Re: VX will NOT stay in Lean mode...HELP!!
I've been meaning to do a write up on this for a while, just haven't gotten to it.
My vx has a similar problem to yours. I had around the same psi as you until I used Seafoam. Now the psi is down because all that carbon was reducing the size of the combustion chamber (that was giving the false positive of a "good" motor). I have plans for a rebuild on my spare motor, when time and money allows.
Anyway.
The vx seems to have two modes. I would characterize them as "flat highway mode" and "mountain climbing mode." 15 years ago, these cars would only ever get into mountain climbing mode when actually climbing a big hill.
Characteristics of mountain mode:
Very difficult to maintain lean burn. Aggressive change between lean and regular. Higher mpgs available in lean burn (as though you were going down a slight hill) but much lower mpgs in enrichment mode.
Characteristics of highway mode:
Much more easy to keep in lean burn, even with small hills. Very much less aggressive change between lean/not lean. Slightly lower mpg's available in lean (I cruise at 72-75mpg on a slight downhill, 69mpg or so on a flat, at 60mph with my mods) but higher mpgs than mountain mode in the non lean mode.
How to get between the two:
I think honda made it so after a long DFCO (just like you were on the down hill side of a mountain) the ecu resets to "highway mode" most of the time. But not all the time. What I do when the car gets into this mountain mode and i don't like it (like when I'm on a flat) is use my kill switch and restart the engine. I make sure to hold the kill switch off for 2 seconds. If not, the car will be back in that mode right away.
Please note that after using the kill switch, it takes about 10-15 secs to make lean burn work again.
So, try killing the motor for 2 seconds, restarting with key or bump start, and see if that changes the characteristics. Note that you may have to give it two or three kills to get to the other mode. You'll get the timing right later.
Hope that helps.
B
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