I have a 2001 XKR and when the car is in park or neutral you can not rev the car 3k. Does anyone know if this is a feature? The car always goes past 3k when in drive. Just caught me off guard that when I fell upon this.

 

I too have a 2001 XKR and I confirmed that the car won't rev over 3k while in park.

Odd though, my check engine light was on this morning... Oh NO!

 

Very odd. I have never had a car that had a rev limiter when not in gear. Thanks for confirming.

I feel across it by mistake. I had just bought the car about two weeks ago and decided to carefully clear the engine compartment. I attempted to use as little water as possible, but I had used some engine degreaser and needed to hose some of it away. The car restarted, so I thought all was well. As I have always done I let it run for awhile to "dry" out the engine. When I got into the car I noticed that the car was very unhappy and the "restricted performance" warning was on the message center. That was the first time I attempted to rev the car while in park and when it wouldn't go past 3k, so I got scared it was related. The car did dry out and the warning went away, however as we both now know, rev past 3k is not in option in park.

Thank you for trying your car, sets my mind more at ease.

Is it your check engine light, or are you also seeing a message beneath the odometer?

 

I'm just seeing the check engine light. No message in the little odometer message box.

I've got an obd2 engine code gadget but for the life of me I can't find the port.

 

Directly above the hood (bonnet) release handle.

 

Yes, it has a rev limiter. All newer cars have neutral rev limiters so those that like to 'gun' the engines don't damage them and try to get them repaired under warranty. If the limiter is disabled, your warranty is disabled. Don't think you can get away with resetting the limiter and getting it repaired under warranty, it is held in memory that the dealer can read.

 

I'm not trying to reset the limiter or anything, I just was curious to confirm what the original poster had observed. I confirmed that my car engine cuts out at 3k rpm while in park, then I got the check engine light.

Test point, thanks for the tip on the location of the OBD2 connector.

So I got a code of P0300 which it says was a Random Misfire Detected. Would this be a result of hitting the rev limiter and the fuel cutting out?
Hmmm, looks like there are 5 codes.
1) P0300 Random Misfire Detected
2) P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire Detected
3) P0304 Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected
4) P1316 Misfire Rate Exceeds Emissions
5) P1000 OBD Systems Readiness Test Not Complete

Any ideas? The car has run fine and the check engine light only came on after trying out the rev limiter while in park.

I've only had this car a week or so, thus my paranoia.

 

Could very easily be the cause of those misfire errors. The readiness test will continue for a while until the computer is satisfied that the problem has been corrected. Use your OBD2 and reset all the codes and see if that clears things up. The readiness test will continue for a while.

When I first got my 01 XKR in January, the CEL came on indicating the random misfire and would reduce performance temporarily. I ran a can of BG-44K in the fuel when I started out on a trip. For the first 100 miles I would get the temp CEL light and reduced performance. After about 100 miles it completely disappeared and hasn't returned.

ps. Keep your foot off the go pedal when stationary.

 

Upon further inspection the code reader had more details one of which showed the speed at which the errors occurred, 0 MPH. So I do think this is the culprit. I think I will clear the codes as you suggested hlgeorge and keep an eye on it. Definitely no more high rev attempts while in park :-)