Ok,I took the car out for a run and when you get on the throttle it will rev up to 3800-4000 rpms and start cutting out like it's suppose to when you reach the red line. Why isit doing this so soon? You can be going 20 mph or 70 mph and when you get on the throttle itrevs up to3800-4000 rpms and then starts cutting out. But it doesn't do it every single time but mostly it does. Other times if you floor it, it's like you haveput on the brakes. My check engine light is on and has been for years. The previous owner said he took it into the Honda shop and they couldn't get it to go off and said it would be fine. So they put a little sticker on the dash to cover it up.

 

If the CEL is on, the ECM will run in a default mode [using fixed parameters]

It is normal to have a lower rev under those conditions.

 

Is the needle bouncing or it just won't rev high? I remember on mine, in limp home mode, it wouldn't rev over 4000, but it didn't have the hard bounce like it did at 7000.

 

No it does a gentle bounce . Not like you were shifting and it would drop rapidly. Saturday a friend of mine was checking it out for me. We had taken it out for a ride and when we got back to the garage he put it in park and floored the accelerator and the engine rev'd up to 4000 and started its spuddering. Now I just went out and the car has been sitting for about 4 hrs. I let it warm up for 10 min , got in and floored it and it rev'd up to 5000 rpms before it started spuddering. I did this several times. Took it out on the road about and floored it and it started spuddering again at 4000 rpms. So I guess the answer to your guestion is no it won't rev high. As long as I keep it under 3800 or so it runs fine. I can pass as long as i have lots of time and don't need to get into it much. Let me know if my explanations are hard to understand , I'll try again. Thanks

 

I may be wrong, but I think you might want to check out your fuel pressure regulator and fuel pump. It sounds like you are getting starved for gas at the top end.