I have an 03 Recon. I was having problems with it running as fast as easy I wanted it to and I took it to my mechanic and he says that it has a Rev Limiter on it. Well what does that mean and is there any way to get more power without hurting anything?

 

The rev limiters are built into the ignition system to keep the engine from overrevving. If it is removed you run the risk of floating the valves . Besides most stock engines are already beyond the torque peak of the engine before they get even close to the rev limit. You wont gain any more power but you will be able rev out each gear more and get to replace more engine parts from premature failure. There is a reason honda engines last so long.

 

does my foreman have this also?

 

Yes all honda 4 wheelers have them but they are all set different depending on the engine. I have a 300ex that I put a 352 stroker kit in and it hit the rev limiter in a very pronounced way so I bought a special CDI box that eliminated the limiter. Then the engine would rev well almost over 10,000 rpm and was fun to wind it up that high but after about 1 years the crank web exploded and I found out later that I was not supposed to use a rev box with a stroker crank. lesson learned. Some engines like the ones in the foremans can easily hit the limiter but Honda appently didnt want to rev a pushrod engine much higher so if you want to see if you can get a rev box for yours its always at some risk to durabilty. Its your call.

 

ATV engines are not designed for high RPMs. The rev limiter is to prevent you from destroying the engine.