpeng
[B]AS SOON AS THE ENGINE LETS YOU, THEN GO FOR IT.

rai

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Prancing Horse

So, before you decide to 'floor it' or rev passed 5-6K, make sure you have been driving for at least 20mins (preferably on the freeway at highway speed and relatively high rpm).

I myself have the following regimen before redlining :

1. 5 miles of freeway driving at low engine speeds

2. 7-10 miles of higher engine speeds (4-5K)

3. Redline to your minds desire