Ok, some moron almost sideswiped me on the highway tonight. (I have a 91 civic hatch)

As a result, I panicked and when I was trying to slow down to avoid getting hit by said moron, accidentally downshifted from 5th to 2nd gear-while going 45-50 mph! I meant to go into 4th and immediately went back to 4th once I realized my error as the car revved WAY up in 2nd.

I just did this once, will my engine be screwed or what damage could this have caused? Thanks in advance for any info anyone can give me.

 

Sure there are things that could have been damaged, but you haven't said if the car runs differently now. Do you notice anything different in the way it performs?

 

Nah, probably nothing got damaged. Your rev limiter will usually cut the fuel in time to save the engine from revving too high, plus you were going about 45-50 and dropped down to second right? I think the highest speed 2nd gear can go to is about 55mph in stock civics(redlining the engine), so u should be fine. Like pacificdude said, is your car performing any differently?

 

i got a 1990 crx with the Zc engine....in my second gear i can get up to 70 so i don't think if i did that it would hust mine but u never know. of course its not going to be good for it. everytime u start it the engine get torn apart little by little... i think u will be fine.

 

Thanks guys for responding and all the info.

I haven't noticed anything different in the way it runs...I guess I'll just have to hope all will be ok for the longterm, as I just had the engine overhauled about 4,000 miles ago due to worn rings. I'd be only too happy not to go there again, anytime in the near future

 

lol, nah man, you are good, honda motors are built to withstand high RPM.

I know a guy that had a hatch that had a cracked head/bad rings/valve seals, he went out thinkin he is going to beat the piss out of the motor and blow it up, he disabled the Rev limiter, got it up to 10k in 2nd and it blew apart the tranny and axle, the motor still runs to this day, couldnt believe it...

 

Downshifting to second under 60mph is OK in every car I know of. It is called the "second gear conspiracy" :chuckles:

If you run second gear to redline in virtually any manual trans car, you will get to about 62mph. This keeps the 0-60 time as low as possible and helps to sell cars. Odd how magazine publicity alters the performance of our vehicles.Electronic fuel or ignition cut limiters will not save an engine from a mechanical over-rev. I've seen a few S2000 F20C's die that way.

 

I have personally seen a car tach out at 10,500, and the only thing that happened was about 6-8 months later he had to change 1 rod bolt, because it stretched a hair. but before he changed it the car Ran perfect, he just wanted to be safe.

 

You can still redline the motor its called a mechanical over rev. The fuel might stop, but the physics of motion won't

 

Thanks Kai, good to know...I trust you're knowledge, so that info makes me feel better-you're a genious about car stuff. Thanks again!