I was in first gear, did not think I was driving fast enough to even watch the gauges, and suddenly I had no power. I'll guess I was doing 30-something. I drifted over to the side of the road, stopped, and smelled sulfur. It went away after a few moments, and so I pulled back out onto the road and drove away. No apparent consequences.

I concluded that it must've been the rev limiter and that I must've been moving quicker than I realized. I do not recall seeing any indication, like a flashing warning, on the dash, about exceeding the rpm limit.

Does the sulfur smell offer any clue? Maybe it was me, shitting in my pants?

 

wouldn't you HEAR the engine??? was the stereo turned up?

 

The sulfur smell was probably a combination of you crapping in your pants, and your catalytic converter giving you a clue that you were working your car. Rev limiter works dude ... but only on upshifts. If you miss a shift on the way down ... say 2nd instead of 4th ... the results can be self-critiquing. Enjoy.

 

Did you start the car up only a few moments before this happened?

 

Yeah, that was my guess too. Vtec won't engage when the oil is cold.

 

I think that the rev limiter engages earlier when the engine is cold, I think 6,000 RPM's so that you don't VTEC. Was your temp at 2 bars? Don't get on the car until the engine has warmed up first. Can't wait that long and this might happen.

 

You need a new catalytic converter, but your car is fine.

I can't, for the life of me, understand how you would not know you're still in 1st gear at 30mph, especially if you were just "cruising." The car must've been bucking and lunging...