Just picked up an 07' TL-S 6MT with 92k miles earlier today. Took a test drive and everything about the car seem/seems great. Also, took it over to a third party/unbiased shop and they said everything looked really good for the mileage.

Fast forward to being in the car by myself for the first time. Jumping on the on-ramp to get up to high way speeds, the car seems somewhat sluggish. I have also put the pedal down twice now and it gets to 5k RPM and more or less sits there. I hear the engine open up (VTEC? - this is my first Honda) but there is no power and won't accelerate much past that point. I'm a little weary to push it hard given whats going on.

Has anyone seen anything like this? I know the shop did some exhaust work (was throwing a catalytic CEL before I bought it, which they fixed) I have searched quite a bit and certainly dont think it is heat soak given it's 25 degrees outside

 

5K rpm should start screaming normally, what gear are you in? 3rd gear @ 60mph and you should have that instant feeling of slowing down when you let the pedal then kicking you in your seat when you punch it in.
If it feels sluggish, I'd be wary of the catalytic fixing they did wherever you bought it. It's highly possible a restrictive cat would make you feel like a sloth. Try an ECU reset, but if that doesn't do anything for you, then yeah something's wrong.

 

My car feels like a civic when it doesnt like the gas that i put in it. Put some 94 chevron back in and it seems to behave nicer.

 

Thanks for the insight. I'll probably end up taking it back to them to see what they think. The comment about gas does make me wonder though, as I think the car sat idle for a good number of months. Might have some bad gas or something.

It's kinda weird though. The car literally gets to 5-6k and will not go higher. Forget hitting red line, it won't happen.

 

Although I don't believe this will necessarily solve your problem you might want to read this thread and try resetting your ECU - https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...-happy-747662/

 

Did you check the oil level?
It sounds like the VTEC is not engaging (supposed to be at 4700+ RPM), so oil is the first thing to check.

Oh, and it's best to check all fluids and tire pressures after picking up a car from a dealership, whether new or otherwise. Sometimes the dealership people miss things or have miscalibrated pressure gauges.

Welcome to AZ.

 

+1

These engines can consume oil when driven spiritedly. If mine is low on oil it nose dives at 5k RPMs in 1st gear, like a fuel cutoff.

Vtec needs oil pressure to engage.

 

like others have said; check oil level.
if oil level is at full mark, i'd then check APP sensor.

 

Thanks for the info guys, very much appreciate it.

I did an oil change along with a compression test and plug change yesterday. (all cylinders at 240, except for one at 230) Car idles great and light throttle response is fine, but the power issue is still there. If you floor it, even at lower RPMs, you can hear the motor trying to open up and get noisy like it wants to make things happen, it just can't/won't.

I suppose the next step is the app sensor and dropping the pre-cats to inspect the previous shops work. It feels like the motor can't breathe although I have no data to backup that thought. I'll report back..

 

Guessing APP sensor, but in for details as to fix.

 

Replaced the APP sensor this morning. Throttle feels a little smoother, but my problem still exists.

Car is fine during normal driving, at full throttle it revs slowly and barks/hesitates like a dog once it gets to 5k rpm. It gets to 5k~ and sits - barks, screams, and even made what sounded like a grinding noise once.

If this shady shop that replaced the pre-cats installed crappy/clogged cats, would it limit revs like this? I'm at a loss. I do have the original gutted cats that the shop took off (couldn't sell the car b/c of cat CEL) and am debating throwing the gutted cats back on. Would just hate to waste that much time swapping things to have the same result :P

 

VTEC doesn't kick in? Have you checked the VTEC solenoid?

 

Did you try resetting the ECU?

 

Yeah, I have reset the ECU a few times in the last week or two. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I'm also going to check the VTEC solenoid as well, but i'm pretty sure the issue does lie with the exhaust :

https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...oblems-886591/

This guy had the exact same symptoms as I'm having. He even mentions the scary metallic noises I've heard once or twice at high rpm. I think one of the cats is providing back pressure because it's clogged. He swapped in high flow cats and a j-pipe and the issue went away.

Guess I'm dropping 900$ on RV6-P high flow cats & j-pipe

 

Or stock cats. There's no reasons properly unclogged normal cats wouldn't do just fine. Still wary of whatever they did to get rid of the CEL.

 

My thoughts exactly. They told me they installed new pre-cats direct from Acura, though I dont buy it. They're already slightly discolored from heat - after 300miles?? Suppose it could be that the 3rd cat is also clogged and is making the pre-cats overheat.

New cats are 400$ each, so I was thinking the HFPC/j-pipe combo might be the better route given this setup will replace all 3 cats.

 

Just wanted to report back that I fixed the problem. It was indeed exhaust/cat related. The pre-cats did not look too bad, though clearly not new as the shop/dealer had told me. The real problem was in the factory jpipe and 3rd cat. I pulled the pipe off of the car and carbon chunks literally came falling out! Thing was clogged up bad!


My guess is the shop replaced the pre-cats because of a CEL, but never pulled the jpipe off to clear out all of the junk from the previously failing cats that had fallen into the pipe and become trapped. I'm surprised there isn't a system in place to monitor for this. Clogged exhaust / back pressure is no joke.


Also, I have to give a shout out to Rich at RV6. Awesome dude and really awesome products. He came out to his shop Sunday afternoon to meet me so I could pickup a pair of high flow cats and v3 jpipe. I put them on yesterday afternoon with my brothers help (took 3-4hr) and all is glorious and good!


Thanks for the help everyone!

 

That's great to know, and never have business with the people that fixed your CEL... that's shoddy business if the stock pipe was clogged!

Gotta love bolt-on mods too. I bet you love the sound of the thing now.

 

Glad you got it sorted out

 

Yeah, won't be using those guys for anything. Installing used cats is somewhat of a joke in itself!

And yeah! for sure! I'm ecstatic the car is running properly. Probably gained 100+hp from one pipe given how it was running before. I'm fairly sure my friends 108hp Chevy Aveo was quicker!

 

Rofl! Really happy for you that it's fixed. Nothing sucks more than not getting what you paid for!

 

glad you got it fixed. enjoy