I just purchased a 98 Civic EX Coupe as a first car for my son. It seems to run great but the tachometer limits out around 3800 RPMs. Any ideas why this might be happening, possibly a rev limiter?

Thanks for your help!

 

You shouldn't be hitting a rev limiter while stopped unless something aftermarket was installed. Are you hitting this limiter while driving, too? Any check engine lights on? Does the CEL come on when you turn the key in the ignition? It should come on for about 2-3 seconds and shut off, telling you that the fuel system is priming.

 

This is while driving. Just noticed it last night while trying to "crack" V-Tec and haven't had a chance to see if it will do it while parked. CEL operates normally, it comes on for a couple of seconds then shuts off.

I though about trying to reset the ECU to see if it would make any difference and clear out anything the previous own my have changed.

 

Yea, go ahead and disconnect the battery for a few minutes to reset the ECU. You will not be able to hit vtec if you are not moving. That is something built into the ECU. On a stock motor/ecu, vtec should engage ~5500 rpms.

 

I have tested the car both while driving and parked. The car revs to 3800 RPMs and will not go beyond that. I did reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery which did not seem to make a difference.

 

Do you know who you bought it from? Does it have a new clutch installed? Usually when New clutches are installed, u have drive at no higher than around 3000rpm to 'break it in'. Maybe the person u bought it from installed a clutch and activated a rev limitter.

 

I am not positive if the clutch is new, but it does feel as if it had been recently replaced. That again brings me back to my original question. Even after the clutch break in period, I still need to figure out how the remove the rev limiter, if that is the actual problem.

 

I can't help but wonder if the distributor/ignition may be the culprit. Can you pop the cap off and take a look at the rotor? It would probably cause a misfire that would trigger a CEL, but might be worth a shot.

Otherwise, do you have a scan tool of any sort (like a Scanguage II) that would tell you what the rpms are? Wondering if it may be a faulty tach signal that's indicating 3800rpm, but the engine is at something like 7k.

I'm not that familiar with these Honda engines yet, but if there's a crank angle sensor (usually on the crankshaft pulley), I'm wondering if it's dirty and not giving an accurate read.

 

Thanks for everyone's help. I did solve the problem. At first the car did have a rev limiter on it. I took care of that issue by resetting the ECU. However, even after resetting the ECU the tach would rev to 3500 then jump to 3800 and hold there. Last night I removed the aftermarket gauge covers that the previous owner had installed. There was a flaw in the tach gauge cover causing the needle to stick... Problem solved.