I washed my car on Saturday, then on Sunday I went out for a drive and went WOT around 4500rpm, followed by NO VTEC at or after 6k RPM, and the engine bogging around 6500-7000rpm. I immediately got a flashing check engine light (YIKES!) so I shifted to neutral, let it settle down to idle, then coasted to the side of the road and shut it down, despite it idling just fine.

I felt gutsy and accepted I might've done some serious damage, so I started it up and there were no CELs or any indication that something had gone awry. In fact, it seemed to be idling smoother and I soon discovered it was accelerating smoother than it has in the past few months. I drove it cautiously, remained under 6k rpm for about a half hour, then gained the courage to attempt VTEC again. It ran just fine, with no bogging or anything.

It seems to be running fine and I'm planning to do a retainer inspection in the next day or two (it's garaged), but I would've thought that if enough water had gotten into the intake (AEM V2) when washing the previous day that it hydrolocked, it would've immediately caused bent valves and shown lasting characteristics or symptoms. It didn't stall at any point so the only indicators of something wrong were the flashing CEL and the bogging. Could a sketchy electrical connection to the VTEC solenoid cause a flashing CEL? That's the kind of temporary problem I can be happy about, considering the alternatives.

Any thoughts on this?

 

Oil level?
Engine temp when WOT (3 bars showing)?

Sounds like the VTEC solenoid did not engage for whatever reason. The two I listed above are the most common.

 

I found the bogging very peculiar as well. Will be checking the oil level this evening as I have to do an oil change anyway, though it's never burnt or leaked oil and I just checked it last month.

Engine temp was definitely there.

I want to think it's VTEC solenoid related, but I don't know if that would account for the bogging...

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

If VTEC doesn't engage, you are still running on low speed cams and engine will bog. This is common when engine not warmed up. Bogging is not a bad sign, just means VTEC didn't engage.

 

Well now I'm liking this line of thinking! Am going to check the VTEC solenoid connection.

Thanks jaundice!!

 

why dont you pull the CEL?

did you wash your engine bay???

 

There was no CEL on restart, just a flashing CEL until I shut down. I had planned to pull the CEL, but it didn't light up on restart - fortunately/unfortunately.

 

You can still have a temporary DTC. If you haven't reset the ECU yet, then go pull the codes asap.

 

I'll give it a shot. Haven't started it since the first restart after the bogging. I'll check it this evening.

 

^most of the times they are stored. flashing is baaaad apparently.