Are high RPM's hard on my truck?

Hi,

I don't mean to ask a stupid question or to show I am disrepectful to my 2003 Silverado but I've stepped on it a few times lately and I'm thinking I shouldn't be doing that.

I've babied my truck since I got it, but lately I've taken a lot of enjoyment in quick accelerations. Yesterday I watched the Tach display revolutions up to 5500RPM. Up until last month I've almost always kept it under 3000RPM Max.

My question is, am I abusing the 4.8L motor by demanding that much from it?

I appreciate any responses, even if you wish to give me hell for my ignorance.

Thanks.

have u replaced ur air fitler? or do u know if its clogged?

my moms 1997 chevy suburban was doin higher rpms because she was havin to go on the gas a bit harder, and when i checked it out and her filter was so dirty and when i replaced it it was a tiny bit better....

also u may wanna replace the tps and ats thought i could be wrong but when i did that it helped my moms i think the ats should be under 10 bucks but u never know and the the tps will be 30ish i think

i could be wrong but i dunnoz just words of advice

if u do do that than before u replace both sensors then unhook the neg. battery cable and or if u just replace the air filter then just unhook ur battery for about 5 or 10 mins

might also be that the motor might be breakin in too or somethings i dunno

Faze, I don't think he's saying it's happening unexpectedly, he's saying he's been putting the pedal to the metal lately.

Dber, engines have a redline for a reason. Operation just up to or under the redline as you are describing is fine. Now holding it in first gear at full throttle at or above redline for an extended period is a different story, but you're not doing that. The engine was designed to use all available RPM's when needed, and the ECM shifts the transmission before the RPM gets high enough to do any damage.

EDIT- And in addition, the ECM has a rev limiter that will not allow the engine to operate at a dangerous RPM. You basically have nothing to worry about, even with a manual transmission.

Hope this helps!

Steve

I agree. 5500 rpm is no big deal at all. Alot of people that race there trucks run 6000 or more regularly. Like Huminski said the reason you have them rpms on the guage is because the engine can use them when needed!

As others have said, it's not going to kill the motor in your truck if you floor it once in a while. Engines are designed to make many, many revolutions within their life time and opperate within the boundries set by the rev limiter and the components that make up the motor. But you shouldn't abuse it.

Your motor was designed to work in a truck which normally means more low end torque is needed. Torque is that "grunt" you feel just off a standing start and trucks need extra low end torque to haul heavy loads and pull things. This is accomplished, in part, by having a "long stroke" crank. With this type of crank and the other engineering that's gone into your truck, you've been given stump pulling power at a low RPM along with great drivability in day to day commutes. The down side is that you can't turn really high RPMs with it. But you really don't need to.

If you were to take a weight and tie it to the end of a string and twirl it with just a little of the string between your hand and the weight you'd see that you could spin it really fast with little effort. Also stopping the weight wouldn't be too hard. Now allow more string to slip between your hand and the weight. You'd find that it's harder to spin the weight at the same RPM as you were when the string was shorter. And stopping the weight becomes more of a challenge. Less sting=short stoke, more string=long stroke.

So, smoke the tires occasionally. Have fun!

LoL, Thank you for the Replies. :)

The only reason your engine can't go at higher rpms (besides the limiter) is because that is the fastest the rockers can go without "floating." If they float, you bend valve stems and misfire and other cool stuff. In NASCAR, they are pushing over 9000 rpms and they say the valve springs are tougher than the springs on the suspension. The only thing you should worry about when you hammer it all the time is your rear end gears. I've shattered about 3 or 4 in my days (decade of driving so far). My new 00 silverado has yet to give out on me though and I have put 60000 on it. And I am hardly ever below 3000 rpms. And you can over rev your truck by putting it in 2nd gear while going 85 mph. Yea, my truck is still fine. I have no idea why it downshifted on before reaching a safe speed. Oh yea, your truck has a built in torque limiter than keeps you from peeling rubber on takeoff. Thanks Chevrolet!

if you run higher rpm's very often I would suggest you use good quality oil and transmission fluid. The heat generated by the extra muscle can break down cheaper fluids which create problems of their own.

So much for my rear end. I recently blew out the gears doing a one tire fryer up a hill. So it lasted about 90,000, or the same amount of time all my other ones have. The differnence is that I shattered the spider gears this time and usually its the rack and pinion gears. What happens when your doing the one tire fryer, the spider gears spin really fast blowing all of the oil off of them and then they heat up, crack, and then one misses and shatters them all to hell. I drove it 10 miles after that and it made nasty clunking noises every now and then. I put a limited slip eaton rear end in this time. I'm told whatever goes out next will not be the rear end. Just so you know, that is the weakest leak on a factory silverado powertrain.

High RPMs are bad on ANYTHING unless it's built for it (i.e. race engine with forged or steel internals). Sure, your truck will take the 5500 RPMs for awhile, maybe even several thousand miles, but sooner or later you're going to start seeing blue smoke come out of yoru exhaust, and then you're going to start running into several problems.

The reference of NASCAR running 9000 plus RPMS, they have the best internals, the best valve springs, MUCH more oil then what you have, and they STILL let go on occasion before the 500 mile race is over. So do you see my point? You're 4.8 was not designed to constantly take near redline RPMs, and if you keep doing what you are doing, if you keep the truck, you're gonna start paying some big mechanic bills.

DJBABY- Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost to replace blown out gears?

Ha ha, I have yet to blow my factory engine and I have 98 k on it. My truck is designed to be at the redline all the time, it's an idiot who doesn't change their oil every 3000 and puts fram oil filters and penzoil in their vehicles that blows blue smoke and goes through engines. I have never blown an engine that I didn't build (I think it was the machine shops fault that the lifter seized). Well, one rear end was under warranty, one time I got one from the junk yard it it ran me about $250, that was junk and I blew that one out 70,000 miles later and did a complete rebuild for about $400 (that's paying someone because I didn't have the tools or expertize at the time to do it myself). My last one was pricey (first on my 00 chev) with the eaton limited slip at about $450, and then I had to replace all the seals and bearings because of metal shavings floating around that set me back $200. So if you paid someone to do it, you'd be close to a grand, but I'll tell you what, I can dig like a jeep without switching to 4x4 (ok, I'm exagerating a bit). Detroits are noisy and mainly for off roading. (they click on corners). I'm actually kind of happy I blew it out so I would have an excuse to rebuild it. I'll let you guys know when my engine goes out because I kind of want to build up a real nice 5.3 with roller rockers, trued crank, cam with wider lobes, longer skirts on the pistons, stiffer springs, bored 1 or 2 over with CroMoly pistons and milled to get me close to a 10:1 compression.

My truck is designed to be at the redline all the time..... i want to build up a real nice 5.3 with roller rockers, trued crank, cam with wider lobes, longer skirts on the pistons, stiffer springs, bored 1 or 2 over with CroMoly pistons and milled to get me close to a 10:1 compression.


please learn what your're talking about, before you start spouting off a bunch of B.S. and misleading poeple on the site.

1.) 5.3 comes with roller rockers, stock.
2.) trued crank??? vs a bent one?
3.) wider cam lobes? for what??? no gain what so ever....
4.) longer piston shirts??? so their legs don't show? more weight...
5.) stiffer springs....(assuming valve springs) ok....
6.) bored 1 or 2 WHAT over? .1, .01, .001...ect.?
7.) it's not CroMoly...it's Chromemoly and pistons don't come made in it.. :lol:

Dberladyn,
engines have a redline that's not to be exceeded, or stayed at for too long. it's not going to "kill" your motor to take it to redline, but doing it on a regular basis will cause excessive wear on the internals. if you want to play, you're gonna pay, and that certainly is true here. racing engines don't last forever and have to be torn apart to refreshen them. your motor is stock, and doesn;t have the heavy duty parts in it race engines do. do the math....

what everyone is saying, regarding oil changes and using quality oil and filters, stands true. regular maintanance is important. maxing your engine's capabilities is ok, but will eventually shorten it's life..... :2cents:

please learn what your're talking about, before you start spouting off a bunch of B.S. and misleading poeple on the site.

1.) 5.3 comes with roller rockers, stock.
2.) trued crank??? vs a bent one?
3.) wider cam lobes? for what??? no gain what so ever....
4.) longer piston shirts??? so their legs don't show? more weight...
5.) stiffer springs....(assuming valve springs) ok....
6.) bored 1 or 2 WHAT over? .1, .01, .001...ect.?
7.) it's not CroMoly...it's Chromemoly and pistons don't come made in it.. :lol:

Dberladyn,
engines have a redline that's not to be exceeded, or stayed at for too long. it's not going to "kill" your motor to take it to redline, but doing it on a regular basis will cause excessive wear on the internals. if you want to play, you're gonna pay, and that certainly is true here. racing engines don't last forever and have to be torn apart to refreshen them. your motor is stock, and doesn;t have the heavy duty parts in it race engines do. do the math....

what everyone is saying, regarding oil changes and using quality oil and filters, stands true. regular maintanance is important. maxing your engine's capabilities is ok, but will eventually shorten it's life..... :2cents:

My point exactly! A stock engine will not handle that kind of abuse. Shoot, a race engine can only handle it for so long! We have the heads freshened every year in our race engine (new valve springs, valve job), and do complete overhauls about every 2 years, and the parts that come out of it, are wore out, and they sure ain't stock!

Did you join the forums just to say that? Cause your thoughts aint worth two cents.
1. Did you think I meant factory roller rockers?
2. That's right. You've probably never seen the bearing chases on a piston rod or the crank after a year or so.
3. Here is a sight for you to learn what a camshaft is.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/camshaft2.htm
4. I wouldn't expect a non silverado owner to know this. The short skirt design of gm's 99-03 causes a piston slap, aka knocking on a cold start.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/gm_buyback.html
5. No, I meant the springs in your seat cushin seeing as this is a thread on your front porch couch.
6. Yes, I'm going to bore my cylinder a 10th of an inch over. How about using the standard boring increment of 1/100th of an inch. (.010/one over)
7. This one is my bad. I meant to say forged pistons (wisco) with chromoly rings. (although they are only coated iron chromoly rings). I was tired and wrapping up my post. And is it ok if me and alot of people spell it different?

If you have anything productive to say about redlinning an engine, you should post here. But if your just here to nitpick my posts, maybe you should go back to being a porch monkey.

no.

the reason i joined the forums was to read worthless comments written by handj@bs like yourself that couldn't tie their own shoes without an Alldata bulleten, a Chilton manual and their big brother helping them. (must have all 3 to qualify. you do.) :biggrin:

i did have something constructive to say: hence my comment. apparently you stopped reading when it stopped concerning you and your idiocy. typical......:screwy:

the fact that you couldn't find your a$$ with two hands and a flashlight, is just purely coicidence... go back to Autozone and buy more APC crap for your truck. i hear decals are back on sale......maybe a new chrome exhaust tip.....

This is your Quote:
The only reason your engine can't go at higher rpms (besides the limiter) is because that is the fastest the rockers can go without "floating." If they float, you bend valve stems and misfire and other cool stuff. In NASCAR, they are pushing over 9000 rpms and they say the valve springs are tougher than the springs on the suspension. unquote:

Rockers don't float: valves do. anything that rockers do, is secondery to the cam, pushrods or the valves. (that's why they're referred to as "pivotal movement parts) Hydraulic lifters pump up with oil beyond zero lash and can't release the oil at higher RPM's. that's why your rockers break. can't compress a valve with negative lash and expect something not to give/break. NASCAR (and pretty much any serious racing tappet engine) runs solid lifters. no pump-up, no floaty valves, unless your valve springs are too weak, or someone forgot to reinstall the retaining bar....but why would i explain this to you. you know everything.......... like piston slap.

it's not caused by a short skirt, it's caused by an improper cylinder bore/clearence issue that causes the top/side parts of the pistons, (above the compression ring) and skirts to bang against the cylinder walls.

short skirts??? (another fine quote from on of your posts...i can get it if you'd like.) all my race engines had shorter skirts than any street car.....

argue with these experts, if you fail to believe me. they're the ones fighting for GM owners with the problem/lawsuit. did you even read it, or just read about it in the forum and now want to sound like you're all boned-up on it?

http://www.pistonslap.com/media/arbitration03.pdf

(see page 2: read where it starts, "Dr. Victor Wong....")

the site itsself with more info for those who care:

http://www.pistonslap.com/experts.htm

GM's comments:(see "What's all the racket")

http://www.mylemon.com/Piston%20Slap.html



Chrysler went through the same thing in the late 80's with the 2.2/2.5 engines. when disasembled, the pistons fell out, rings and all.....but i wouldn't expect you to remember that since coloring inside the lines was probably the most important thing going on for you then.... `nother juice box?

why are you boring your engine anyway? unless there is cylinder wall damage, no cross hatching or you're fitting another type/larger piston in there, (Chro Moly, right?)there's no need for it. don't tell me you're one of these a$$clowns that thinks that boring an engine .10 or .30 over is a way to get horsepower...???? "oh jeepers..it's bored .30 over....!!"

man....i haven't heard that since 7th grade.....on the playground.

going from 9.0:1 to 10.0:1 compression means nothing if you haven't got the cam, heads, exhaust, intake system or anything to help produce any more HP's....... most turbo engines are 8.5:1-9:1 compression. you'd get more flipping the aircleaner lid upside down on a carb'd car.......... :lol2:

it's apparent by your post(s) that you know enough to sound like you know what you're talking about. when it comes to real life experience, you're full of crap. just wanted to point that out. nothing personal really.... :biggrin:

be as it may, people come here to ask for help, not have some monkey on a computer give them a line of sh1t that even a third grader could detect was BS..........

where do you find time to sit on your porch now that you spend half of your day researching your posts and the other half wacking it to a picture of your sister's panties. You probably do have more cars in your front yard than a used car dealership, so I concede. You are the better dirthead. Thank you for helping me realize this.

where do you find time to sit on your porch now that you spend half of your day researching your posts and the other half wacking it to a picture of your sister's panties. You probably do have more cars in your front yard than a used car dealership, so I concede. You are the better dirthead. Thank you for helping me realize this.

no prob....

but it's not my sister. it's yours.......

mine died 3 years ago in a farm inplement accident. that's why me and my brothers have been stuffin' yours............... :p

but hey....after we're done, we're given her first choice of any car in the front car she wants!!! it's win/win for you!! :icon16:

it's all good!!!!!!! :naughty:

haha, I love the discussions in here!

But I've got about the same question, we have a Jayco T28A Camper, it's one of those that you can haul like a go cart in the back, and for us it's two Harley's. I think the camper alone weighs somewhere around 7000 lbs, plus 100 gallons of water, other crap, plus the bikes, so it's prob pushin 10,000 lbs or so. We were driving back up from Kansas, we live in northwest Iowa, and we had a hell of a wind pushin on us and the truck was in Tow/Haul mode, and we were goin like 65 mph i think, it'd downshift into second and shoot to like 4300 rpm and dad was gettin really pissed off cuz it would stay up there for say 20 seconds or so then go back into third. I figured it was fine just because with todays engines they know what they're doing. But I just wanted to ask if it's ok for the (Vortec 6000) to run at that rpm for very long. We're also getting about 8 mpg pullin that big fucker around, so i was going to ask if we put one of those Velocistacks i think they're called, that you slip in your throttle body and it's suppose to be smoother or w/e, then one of those Tornado air inserts, Do you suppose that those would increase mileage pretty good and up power? The truck has no problem at all in pulling the trailer when there is no wind, but bein 10 foot tall, 30 foot long and shit it catches quit a bit of wind, and we dont have the spoiler , but we're thinkin bout gettin a topper then mountin the wing on that, but dad mainly wants better mileage, so do you think the increase would be pretty good?

Edit: It's an extended cab long bed, um....has 3.73 gears and 265/75's on it. In the Manual it does say that the max pulling with that rear end is suppose to be 8000 lbs but it seems to have no problem pulling it.

in my opinion...those "tornado" things have not been proven to do anything except make your wallet lighter.

part of your problem is the 3.73 gears, and pulling that kind of weight. (10,000) especially uphill......... GM offers a 4.10 rear but i believe a 3.73 is standard on a lot of the light truck chassis. i have a 3.73 rear in my truck and i still find areas where my truck just isn't comfortable in any gear, and bounces around a bit, until on more level ground, or down hill slightly, and that's only with a 3000lb trailer behind me. (5.3 motor only) i realize you have a camper, and not a pick/up truck, but gearing is gearing. changing to a 4.10 will make the truck work less, keeping you in a higher gear, hence better gas mileage. or.....lighten the load.

you could try Hypertech tuner and change your shift delays a little, but i feel like that's only trying to band-aid the situation. a gearing change sounds in order......

the RPM thing (4300 was it?) isn't terrible, if you're only holding it there for a little, but i wouldn't recommend it repeatedly. why try making the truck work harder than it was intended to.....??

another problem is that it's a camper..... it's heavy and has the wind resistance of a billboard. it almost actually sounds as if you're borderline where a diesel would have been a better power source, than a gas motor......... :uhoh: