m0r1san

I was doing some maintenance work on my car to swap out old gaskets and fix oil leaks today and messed up. After putting everything back together I tried to start the car and it went rough, surging from 0-2k rpms then shutting off after a few seconds. Tried starting a couple more times and the duration was shorter each time. The last time I swear I heard a click when it died.

I went to look at the engine, and after a few min I noticed a small leak from the VTEC solenoid, where I just replaced both gaskets. I look down into the engine bay and see the upper gasket on the splash tray!! I immediately reinstalled it and torqued to spec.

On this startup it was hesitant and made a short screech noise, then turned over and the engine purred. I then noticed my check engine light is on solid, so I shut it off after running for 20-30 seconds.

I'll be able to scan the code tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm scared to run the engine. What is the likelihood I caused oil starvation and/or damage to my engine? Any other advice here?

Will update tomorrow with the code. Thank you in advance!!

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Edit: picture of my "upper VTEC solenoid gasket" for reference.

hoobastnk90

I wouldn't think you did any damage, the code was probably a result of the fault occurring while the gasket was not in the car.

Slowcrash_101

I bet you it was a vacuum leak from not having the gasket on. Drive it 3 trips of at least 7 miles and it'll go off on its own.

m0r1san

Pulled these codes:
P1259 - VTEC malfunction
P1362 - Intake TDC sensor not reading

These must have been triggered as I was putting thing back together. I did not have either of these plugged in the 1st time I started the car. 2nd and 3rd times the car still surged so my scary problem was most likely due to the lack of the gasket in the VTEC solenoid. Probably caused a vacuum leak and the intake MAP sensor had no idea.

Car runs great now! Thanks for the help and hope this post helps someone else too.