Hi sonyman, iVTEC means different things to different Honda engines. For example, on the K-series engines, there are full 3-stage VTEC types as well as "economy" VTEC types. The K-series and B-series preceding it, employ the conventional VTEC technology, where economy cams operate at moderate rpms, switching over only at higher rpms for high output. These engines come to life above 5k rpm, but are less torquey below it. The highest performing K-series engines are like that, such as the K20A and K24A on the Type R variants. Our local K-series engines on the Accord 2.4 and Civic 2.0 have been tweaked, without the high cams on the exhaust side. This has led to better torque low down, with outright performance being a tradeoff as compared to their higher-revving brethren with the "A" suffixes.

On the R-series however, it's a total reverse VTEC in a way. The R-series can be found on the CRV and Accord 2.0 (R20) while the Civic 1.8 uses the R18. How the R-series differs from normal VTEC engines, is that in normal operating modes, it is running on performance cams (meaning high cams in VTEC terminology). Once you reach a certain cruising speed, the economy cams take over. That is why the R-series has good low to mid range torque. In order to maintain driveability, a compromise had to be made on the size and duration of the high cams, hence these engines start to run out of breath after 5,500 rpm.

You can read more about the R18 here: http://asia.vtec.net/Engines/RiVTEC/index.html

And some general info on the K-series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_K_engine

This post has been edited by gregy: Jun 24 2010, 04:49 AM

Can sell separately or not?

It's called torque converter lockup. Once your car is moving at a constant speed, the torque converter is locked, allowing the car to cruise in its highest ratio (5th gear). When in 5th gear and the rpm is at 2400-2500 rpm, the torque converter is still slipping to generate enough torque to get the car to a constant speed. It's like a manual car, if you half-clutch it the rpm is higher even though you're in a certain gear, generating higher torque.

You might also notice that when your TC is locked up at 2000 rpm and you press the throttle to go just a bit faster, the rpm goes up again to 2400 plus. The TC is then disengaged from lockup.

The best way to look after your gearbox and get the best FC is to try and cruise in TC lockup mode. You don't need 2000 rpm to engage lockup. If you drive at a constant 70km/h, the GB will initiate lockup at around 1550 rpm.

It won't hurt your engine unless you always die-die oso wanna maintain 160km/h during uphill runs lol. But it will hurt your FC

My FD has a tray with tools in it. The spare is also locked down. Shouldn't that be standard? I think your car's previous owner lost it.

I had a similar problem many yrs ago on my Mazda Cronos V6. For my case, sometimes when I step on the brakes hard, the pedal would slowly descend to the floor. After that the ABS light will come on. Turns out I had a faulty front left ABS sensor. All I had to do was get it cleaned. What happened was, when I stepped on the brakes, the faulty front left sensor didn't detect that wheel stopping, which the ABS computer thought was the car slipping, so it released pressure on the other three wheels to try and straighten the car out. The feeling is as if there was an airlock or fluid leak in my brake lines. Scary sh*t.

For any car with a properly functioning ABS, you will find that stopping on uneven roads like gravel or wet roads will actually take a longer distance than a car without ABS. Please remember that the ABS system is not meant to help you stop faster, rather it is to enable you to steer out of harm's way while braking hard, and also to help you brake in a straight line should there be water or other slippery surface.

TCS or VSA helps you stabilize your car while you're negotiating a corner or if one side of your car loses traction. However, if the system is faulty, you should have gotten a warning light on the meter panel.


A good read on ABS/TCS/VSA:
http://www.securitydriver.com/aic/stories/article-111.html

Sorry this is not entirely correct. If the road isn't wet, a car without ABS will allow you to lock your wheels, enabling you to stop in a shorter distance. The problem is, once stopped your car may not be facing the same direction as when you started braking lol. However, if you don't skid at all, your car will come to a screeching halt faster than if you had ABS which will catch and release the brakes at up to 15Hz, thereby prolonging the distance a bit.

This is very easy to test in the real world especially on a dirt or gravel road. Drive at about 40km/h, then slam on the brakes. Because the gravel will cause your car to slip so much it won't allow your car's tyres to dig into the sand, you'll find your brakes pulsing to a slow but secure halt. If you pull out the fuse for the ABS and try again, you'll find that by letting the wheels dig in you'll stop much faster.

The only time that ABS will help a car stop faster is on a slippery wet surface, and that's only because if without ABS your wheels will lock and you will aquaplane out of control.

As for not letting go, here's an actual exp I had some time ago. I was driving an 04' City iDSI. Coming out from Mid Valley going towards Jln Maarof, while taking the left bend on the overhead bridge (beside Maybank building), at the corner where there is a blind spot a car had just stalled. The road was slippery as it had just finished raining. Upon seeing the stalled car I hit the brakes as I was going about 70km/h. Because I was in the bend, stepping on my brakes hard caused the rear to sway out. So I countered the sway by steering the other way. I had to do this a few times cos the tail kept swinging from left to right because the front absorbers kept getting loaded. My foot was on the brakes hard, but the ABS did nothing to stabilize my car, in fact it felt as if I had no brakes! I had to release the brakes while doing the counter manouver, and only stepped hard when the car was straightening out. Missed the stalled car by inches!

The lesson learnt there is, ABS didn't save my @ss that day, *I* saved my @ss. No matter if you have ABS/TCS/VSA, all that will count for nothing if you lose traction while braking. So better drive slowly and don't be a hero lol.....

Those things cost quite a bit of money. The HID itself will require a change of headlight housing and different bulbs etc. Paddle shift, side airbags and K20Z engine even more expensive to change lol.

This post has been edited by gregy: Jul 17 2010, 02:02 AM

Last time when I bought my City in 2004 from Mofaz in TTDI, my SA was really helpful. But the same can't be said about his colleague. It so happened on that day my phone battery was weak and I needed to charge my phone to make some important calls, too bad my SA was using a diff brand phone so he asked this sour-faced colleague to lend me his charger. The joker lent it to me, but at the same time felt the need to lecture me that I should always keep my phone charged la, battery die faster so what, calls more important bla bla. Actually on that day I traded in my car to Mofaz, and my in-car charger was with me but my new car was still not at the showroom yet, that's why I couldn't charge my phone

Just goes to show, sometimes all these sales reps care about is making a sale, if you're not their customer don't expect them to treat you well. No long term vision, you never know if one day he/she may become your customer, who knows? Apart from my own SA and the Mofaz branch manager, I really regret having to bump into any of the other SAs, especially that shorty "lecturer" with the shoulder-length hair who looks like an Asian Barry Manilow lol.

Apart from that lousy episode, the service guys at Mofaz are quite friendly and will take the time to explain what's wrong with your car. Even my own SA, a few yrs later when I called up to ask some questions about servicing he got me the right info. I'd definitely buy from there again if my next car is another Honda.

This post has been edited by gregy: Jul 21 2010, 04:38 AM

Interesting name, Lemon She won't be able to sell cars in US with that name though lol. Just kidding at the irony.

Normally the insurance company will appoint a panel workshop to kau tim for you. After that then sell the car loh. Buang suey.....

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Added on August 12, 2010, 1:11 amOh d@mn, sorry to hear that. It would be good if you can share with us how the mofos managed to open your car door just by opening your car boot.

This post has been edited by gregy: Aug 12 2010, 01:11 AM

Isn't it up to the insurance company which panel workshop to use? You mean you can appoint your own workshop?

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Added on August 12, 2010, 11:13 amD2R not B2R Just curious though, why would you want to swap out a perfectly fine brand new HID bulb?

This post has been edited by gregy: Aug 12 2010, 11:13 AM

I think you're expecting too much from the customer service if you're looking for more than just a pat on your shoulder and an empathetic look on their faces. Cars get stolen everyday. You can't expect them to give discounts for every case right? Sorry for your loss again. However, it's better to move on and if you want to make a difference, upload that vid you were talking about and perhaps other Civic owners can learn a thing or two. I still don't understand how the basterds managed to get the doors unlocked via the boot. Still waiting for your answer.

My relative's 6mth old CRV was stolen from within the house compound! Nobody heard or saw anything, it happened in the dead of night. He's driving an FD2 now. The autogate is now padlocked for slightly better security, and there's a motion sensor in the car with a remote alarm that he keeps in his room.

I do agree that stock car alarms are useless in most cases when dealing with high-tech professional thieves. You can only install steering and brake locks to slow them down. If you can prove that Honda's security system is crappy, do publicise the matter so every Honda owner will make noise. Since you already said that a pro thief is smiling cos everything is the same from the factory, it matters not if you have a high end system or a ciplak system. All they have to do is "train" with your car model. They will also be able to train with a Merc or BMW In this case, I don't think you can blame Honda for their choice of immobiliser cos it won't make a difference

Like I said, my relative lost his CRV. My friend lost his Satria on his first day at a new workplace. So although I don't have firsthand experience on losing a car it has happened to ppl I know and care about. So boo hoo, go cry all you want but if you have nothing to share except wanting a shoulder to cry on pls go elsewhere. How many times you want ppl to say sorry for your loss? I've said it a few times to you already. Not enough? Time to wake up bro. And it's not like you already spent a lot of money modding the car so you'll get back whatever balance after settling with the bank. Big deal.

If you want more ppl to sympathise with your loss, do the right thing by sharing so others might avoid such a sad ending.

This post has been edited by gregy: Aug 14 2010, 01:09 PM

Thanks for sharing that painful video. Sorry again for your loss. From that video, I gather that the basterd mofos took quite a bit of time to take care of your brake lock. The evil deed would've been completed much faster if you hadn't had the lock installed. Btw, what about steering lock. Did you have one installed? It is clear that the brake lock has met its objective, which is to slow them down. The more locks they have to dismantle, the longer it will take and the more suspicious passersby would be.

From now on, if I see a big black SUV or whatever parked suspiciously like that, I will try and see if the car being blocked is being "worked" on or not.

It's too bad that it's not against the law to double park like that even though the driver is in the car. If a strict ban was in place, the method employed to steal yaphong's car wouldn't have worked. If the general public was more alert, those who passed by would've suspected something amiss, since there was ample parking space yet the SUV was double parked.

This post has been edited by gregy: Aug 15 2010, 05:22 AM

May I know what you mean by "is something like English forum"? You mean to say Malays and Indians won't understand English? Or just the "something like English" used in your forum that only Chinese can understand?

Reverse sensors are very sensitive as they rely on sound waves to operate. It is possible that the wax or sealant has somehow altered the sensitivity of the sensors. I don't know if it happens to you, but for me, when it's raining or just after rain and the sensors are slightly wet, they go crazy and beep non stop.

Also, the sensors have to be placed upright (there's usually a little arrow on the sensor to indicate which way is up. Fitting them any other way than up will cause them to beep even though there's nothing behind you. You might want to check if the CARS ppl removed the sensors to machine buff your bumper and may have accidentally re-fitted them the wrong way.

Go look in mudah.my You're looking for FD1 or FD2?

Wow I thought this issue was dead and buried Nevertheless since you brought it up; it doesn't matter which way a forum goes. You can state that in your forum policy, i.e., language, code of conduct etc. So what if a forum consists of mainly Chinese forummers, is it wrong for a non-Chinese to join, as long as they communicate within the forum in English? I'm Chinese, but somehow your earlier post sounded a little too pro-Chinese, heck you even said you're "not that racist" lol. I'll take that as your not so strong command of the language and not that you're really a little racist That's why I asked if the English used in that forum can only be understood by Chinese due possibly to the idiosyncrasies used, i.e., using Chinese metaphors to describe things like "mou tak teng", "wah lau weh", "yau mou kau chor", "si beh jiak lat" etc lol.

Maybe I'm not that big a forum junkie, but I don't recall any forums I've ever visited or joined that mentioned anything about being any particular race, but usually only about language used. You don't have to mention anything, let ppl decide when they're visiting your forum whether or not they're comfortable in communicating in a particular language, if not they quietly disappear la, right?