EP3 Premier Edition- No VTEC?

[AKH]

Hi Folks,

Haven't been on this forum for a while, as been going through German Marquees since 2010. However I have decided to go back to the Japanese as just love the simplicity and reliability of Japanese cars, specially Honda.

Anyways, onto my query. I viewed a Premier Edition EP3 on a 55 Plate in NHB with 34,000 miles with full Documented Service History and paperwork to prove the car has been well looked after.

Externally it was in sound condition with a few scratches, chips and 2 Dings on the passenger door (Honda Soft paint combined with ultra soft panels). Onto the test drive. The car was in Bristol so started up the engine, checked the oil level and filler cap for any signs of anything serious; all seemed fine and on level. Warmed up the car and found a open road where the owner gave the go ahead to test the acceleration. The car revved all the way up to 7K and no VTEC cross over or the feel of a 197bhp car?

I've driven the FN2 a few times and you can surely feel the standard K20 and the 197BHP once VTEC takes over..

Any thoughts ideas?

Thanks People

 

[Loxy]

Any thoughts

Yeah, buy another one.

Conditions that need to be met for VTEC are:

Oil pressure
Water temp
RPM
Speed
Load

So it could be a multitude of things.

Commonly oil level therefore pressure, you've said you checked that. Could be a faulty speed sensor. Could be a faulty thermostat. Could be a faulty VTEC solenoid. Could have an error code and the engine is in limp mode but the Engine Management Light has been disabled or taken out.

I seriously don't know why you are considering a car you've test driven and isn't working right.

 

[TypeRiter]

No not really (got any ideas) - did you mention it to the owner? The FN2 sounds nicer as standard and feels racier. The EP3 and FN2 have their VTEC cross-overs smoothed out; they don't have the kicking characteristic like B-series', so the car will become more aggressive, but you won't necessarily "feel" it engage. Did you take the EP3 towards 8,000rpm? Also the EP needs to be held at the limits of it's rev-range to really feel quick, because it's pretty gutless below 6,000rpm. The FN2, it's been a good 4-5 years since I sold mine, but I remember power delivery being more linear, i.e it wasn't as gutless off cam (out of VTEC).

 

[Jcorbett]

Walk away.
if it doesn't feel right, it's not right.

 

[grumpyg1t]

Like others have said, the cross over is quite smooth on the ep3 so may not necessarily notice a big kick so to speak. If memory serves me right, the more in tune the engine is, the smoother the cross over will be. I may be wrong on this so I'm sure somebody will be able to advise further. I sometimes think the easiest way to notice the cross over is that the engine note changes quite substantially, you definitely shouldn't miss it.

 

[AKH]

Thanks for the Reply guys... I did give it a miss in the end as it could be a faulty VTEC selenoid or anything further then that. The owner does not want to budge on price either so £5,800 for an EP3; it should have working VTEC. Thanks again for all the responses!