simons2k

yeah, hitting the rev limiter sucks! I've done it once too. Simply wasn't paying enough attention to the tach (paying attention to my surroundings). Since then I decided to invest in modifry's upshift indicator. I don't worry about hitting the limiter on acceleration now.

Barry in Wyoming

After buying the S2000 and finding its rev limiter, I discovered that the '92 Accord I bought in June, 1992 and the '93 Prelude VTEC I bought in October, 1992 both have a similar ECU based rev limiter.

It is there to prevent you from accelerating your engine into oblivion. You can still mis a down shift or steer into a brick wall if you insist on destroying your car.

VTEC_Junkie

i don't think hitting the rev limiter is bad for your car. all it does is cut off the fuel and spark so that you can't rev any higher. if anything, all it does is slow you down, if you are on an acceleration frenzy. other than that, any harm is only psychological... of course, another potential harm is if you are cornering at the limits and then hit the rev limiter. chances are, with a rwd, you'll lose your back end...

SJSHARKS

I don't think I care to test your theory over an extended period of time.

gabedude

The rev limitter cuts fuel and spark. It causes no engine damage. Remember we have fuel injected new fangled cars here. Rev limitters on carbureted cars can cause damage as there is no fuel cut on the carb.

I've slammed the rev limitter multiple times (usually on a daily basis) in my Prelude, WRX, and S2000. On my Prelude, I had 60000 miles and the valve lash was still at factory preset setting. No adjustment was needed. You should worry more about a good bypass oil filter (like Mobil 1) and synthetic oil before saying hitting the limitter is bad...

Besides, keep your eyes on the road and not the tach!

SECRET AP1

The F20C can definately rev a little higher than 9000RPM. No car manufacturer with a half decent understanding of a safety factor would set the redline RIGHT at the point before catastrophic damage (valve float, etc). For those of you that insist on bouncing off the redline everyday, there's no immediate danger of damage, but you are wearing down your engine more than someone who drives a bit more mellow.

For the fellow who said SMG isn't a manual transmission, I believe you are incorrect. The only reason the SMG transmission is able to prevent overrev is that everything is electronically controlled. The ECU oversees all the clutchwork and shifting. When you click "-" and you're already at redline in 3rd gear, it will check if your decision to downshift is going to result in overrev conditions. If so, it will not allow the shift to occur.

SECRET AP1

As a supplement:

The rev limiter does kick in when you mis-shift (ie. is active on a downshift). The fuel system will not continue to provide fuel and the spark will retard as soon as the engine is forced to rev to 8900. However, I'm sure most of you can understand that physically, the rear wheels are still spinning at an rpm that corresponds to redline through 3rd gear. By downshifting at that point, it is physically impossible for an electronic redline to stop the engine from overrev. Either the rear wheels will have to immediately slow from ~90mph to ~66mph or the engine will have to spin faster to compensate.

LT'S S2K

I freaked out the first time I hit my rev limiter. Good thing, nice folks at s2ki told me I had nothing to worry about. I haven't hit it since.

Also, it's hard for me to downshift to certain gears at certain speed, so I don't know how people "Blow Up" their engine by mis-shifting? When I was doing about 80 mph in 6th, I wanted to down shift to 5th, then 4th to pass my buddy and I accidently try to down shift into 3rd. But I couldn't. I guess I could've try to shoved it into 3rd, but there were some resistance. I quickly shifted back into 6th gear.
So how does one downshift into lower gear? I even tried to downshift into first while doing 25mph, but there's a lot of resistance until I'm doing below 20mph, so I just don't downshift to first unless < 20mph, and <40mph for 2nd.

At one time, someone posted the Rev limit per each gear while up shifting (scanned from one of the car mags, the top speed of each gears from 1st-6th).

But when I checked under our great search engine in regards to down shifting and max allowed speed, there were none found.

Any advice on good-ok downshift mph for the gears?
i.e. only down shift to first < 20 mph; 2nd < 40 mph; 3rd < 60 mph, etc. (These are the numbers I follow by) if I rev match.

LT

SJSHARKS

I can't help but think that any mechanical device which goes from 9000 rpm's to zero in the blink of an eye is not headed for some future mechanical problems.

SECRET AP1

I think the decision to go from 6th to 4th usually involves a showoff/race situation, in which case the shift is very fast and firm. With a bit of speed and force, it's difficult to realize you've hit 2nd until you see that tach blink red.