So today I'm driving on the turnpike going about 100mph. I'm hitting high rpms in 5th gear when suddenly my RPMs just drop after a loud pop noise. Then my check engine light comes on. After that I found that my car can't go over around 4,000 RPMs. I got to my apartment and took both battery terminals off for about 2 hours, after turning my car back on the CEL is gone and the car is driving fine. What happened?

 

first, you were not going 100 at high rpms in 5th gear, and second, you probably starved the motor for oil and it throws up a bunch of safeguards on you to keep you from killing the engine. if it sees low oil, the ecu will lower your redline, and kill vtec. was it a left hand turn?

 

I wasn't trying to sound like a hardass or anything when I said high RPMs, I guess I wasn't really paying attention.

The thing is, I wasn't flooring it when this happened. Left hand turn? No, it was a straight away going uphill. The car is driving fine now, and the CEL is gone, but I'm still going to have it looked at to keep something bad from happening.

 

It's almost definitely what sacs described. If you're super worried about it, run a compression test for ****s, giggles, and peace of mind.