Anybody familiar with VTEC issues around here? Namely on a 2001 Civic.

My CEL came on as I was accelerating onto I-85 yesterday and I lost power for a few moments. [insert honda power joke here]. The code came up as p1259 - VTEC system malfunction. I ended up having to drive it the hundred or so miles to Raleigh as is, it never misbehaved again, and this morning the CEL was gone. But today, driving back the light came back on and the little bitch kept cutting down to idle most anytime I tried to accelerate hard. I had no problems once I gave up and kept it under 3500 RPM (aka grandma speed )

Now, I've been reading up and it seems that this *could* be caused by low oil, and low and behold the dipstick almost has nothing on it. But, my question is...how likely is this just a problem with low oil? And if its not the oil, could I be causing damage if I take it back out and run the shit out of it just to check if its still doing it (after adding oil of course)?

[Edited on May 16, 2010 at 4:33 PM. Reason : Oh yeah, it has ~127k miles on it...incase that might be relevant to some common issue]

5/16/2010 4:30:06 PM

add oil, vtec engaged, moar powerz.

5/16/2010 4:42:29 PM

Why is your oil low? Are you leaking or burning?

5/16/2010 5:40:04 PM

I'm pretty sure its got a leak. I had a coupon for an oil change from the dealer a few months back and they gave me a "complimentary" inspection while I was in there. They said I had an oil leak...but I hadn't really thought much of it until now.

[Edited on May 16, 2010 at 6:07 PM. Reason : .]

5/16/2010 6:06:58 PM

Yes this is caused by low oil, why you ask? cause VTEC engages/disengages using oil pressure so if there is low oil it causes low pressure causing no vtacks.

however the real problem here is the low oil, vtec will inherently burn a small amount of oil but it should never disappear on the dipstick, if its a leak find it and get it fixed, if its burning that much it could be either bad piston rings and/or valve seals.

5/16/2010 7:56:54 PM

oil pressure physically activates/engages VTEC

Quote :

"controlled by the ECU which takes account of engine oil pressure, engine temperature, vehicle speed, engine speed and throttle position"

low oil = low pressure = no VTEC

add more oil, find and fix leak

the dealership telling you about the oil leak is pretty suspect. it'd be a damn huge leak if you've lost that much oil. To show nothing on the dipstick, you might have about a quart left (see how many quarts it takes you to get back to "full" ). You'd see oil all over your parking spot/driveway.

Quote :

"take it back out and run the shit out of it just to check if its still doing it (after adding oil of course)?"

as long as it's got oil, I'd go for it.

[Edited on May 16, 2010 at 8:04 PM. Reason : ^damn you hippie!]

5/16/2010 8:03:47 PM

Too much to read.

Check oil

check v-attack solenoid

5/16/2010 9:17:47 PM

TIME FOR A SWAP

5/16/2010 9:47:00 PM

low oil and CEL on means NO VeEEEAaaTAAAACHH

5/16/2010 10:59:31 PM

Quote :

"check v-attack solenoid"

yup, take apart and make sure screen is not clogged.

5/17/2010 11:21:42 AM

5/17/2010 12:26:47 PM

5/17/2010 12:26:47 PM

[Edited on May 17, 2010 at 12:27 PM. Reason : god dammit tdub, seriously?]

5/17/2010 12:26:47 PM

LOL

5/17/2010 12:50:27 PM

if you want to keep that car around for another 100,000 miles it might behoove you to check your oil more often, especially after someone tells you you have a leak...

5/17/2010 12:55:47 PM

I got the oil changed today and it seems to be working fine now.

^ haha true, I am a lazy ass about keeping up with checking/changing oil... but it wasn't like they said hey you have a leak, you should get that fixed! It was more like, "hey we saw a little oil while we were trying to find things to charge you for; give us $50 and we'll try and figure out where its coming from"

After seeing tchenku's post and talking with the dude at the dealership I'm not so sure its a leak after all. I park in the exact same spot every night and there's no spots or nothing.

The dealership guy seemed to think it was possible I'd burned the oil. It's been about 7000 miles since the last oil change and I do run it pretty hard, so I don't think that's a super alarming rate of oil loss... but then again, I'm no expert.

5/17/2010 7:11:46 PM

What Civic do you have? Unless you have an Si you shouldn't have any noticeable oil consumption from hard running. Letting your oil level get so low that your VTEC doesn't work is a sign that you're negligent of your car. You may have already harmed it. Also keep in mind that oil helps cool your engine so an extremely low oil level in the summer heat could lead to overheating.

Just be careful...

5/17/2010 8:08:18 PM

Its just an EX...1.7 liter l4.

5/17/2010 8:32:02 PM

your car has very mild VTEC, nothing performance minded. just take care of it

5/17/2010 9:13:08 PM

dont slam the single cam jammer!

ps : how is it not performance minded?

[Edited on May 17, 2010 at 9:15 PM. Reason : .]

5/17/2010 9:15:02 PM

More or less b/c its a single cam'er and has a low redline. Every "performance" VTEC model is DOHC and redlines at 8k+

5/17/2010 9:25:09 PM

I'll take my non performance non vtek civic and roll on some busta's. No need for vtek son

5/17/2010 10:28:44 PM

Yeah just make sure you keep oil in it. My old accord burned about 3 qts of oil per tank of gas and ran like a champ

5/18/2010 3:23:25 AM

VVT>VtAck

5/18/2010 8:25:56 AM

if you're not leaking, does your car have blue smoke coming out the tailpipe under acceleration?

yeah 'cause that's oil burning

5/18/2010 8:33:37 AM

So....having no more issues with the vtec, I'm having another thing that kind of worries me...

I finally had time to get the the A/C fixed (it broke in Oct last year so I didn't bother fixing it then)...and I've noticed that the air conditioner blower will drop off a great deal when I let the engine fall down to idle. I keep meaning to check the headlights as well to see if the same type thing happens, but I haven't gotten around to it. Is this par for the course with civics (01 EX w/ manual just to recap) or could my alternator be overworked/dieing a slow death?

I do have a 600W(peak) amp pushing a shitty old 12 inch pioneer in the trunk, and an aftermarket head-unit that could be drawing a little more current than factory.

6/15/2010 6:26:55 PM

check your grounds.
i had the ground bolt on my integra go bad. it was corroded as hail. follow the negative wire from the batt and it will lead to around the shock tower area. thats the bolt on my car that was all funked up.

i was having same head light dimming stuff too.... but my batt. actually started to die and thats when i looked into it.

[Edited on June 15, 2010 at 6:57 PM. Reason : ]

6/15/2010 6:56:39 PM