Questions and Answers

Cabriolet Cooked Transmission Q. Hi Vincent, Have a question regarding rev limiters for you, particularly on Acura/Honda engines. I thought the answer would be fairly straightforward, but after doing some searches on Acura forums, I still see some differences of opinion. Thought maybe you could provide a more definitive answer. Here's the specs first: 2002 Acura RSX (base) 2.0L, 4 cylinder engine Automatic transmission (with 'manumatic' sport shift) 1200 miles Fuel injection ABS PS, AC, Cruise Rack and pinion steering Also some other info, according to the manual, Acura considers the break-in period to be over at 600 miles and the base RSX has a redline of 6800 rpm. Question is, the other day, I was driving my RSX and came to a stop. I was in the sport shift manumatic mode. Well, I was in a rush and late for an appointment and I took off from the stop sign and forgot I was in sport shift. Before I knew it, I was bouncing off the rev limiter; my revs were somewhere between 6800 and 7200 or around that area based on my panicked glance at the tach. The engine was cutting out and I immediately took my foot off the gas and after that all was fine. Wasn't more than a few seconds. My question is, if rev limiters are placed on cars to help prevent people from blowing their engines by over-revving, is damage, even minor damage, done to the engine by hitting the rev limiter? If so, what type of damage? My car seems to be running just fine, but was a little worried about any potential damage. Let me know! Thank you! Chip

Luckily I was near a gas station. I sent the car to the mechanic and he said that the transmission was what started smoking. When I saw it, some bolts were broken in the transmission case and the inside was really scratched. It suffered a lot of friction. My question is: could that have happened by of the installation or could it have been because of the flat tire and overworking the transmission??? This is really urgent.

Thanks for your time,
AAR

A. It sounds to me like someone forgot to tighten some bolts or refill the transmission when they were done. A manual transmission will run without fluid, unlike an automatic transmission. But with out the fluid, actually a gear lube, the transmission will burn up over a period of time. Undoubtedly the additional strain of slow speed driving, in a low gear was too much for it.