ECU Rev Limiter at low 2500RPM with no CEL!? Help!

[pecanflyboy]

Hey everyone,
1996 stock 1.8L daily driver/track car. All belts and shaft seals have been recently replaced. Running perfectly until this issue popped up after replacing the camshaft and crankshaft seals. Washed engine down and was going on a test drive.

Sympton: Initially start the car and engine revs normally. After about 10 seconds the rev limiter (ignition cut out) rythmically cycles the motor at no more than 2500 RPM. Restart car, runs normally for 10 seconds and then rev limiter kicks in. NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT!?

What I've done, with no change:
1. Thouroughly dried motor and allowed it to heat up.
2. Checked all plugs and wires. Everything seems to be plugged in, with no damaged wiring.
3. Checked Crank/Cam timing...good.
4. Charged battery
5. Disconnected battery for an hour. Held brake for a minute. This was an attempt to reset the ECU.
6. Checked to make sure the ignition trigger plate is installed correctly.
7. All fluids checked.

This seems to be the ECU limiting the revs for some reason. However, I would expect the ECU to flash a Check Engine Light if this was the case, and it is not.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Jimmy

[POS Racing]

Washed engine down and was going on a test drive.

Had a similar thing happen on the wife's 2002 Miata it was water down in the spark plug holes. The car drove fine to work then on her way home it freaked out don't recall if it spit a cell or not.

[pecanflyboy]

Interesting. I'm going to check that out. I did wash the engine and keeping water out of the spark plugs is always a pain in the ass. If that's it, I owe you a beer. I just got finished checking most of my sensors. It's got to be something easy and obvious. Uggggghhhh.

[cone-cerned]

Buy four.

[pecanflyboy]

POS, I owe you a beer! I thought that since the motor had heated up, that any water would have boiled off. When I check, the plug wells were dry. But, I removed and replaced one, and backed the rest off then re-toqued....problem solved. I hate not knowing for sure, but it now runs perfectly. Thanks again, and let me know about the beer!

[POS Racing]

POS, I owe you a beer! I thought that since the motor had heated up, that any water would have boiled off. When I check, the plug wells were dry. But, I removed and replaced one, and backed the rest off then re-toqued....problem solved. I hate not knowing for sure, but it now runs perfectly. Thanks again, and let me know about the beer!

Yep been there done that! Glad you are back up and running!

[black roadster]

Buy four.

I found rubber chair caps from Home Depot or Lowes fit better.

[Sharpie]

I found that not shooting water all over my engine helps the most Glad you got it fixed.