redline damage

[speedy6301]

wut is the poential damage that redlineing your engine can do? the techinal way and from experince

any thing would help i jsut redlined my engine and my gov kicked in because of road rage lol and forgot to shift

[clawhammer]

That's why there is a rev limiter to keep you from doing potential damage. You would probably blow your connecting arms that connect the piston the crankshaft, and that might scrape up the combustion chamber. Are you worried that this happened to you? If it still runs fine, than it most likely did NOT happen.

[Sluttypatton]

Limiters are set where they are because that is what is considered safe, based on endurance testing of the engine by the manufacturer. I recall that the Saturn Redline had a limiter set below what it was expected to handle, but since testing had not been done up to that point for the Redline, it was set at the same point as the Ion, which had been endurance tested. I would assume also that the manufacturer would leave a bit of a zone of safety, and would not actually set the limiter at the maximum safe tested RPM. At any rate, from experience, redlining the engine is not a very big worry, but don't make it a habit. I once had a friend shift my car from 3rd to 2nd (while already at the limiter) by mistake while trying to get 4rth, and for about 2 seconds the motor was rotating at around 10000 RPM, and today it is not any worse for the wear.

[curtis73]

In most engines today, redline is set at a point where they don't make any more power, not where damage occurs. I have an Olds 307 with a redline of 4500 RPMs. It is set there because the cam, heads, and intake limit power above 4500, not because it will explode above that speed. If there were enough power, it would rev to 6000 safely, but there is no need to.

Rev limiters are very conservative today, and in fact on my 1987 BMW with 156k I usually hit the rev limiter several times a day. If it can handle it, yours probably can too.

Let us know what car/engine/year. It makes a big difference if you're driving an S2000 or a Caddy Deville. Even if it doesn't have a rev limiter, a factory engine will most likely run out of steam before it breaks something, but you can also sleep well knowing that if it still runs, its fine. If you break something by overrevving it, you'll know it

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by speedy6301

wut is the poential damage that redlineing your engine can do? the techinal way and from experince

As the other posts imply, you likely have not damaged anything.

However, excessively high revs stetch the connector rods and stress them unnecessarily. This is more pronounced if you rev the engine without a load (ie winging it in neutral) than if the engine is in gear and revving hard.
Prolonged high revs can also cause oil starvation harm. Potentially all the oil can get pumped out of the pan, especially in hard cornering.
Also bearings, especially plain bearings can 'shear' the oil film that the bearings run on. This causes very bad metal - to metal wear.
Finally you might 'float' the valves, that is, the valve springs cannot close them fast enough before the cam lobe opens them again. Depending on the design of the engine, if a vlve is weak, it can drive the valve into the piston and bend/break it.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by curtis73

Rev limiters are very conservative today, and in fact on my 1987 BMW with 156k I usually hit the rev limiter several times a day.

Remind me not to lend you my car!

[curtis73]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

Remind me not to lend you my car!

It will come back with bald tires, worn synchros, a boiling radiator, and a big smile on its grille I'll even throw in a free car wash to get the chunks of molten rubber off your fenders.

Picture a virgin getting her first really big... um... romp in the rice if you catch my drift. Her hair will be a little ruffled and her lipstick a tad smeared, but she'll be happier than ever.

I can sum up my driving in two examples. 1) when I moved to L.A. I actually ENJOYED traffic since its like a video game, and 2) Intersection of DeSoto and Roscoe in Winnetka, CA to Dodger's stadium Los Angeles in 13 minutes evading two law enforcement officials . Look up those landmarks and you'll get a chuckle.

Here's a reference for you at this link. I actually only drive like this on extremely rare occasions. I'm actually a very safe and boring driver most of the time, but once in a while, I drive like........

http://www.consumptionjunction.com/c...1&page=2&fav=0

[RandomTask]

hahaha... awesome curtis You wouldn't even get your car back from me You should have seen me in my Mitsubishi Lancer rental car I had when my jeep was in an accident... Lose speed by going sideways into turns! Ebrake! Starting the car up in the morning cold and having it bounce off the rev limiter for a solid minute. Ramp curbs... (moral of this story--DON'T BUY USED RENTAL CARS!) I wish I could still drive like that, but too many tickets (I still get stupid every once in a while) My old iron duke in my fiero bounced off the 'mechanical' rev limiter a couple of times