What are RPMs?

Question

What do they mean? What range should my Rpms stay in during normal acceleration from a stopped position? Or when passing cars on the interstate? I was told that anything over 2000 causes damage to the transmission. I currently drive an automatic 1995? Eagle Vision.

Answer 1

RPM is an acronym for Revolutions Per Minute

It is the number of times the crankshaft of your engine turns every minute.

Whoever told you damage occurs to the tranny over 2,000 RPM knows nothing about mechanical things. At 2,000 RPM your engine is barely getting into its power band.

An engine idles anywhere between 500 to 1000 RPM and "redlines" somwhere over 6,000 RPM. Some engines like Ducati motorcycles don't redline until over 14,000 RPM. Some racing motorcycles even higher.

Where your engine's peak power occurs depends entirely on "piston speed". Piston speed at a particular RPM depends on an engine's bore/stroke ratio. The pistons in an oversquare engine (larger bore than stroke) go slower, so it acheives peak power at a higher RPM than an undersquare engine. In an undersquare engine the pistons go faster because of the longer throw, so it develops its power at a lower RPM and gets better gasoline mileage.

An engine's redline (maximum recommended RPM) is determined by things like rod journal size, valve float etc. But if you have an average garden variety car, it's always good to keep the RPM under 6,000. If you never go above 5,000 you'll never have to worry about over-revving. Usually a tachometer has an area marked in red which indicates the redline for you so you know.
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Answer 2

RPMs are revolutions per minute and it refers to how fast the engine is turning. If you car has a Tachometer then it probably measures RPM.

Many cars run at RPMs well in excess of 2000 RPMs. You will not ruin your transmission unless you have a manual and you cruise down the road a 60 miles an hour in first gear.

By the way if you do have a Tachometer, it will have a red zone. You car should never be in that red zone for more than a second or two during the hardest acceleration that you car can do.

Answer 3

They are "revolutions per minute" That means how many times your pistons in your engine make a full cycle in one minute. Depending on the type of car and tranny you have the amount that damages your engine can differ. The area called the red line is where the rpms can damage your engine. If you have a guage to monitor your rpms in your Vision then there will be a part on the guage with a red line. Your RPMs should never reach that point. In an automatic, the transmission will automatically regulate your RPMs. They change depending on your speed. If you are accelerating hard to get on the freeway, they will jump up a lot, the tranny will shift, they will drop, then they will raise again. In every car that I've owned in the past (1999 manual Mits Eclipse, 1964 manual Vdub bug, and 1997 automatic Saturn) the regular RPM rate while driving at a constant speed is about 3000.

The bottom line:
The only speed that will damage your engine is the speed in your car's redzone.

Answer 4

Revolution per minute as the other said.
Its directly related to the wheel's revolution. If the gear ratio for first gear is 3:1, if the engine rotates at 3k rpm, then the drive shaft ties to the wheel is rotating at 1k rpm., so on and so forth....
Lets start answering.
1. if you have an At, it will shift by itself, just dont squeeze it across the red line, thats the maximun the engine can handle before it blows up.
2. when you pass the car at interstate, the thing you should be reading is the Speed meter, not the RPM meter. If you got an AT, it will limit the rev so it will not blow up the engine.
3. Told that over 2k rpm is damage to transmision?? lol, yes it does, whenever you turn on ur car, you are damaging the car, thats why higher mileage car means it will run into mechanic problem more frequently, make sense??
will it hurt you car? yes! it does!!.
will it no hurt your car if you runs below 2k? NO it wont.
which means, keep it below the redline, then the drive train will be hurt the same way as it should be as all cars on the road, not enuff to put it in shop.
The car will die when it has to due to old age... its like a human... it doesnt matter what you do, doing anything will hurt ur body, tho not enuff to kill you, thats all... and you'll die when you have to...

Answer 5

Revolutions Per Minute. and it refers to the number of times per minute the crankshaft in the engine turns. i would have to do a bit more in depth explanation of the mechanics of an engine to more completely answer that portion of your question.

But i am not going to as you just seem to need to know how to not damage your vehicle. the rpms will vary by gearing and speed of vehicle. idling at a stop most cars usually idle at about a little les that 1000 rpm. as you accelerate from a stop and as speed increases you will see the needle go up and at some point which is preprogramed into the computer the transmission will shift gears and you will see the needle drop and slowly start going back up. this will repeat for as many gears as your transmission has. while on the freeway, most cars in top gear will run anywhere between 2500 to 4000 rpm, with most doing about 2500 at 60mph and 3500 at 80mph. note that these figures are my observation and not gospel as every car is different. but whoever told you that anything over 2000 rpm will damage your engine, is wrong. most cars have a tachometer and most tachometers top out at about 7000-9000 rpm and your transmission since it is electronic will not allow you to go beyond the safe rpms for your vehicle. the computer will shift to a higher gear or the vehicle will reach it's Rev Limiter which also is designed to prevent damage to the vehicle. you can read more about transmissions and how they work at howstuffworks.com.

Answer 6

>RPM simply stands for Revolutions per minute, which means how many revolutions the crankshaft, the mechanism that spins the transmission and ultimitley, the drive shaft and the wheels, spins in one single revolution.

>In normal acceleration it's never god to redline the car, which means making the needle in the tachometer move all the way to the red line, which on most cars is around 7500 RPMs. If the car your driving is automatic, then I would say that the only thing you should concentrate on is smooth acceleration. Just easily control the throttle with your foot and you should be fine.

>Anything over about 8235 seriously hurts the transmisson depending on the car type and transmission type. I wouldn't worry about it in your car though since the redline most likley begins at around 6000RPMs.

Safe Driving!

Answer 7

I was told that anything over 2000 causes damage to the transmission. BS!!!!!
Normal rpm's should range from 700 rpm's to 4000 rpm's this will change with engine load like going up hills high/head winds/speed

Answer 8

In situations that require acceleration, like passing, it is not abnormal to exceed 4000 RPM. It will not cause any damage to your transmission. Sustained driving over 4000 RPM will wear things out faster but short periods will do no harm.

Answer 9

Revolutions per minute which refers to one full rotation of the crankshaft in a piston engine, or a rotary engine. Whoever told you that isnt very familiar with cars. There is a red section on your Tachometer, and if you go above that, there is a possibility that it will effect your Engine temp, and that in turn can damage it. But in order for that to happen, you have to be red line for more than just a second.

Answer 10

Revolutions Per Minute