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hit limiter dropping a gear. any damage done?

G

GG93

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48
Hi all,

I was sitting on a dual carriageway and decided I wanted to have some fun. Stupidly, when dropping gears, I went down 1 too far into 3rd gear, my car lunged forward and the Rev needle went to about 8k (I think I felt/heard the limiter kick in) I must have been doing about 70-80 mph
The engine continued to run and was fine going to high speeds later that journey. All my mates said unless the engine conked out on the spot and it didn't drive terribly for the rest of the journey Then it's fine. Is this correct? Or have I done anything badly? :-/

I'll be more cautious next time!

Thanks in advance!
 
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It's possible to have gone over the rev limiter if your road speed and gearing allowed.

Say you were doing 70 and put it in second. It would have revved round to about 9.5k in that example.

Your engine can just go pop from doing this. The cam chain can jump and the pistons make contact with valves or it'll throw a rod but to be honest that's quite rare.

What normally happens is you stretch the cam chain or it skips a tooth or two on the cam gear. It'll drive fine for a bit but it could skip more teeth on the cam gear or start to misfire, idle rough, that sort of thing.

I did exactly the same thing in my FN2 when I'd not had it too long. Didn't think anything of it, it drove fine for another 20k miles, but eventually it needed a replacement chain. It was noticed on my 2nd cam swap that it was slipping off the cam gear teeth a bit too easily when it was being timed up in the shop.

You might of got away with it, you might not. It just depends how badly you did it and only time will tell.
 
Thanks for that
how much does a new cam belt cost? I'm guessing that normally needs replacing anyway in time?
 
Hitting the limiter isn't ever good really, like Loxy said it will cause your chain to stretch. A little bounce here and there won't hurt though, just don't make a habit of it or it'll get expensive.
 
Right so in conclusion, 3 things could have happened:

1. Blew the engine on the spot. Really Bad
2. Skipped some teeth, only time will tell, not too bad
3. I had a lucky escape, doubtful but possible.

Is that correct? I'm a bit paranoid haha!

cheers,
 
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It still runs, you had a lucky escape. Don't do it again.

It won't hit a limiter when you over rev like this.
The mechanical action of the wheels driving the gearbox will drive the engine past 9000rpm easily with the wrong gear choice.

As has been said, you could have stretched the chain or jumped a tooth, but if it runs fine, there's no MAJOR damage.

I'd still have the timing chain checked as a precaution, and depending on your vehicles mileage, have it changed anyway.

Lastly, we don't condone public admission of speeding on this forum ;)
 
Thanks Stoo!
I'll drop into the Honda garage and maybe have a quick check over for it.

Oops! apologies :(, i forgot to mention, it was on a private road ;)
 
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Got to be more careful with your clutch on downshifts! Did you just let it out full speed?
 
Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to get the chain checked for stretch. I would advise against the Tegiwa chain, I've had it on good authority that they are inferior to the ones that come direct from Honda.
 
Shifty said:
Got to be more careful with your clutch on downshifts! Did you just let it out full speed?
Click to expand...

Yeah, i looked at my speedo and my rev counter, looked like i room for one more down shift, but obviously completely misjudged it. I went as far as i could go with 3rd gear this morning and it got to about 71-73 before needing a change, so if i was sitting at 75 im hoping not too much damage would have been done, and the rev only went to about 8200rpm/8300rpm or so?

jimbothemagnificent said:
Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to get the chain checked for stretch. I would advise against the Tegiwa chain, I've had it on good authority that they are inferior to the ones that come direct from Honda.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, how much would it cost for Honda to check? I'm wary of taking it in, my local honda dealership seem the type to try and scare me into buying a new one. The car was only serviced 500 miles ago, 25000 miles/3 years.
so far i don't feel i've lost any power and i can't hear any rattling noise, what can happen if i decide to leave it? anything major or maybe just a tad bit of power loss?

Cheers,
 
I had a dealership like that by my old house. Depending on where you are, somebody on here will probably be able to recommend a good garage that won't get silly with your monies.

As Loxy and Stoo said, stretched chains can lead to bigger problems; incorrect timing, slappy chain, pistons and valves becoming intimately involved.... as beautifully illustrated by Shifty.

If it were me, I'd be getting it checked out asap for peace of mind.
 
Right, my mate's a mechanic and just said save my money until I think its slightly ticking away when idle, until then, i should be fine.... (i hope)

Thanks for all the replies!
 
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Hi Stoo,

I've took a quick video of the engine, at warm idle, around 1000rpm, does this sound alright to you? there is the slightest vibration going through other components such as the air feed and some hoses around the engine, im guessing that it normal?
http://youtu.be/dpbOHShDgEI

The car is 3 years old on about 26000 miles.
Do you roughly know how much it will cost to check it?
 
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It shouldn't cost much to have to timing checked, half hour labour ish, cost will depend on area and garage choice. I'd expect around £50 ish max. The car should tell you if the timings out, the EML "SHOULD" come on but if you feel concerned enough to ask about it it'd definately worth getting the timing checked for piece of mind if nothing else.
 
dazzawest said:
It shouldn't cost much to have to timing checked, half hour labour ish, cost will depend on area and garage choice. I'd expect around £50 ish max. The car should tell you if the timings out, the EML "SHOULD" come on but if you feel concerned enough to ask about it it'd definately worth getting the timing checked for piece of mind if nothing else.
Click to expand...

Thanks dazzawest. I think I'll take it to the local kia dealership. Trust them a lot more than the honda guys and they usually sort things out financially. I wouldn't be surprised if honda told me I needed a engine rebuild haha!
 
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