After having my S2000 for two weeks, I gave it a run against a trans am from a roll. After redlining first, I mis-shifted second (stayed in first when I shoulda been in 2nd), and I was bouncing off the rev limiter for a couple seconds...put the car in neutral and drove normally the rest of the way home...no noticeable problems yet, but I was wondering...I know this is obviously bad for my engine, but how much damage do you think has been done because of this overreving...nothing to really worry about? ....been getting paranoid since. Thanks a lot for the help.

Ju

 

I just wouldnt make a habit of it

 

the limiter is there to prevent any serious dmage from occuring when we, as drivers, make such a mistake. I dont think anything serious happened, but I would not recommend doing it too often. Bouncing off the limiter occurs more on the track where you are constantly looking for that extra bit of "ooomph" before shifting, should not be any need for it on the streets. Yeah, no worries for what already happened though, just remember to shift next time.

 

1) please read the break in procedure, it is advised that you do NOT engage the engine in VTEC until you've reached 600 miles.

2) leaving the car in gear and bouncing off the rev limiter is not mis-shifting, so you've done nothing wrong. a mis-shift is when you are - for example - driving in 3rd, and you are at 9000rpm's and you shift into 2nd accidentally instead of 4th - the engine goes WAAAY above 9000rpm's and the rev limiter cannot correct this, and the result is a few thousand dollars worth of damage due to bent valves. So this definately wasn't something you did. I bounce it off the rev limiter from time to time. Its not a big deal and the car can take it - just make sure its warmed up to three bars before doing it. =D

 

thanks for the reassurance guys...and schatten, don't worry, I followed the break in procedure like an anal b*tch ...but now that I'm 1000+ miles, vtec is becoming an addiction

 

Schatten brought up a good point about mis-shifting.
While we are on this topic, has anyone experienced mis-shifting from 3rd to 2nd, when you know and you thought you shifted to 4th gear?
The reason why I ask is because it happened to me this past weekend.

3rd gear --shifted around 7000rpm--
shifted to 4th, but everything told me it went into second gear:
The following sequence happened within 2 seconds:
-rpm shot up to close to redline, but no sign of fuel getting cut off.
-the car felt like it had downshifted into 2nd.
-rear tires quickly chirped.
-i quickly step on the clutch pedal, and put the gear back into neutral.
-in panic, i shift back into 3rd, and on my way home wondering what went on.

At the moment, my s2k sounds and drives fine, so I'm trying not to worry about it, but it was very odd.
If I had accidentally shifted into 2nd from 3rd at 7000rpm, would it sound right that the rpm went just below redline, not far enough for the rev-limiter to kick in?

Any possibility that the shifter went into 4th but the transmission went into 2nd?

Thanks for your help.

 

s2inV:

The shifter is the transmission. No possibilitiy of a mechanical error. You went into second.

How could you tell fuel wasn't cut off? In any case, this makes no difference.

 

the tranny is mechanical, so if it went into fourth, it went into fourth. but most likely, from your description it went into second.

if you are at 7000rpms and you shift accidentally into second gear, its not as bad as 9000rpms shifting into second gear from third.

the rev limiter is only that. I think people assume its an ends-all engine protector, but its not. if you rev an engine to the red line the rev limiter kicks in and the fuel cuts out, so you can't go any higher. thus, it just limits the revs. if you are in one gear and you shift to another, lower, gear, mechanically, without an electronic clutch or another device to monitor and intervene the situation - the revs are going to shoot up - waaaay up.

the best analogy I can think of - think of riding a ten speed bike - I haven't ridden one in nearly 15 years, so I only have vague recollections. when you shift up and up, you do not need to pedal as fast, only harder and harder. it takes less rpm's to actually turn the rear wheel around a few times. but in lower gears it takes a lot of pedaling to turn that rear wheel. now, remember missing a gear on a 10 speed bike or shifting improperly? (or was that just me goofing up?) if you are at a high speed, and you are only turning the pedals so many times for every many yards you are cruising along with - and then you shift into a lower gear, your legs want to fly off the bike because they cannot keep up with the gearing and amount of speed that the bike is travelling at.

sorry for being wordy. I'm sure someone could have worded it a little more clearly, but that gives you an example. pedals = engine, gears = tranny, and your legs = your vavles in the F20c/S2000 engine. only difference is, your legs don't get bent from a misshift. =)

honestly, I dont think you have much to worry about. if you did bend your vales there would be a rough idle, check engine light, and the car wouldn't like you one bit.

 

s800 - my understanding is that the rev-limiter also cuts off the fuel. my previous experiences in my GSR of accidentally going into the red zone, was that the car felt like it was on 'pause' for 2 seconds with gears disengaged. My recent experience in the s2k was that it was still fully engaged in gear, but it was revving very high.

Thanks for your replies.

 

i think that's a good point.. shifting out of 1st in attempt to get into 2nd and misjudging the timing thus bouncing off the limiter in neutral isn't healthy, but isn't overrevving right?

so say your in 3rd at redline and you shift into 2nd on accident, would the engine shut off before overrevving since the limiter is there? or will it actually go into gear and overrev? thats a bit scary to think about