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Honda Prelude

The coupé that carried Honda's engineering showpieces, and the fifth generation is the one people mean. Its ATTS torque-vectoring front differential on the Type S is a mechanical system with its own hydraulics and control unit, unusual on a front-driven car and unlike anything else in this catalogue — its faults present as handling complaints rather than driveline ones. The H22A is a high-revving VTEC that predates direct injection entirely, so its diagnosis is ignition, timing and the distributor rather than fuel-rail pressure.

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Honda Prelude, front view
Elise240SX · CC BY-SA 4.0 (external)

Generations

  • Second to fourth generation 1982–1996

    Carburetted early cars set nothing at all; the four-wheel-steering system on so-equipped models has its own control unit and its own faults.

    Body styles
    Coupé
    Platform
    Honda Prelude
    Engines
    • 1.8 four-cylinder — petrol
    • 2.0 four-cylinder — B20A · petrol
    • 2.2 four-cylinder VTEC — H22A · petrol · 140–162 kW (188–217 hp) · 206–221 Nm (152–163 lb-ft)
    • 2.0 — A20A3 · petrol
    • 2.1 — B21A · petrol
    Transmissions
    5-speed manual · 4-speed automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive
  • BB6 1996–2001

    The ATTS torque-vectoring front differential is its own hydraulic system, and a fault there reads as handling rather than driveline.

    Body styles
    Coupé
    Platform
    Honda Prelude
    Engines
    • 2.0 — F20A · petrol
    • 2.2 VTEC — H22A · petrol · 206–221 Nm (152–163 lb-ft)
    • 2.3 — F23A · petrol
    Transmissions
    5-speed manual · 4-speed automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive

Service information

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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