How hard can you drive a Vtec engine?

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NeoNoggie

New Member
I have a D16Y8 in my 96 Civic EX Auto Trans, it has 167k miles on it, and I got it from some family members that I KNOW never drove it to the 5,300 RPMs needed to bust out the Vtec. I've only done it once myself, but I was wondering... At 167k miles, is it still safe to bust out the Vtec from time to time without having to worry about damage to the engine? The engine and transmission both work flawlessly. Excellent condition, just worried about the mileage.

P.S. Yes, I'm a Honda newbie. This is my first car, and I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it.
 
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Okay thanks. Obviously the Vtec was designed to be used, I was just a bit skeptical about revving an 11 year old car up to 6,000+ RPMs, seeing as it redlines at a bit over 7,000.

But everything runs good, it doesnt burn oil, and I take good care of it, so I guess my lead foot wont hurt it after all! Thanks alot, I appreciate your input. Other opinions are welcome too though.
 
i would use common sense. don't try to do freeway pulls with it. it's an automatic. granny drive it. save yourself from having to fix it down the road.
 
i would use common sense. don't try to do freeway pulls with it. it's an automatic. granny drive it. save yourself from having to fix it down the road.

Well I dont really plan on FLOORING IT every time I drive. I've had the car about 2 years now and have learned to shift my automatic when I want. I'd rather have a manual but this is what I hae to stick with for now I guess :/ But I have been able to keep it shifting very smoothly when flooring it.

So my question is, is it the speed that destroys the automatic, or the hard kicking shifts that it seems to like to do when I dont press my accellelerator properly, which I did sometimes when I first got the car.
 
well, since it's an automatic, it's made to just be driven regularly and the tranny shift on it's own. anything outside of factory intentions is going to affect the reliability and integrity of the car.

yes, shifting on your own is going hurt the tranny. yes, excessive rpms is going mto affect the tranny. it's an automatic civic. it's target market was 40 year old women and commuters.
 
Those trannies are notoriously weak. Stock horsepower should be fine, but when you start adding any torque at all you will run into problems.

On the other hand, my friend has an auto civic with over 200k on it and he beats the shit out of that car and it still has the original tranny. Go figure.
 
I would buy a big bottle of Seafoam to clean out your engine because if you have seriously never gone about 5,300 RPM you probably have some serious carbon buildup... You need to wind it out every once in a while at very least...
 
I've gone over 5300 RPMs once, though I do usually get it up to around 4,500 at least once a day at some point. But since its automatic, and one guy said it could screw up my transmission, I havent been to hard on it. But the transmission never slips or kicks hard, even when changing gears at high RPMS (5k+). In fact it shifts smoother o_O It shifts like crap and kicks at like 2,000 or less.
 
I would buy a big bottle of Seafoam to clean out your engine because if you have seriously never gone about 5,300 RPM you probably have some serious carbon buildup... You need to wind it out every once in a while at very least...

Agreed, lots of carbon build up. Take that beast onto the highway and run the shit out of it for a good minute, i bet when you look back you will see alot of black smoke, from the carbon.
 
Well at this moment my tranny is doing 190k's and i ring out that shit often well obviously not all the time but enough to say she is being pushed to the limit..i change my tranny flud regular and have no problems what so ever with her she runs smotth... i love honda
 
lol heres wat u need to do to get all that carbon rust out.


take off your headers. spray them with degreaser then sand blastinside all the way out the muffler.

HOLD YOUR CAR AT REDLINE (FLOORED IN NEUTRUAL) for about 1 min. just make sure u have plenty oil in there.. and you shoudl be fine after wards lol..

na lol im jk about all that , just waiting for u to finish reading it , and by the time u get to this part ul be like DAMNIT lol.

anyways

your motor was built in to use vtec

don't listen to any 1 that tells u not to floor it.

automatics take it easier then manuals cuz they have a ecu that says shift b4 u blow something.

manuals dont, we better pray we dont over doit.

go ahead and pop that vtec as much as u want
 
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