Let me run this thought by you...please excuse my fuzzy logic. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. When I over-reved from 1st to 2nd, the rev limiter kicked in but...the engine should have been somewhere in the 9000 range (JDM b16) when this happened. The tach is US OEM and only goes to 8000 RPM. Is it possible that I exeeded the physical limits of the gauge and f'd it up? After all, the needle was buried. Like I said, the v-tech still kicks in strong in the mid-5000 but if it gets the signal for when to engage from the tach electronically it might think it's at 5500 when in reality it might only be at 4500.

I guess the only way to tell would be to go to the stealership and have them hook it up for a diagnostic. I'm sure they can read "real" RPMs somehow?