About a week ago as I was accelerating and braking to wear in some new brake pads after a while I noticed that when I hit 5000 rpm at full throttle the engine would hesitate and the tach would start going crazy, skipping up to about 5500 and down to 4500 and then shaking around in general. Although the engine did hesitate, the revolutions definately did not vary as widely as indicated by the tach needle. After pulling off the highway and turning off the engine, when I turned it back on the problem was gone. I drove about a week without incident.

This monday I went to a track day at thunderhill raceway. The first two sessions in the morning went without incident.

In the afternoon, in one session, I noticed the same problem described above. If I continued giving it gas eventually the engine returned to normal, full power around 5500 rpm and continuing to redline. After a few more laps I noticed the temperature gauge rising steadily towards hot. When this happened I slowed down and pulled off the track the next chance I got. By the time I had parked the car the engine temperature had dropped back down to normal and the engine would rev happily past 5000 and all the way to redline without hesitating. I did this 2 more times in following lap sessions always pulling off after about 5 laps when the heat gauge started getting pretty high.

I checked the coolant level throughout the day and it was fine, never changed. Checked the oil, fine as far as I could tell.

At some point my check engine light came on. At the end of the day I drove back home deciding to deal with it in the morning. In the morning my check engine light was not on anymore.

I had planned to pick up the odb2 scanner thing (Where can I get one by the way) and check the code for the light but now that the light is gone I dont know if I'll find anything, will I? I guess I am a begginer at DIY stuff but I havent been to a dealership yet that seems more competent than me.

So has anybody had this happen before? any ideas on where I should start?

Thanks a lot.
-Tyler

p.s. I did look around and didn't see anything like this but feel free to redirect me to another post.

 

Nothing huh?

My car has been driving totaly normal at street speeds since but I am planning on another track day in august so we'll see what comes of it

 

has this seriously never happenned to anyone?

 

Since your problem seems to happen at higher speeds I would suspect an airflow problem. Is the front bumper stock? If so is the underpanel in place? If not that could very well be your problem. The air goes under the car instead of through the radiator, this will happen only at highway speeds and above.

Also, make sure the heater works when idleing. If not then that can indicate low coolant or an air pocket in the system.

Are you running antifreeze or water? Also make sure your radiator cap is good too.

 

Thanks, but everything looks fine. not only does the problem only happen at high speeds but after extended high rpm driving.