Is VTEC Kicking In Good Or Bad???

[7red7]

Being that I regularly drive between the 70-80mph mark, I'm interested to know how the VTEC affects the car. Please forgive me, but the Fit is my first Honda so I admit it I'm a complete noob with this. There are explanations online as to what VTEC does to the engine, but I get lost in the physics of it all. Can anyone break it down to me what VTEC actually does, why it kicks in, and if driving at speeds that regularly see it in use causes harm to the car??? Am I just flipping out for no reason and should shut up and enjoy my new car???


DAN

[Maximuz]

vtec is designed to help the engines eco or performence. im sure honda wouldnt use it if it caused harm to your car. enjoy u'r car man. shes fun

[Flyin172s]

Vtec definitely won’t hurt your engine. Like Maximuz said it helps with power and fuel economy.

On this website, about 3/4 of the way down the page, it explains the Fit engine very well and more importantly in relatively simple terms.

The Truly Amazing Honda Fit/Jazz

Also, I'm almost positive the Fit is always in vtec at freeway speeds, it helps you keep it in 5th gear when accelerating or climbing a hill, thus saving fuel.

[kenchan]

my FitS sees vtec everyday. i drive it pretty spritedly (but not
abusively).

[vtec just kicked in yo]

Originally Posted by 7red7

Being that I regularly drive between the 70-80mph mark, I'm interested to know how the VTEC affects the car. Please forgive me, but the Fit is my first Honda so I admit it I'm a complete noob with this. There are explanations online as to what VTEC does to the engine, but I get lost in the physics of it all. Can anyone break it down to me what VTEC actually does, why it kicks in, and if driving at speeds that regularly see it in use causes harm to the car??? Am I just flipping out for no reason and should shut up and enjoy my new car???


DAN

I don't know what your level of understanding of how engines work is so just keeping it really basic, VTEC is just a system that allows the car to change the timing for when/how long the valves in the engine open.

What is happening in YOUR car is when you are just driving slowly around town the engine is using only 12 valves to allow the car to run leaner and use less gas. When you speed up, say to 3-4000 RPM oil pressure pushes a small pin into place which connects the 2 intake valves in each cylinder together so that they both open wide to let more air in (thereby allowing you to burn more fuel and get more power)

Make sense?

On our cars it is designed to help efficiency while allowing the car to make more power as needed.

It does no harm whatsoever to have VTEC kick in. It is how the engine is designed to work. It's really not even unique anymore. Almost every new car on the road you see now has some form of variable valve timing. Honda was the first to really mass-market the technology though.

What we have is probably closest to VTEC-E as described here.

VTEC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SD_MR_FIT]

its not bad......i love vtec

[mahout]

[quote=7red7;357484]Being that I regularly drive between the 70-80mph mark, I'm interested to know how the VTEC affects the car. Please forgive me, but the Fit is my first Honda so I admit it I'm a complete noob with this. There are explanations online as to what VTEC does to the engine, but I get lost in the physics of it all. Can anyone break it down to me what VTEC actually does, why it kicks in, and if driving at speeds that regularly see it in use causes harm to the car??? Am I just flipping out for no reason and should shut up and enjoy my new car???

Vtec is Honda's name for changing the camshaft that controls the valves that let air-fuel into the engine and lets the combusted mixture out.
Efficient control of the valves at low rpm is different than the control at high rpm and if you want efficient valves at low rpm and at high rpm you need to change cams, So when the vtec system switches cams you are in need of more power to do what you're doing.
And yes, it generally means you are using more gasoline, less mpg. Its nothing for you to be concerned about. Let Honda do the worrying.

[7red7]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate the feedback and not laughing at me (well at least directly at me) *LOL* Again, I'm just completely new to Honda and want to understand how the engines work and the car operates in all driving conditions. I've owned Toyota, Hyundai and Mazda so far. My Fit has quickly become my favorite car I've owned yet. I just can't help but be happy and smile when I get in and drive it

[TOOL]

VTEC is always a good thing, especially in such a tiny engine.

Tyler

[y2ks2k]

Honda engines are the best in the world, VTEC or not. No matter what flavor of VTEC you have, the thing will last longer than just about any other motor made (I know so, I’ve owned 11 Hondas now, some with almost 200K miles). Even the hard core DOHC perf models like the B16a in my old Honda del Sol VTEC take a pounding and keep going. This is the model that had 1.6 liters and 160 hp, first at 100hp/liter mark which pretty just means it had a lot of power for its size. Very efficient power. I bounced of the red line on that thing at just about every time I accelerated (ok, I was young in college). I dragged in at the drag strip, races in on the track and autX's. I beat the crap out of that engine from mile 0 and never had a problem.

I pounded the 2.0 liter 240 hp DOHC VTEC in my 2nd S2000 ever worse (lots and lots of track time).

[dagul]

Vtec doesn't really "kick-in." It's just a crossover between the "mild" cam and the "wild" cam. Crossover point on the honda fit is about 3500rpm. So keeping it around 70mph or lower will probably yield you better gas mileage.

Here's a simple video to give you a visual representation of how vtec works.

youtube vid

[7red7]

I just wanted to thank everyone again for helping me out in understanding these engines. That was a great video BTW