today i was driving in the fast lane of the motorway for about 5-10 minutes before i realised i was still in 4th gear and the revs (i think) dial was nearly at red. what effect can this have on my car???
2007-03-01 23:32:23 · 16 answers · asked by BscHons 6 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
4th gear with revs in the red.........heather you must have been really moving girl......but no damage to the car except a pound or two on fuel
2007-03-02 10:06:31 · answer #1 · answered by des k 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only time that an engine will get damaged is when the car goes beyond the end of the red section for a VERY long time or when massively beyond it, assuming that you have decent oil in the car. I regularly change the oil in my motorbike and I cane the nuts out of it every day, and I have done this for the last 40,000 miles. The only engine that I have destroyed is a 3.5 litre engine in my old (antique) BMW735i, but that was because I was thrashing it and the ECU allowed me to 'kick-down' to second gear at 90m.p.h. It nearly broke the rev counter needle on the end stop!!!!
Seriously though, you will have caused no long term ill effects and would definitely have cleared out a load of crap from the combustion chambers. If it was me I would do it for a minute once every week anyway.
2007-03-02 09:52:22 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
this depends on how old your car is and well serviced it is. there should be no damage to your engine what so ever. so i wouldnt worry about it, as long as the cooling system has done its job, put it this way if no warning lights came up on the dash your fine, and as long as the engine idles smoothly without being erratic its fine. this is why most cars have a red line on the counter, if your in the red line for a period of time the engine MAY be damaged, if not its safe. however, 10 mins at the engine speed you were doing may not damage the engine, but sustian that engine speed any longer than 15-20 mins there may be some damage especially if you do it all the time. besides you use more fuel and the car would need more regular servicing. so my answer to your question is, there should be no effect to your car.
2007-03-02 09:52:02 · answer #3 · answered by andy999 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Driving with the rev counter almost in the red for that period of time will have no detrimental effect, on the contrary it will have a beneficial effect. When an engine is used at low revs carbon deposits can build on the spark plug electrodes, affecting their performance & increaseing fuel consumption. All modern spark plugs are self cleaning, to do this the temperature in the combustion chamber must be fairly high.
This temp cannot be reach with normal town driving so a good red line run cleans the spark plugs.
2007-03-02 07:54:53 · answer #4 · answered by wayforwardhow 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I've done that myself with an automatic in "3" instead of "D".
As others have said the only ill effect would have been on your fuel consumption.....other than that your engine would have had a good clean-out.
Even at red-line speeds there's an inbuilt allowance for safety.
Don't worry.
PS.......there's no such thing as a fast lane on a motorway......it's an overtaking lane and in the UK you should always drive on the left.
2007-03-02 10:49:13 · answer #5 · answered by Pit Bull 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Other than using a bit more fuel than normal, there's no detrimental effect whatsoever. The red line on an engine is well below the critical point at which it will start spitting it's guts out.
Your engine will happily redline all day long, if it couldn't do so, then the rev limit would be imposed lower don the rev range.
2007-03-02 09:33:53 · answer #6 · answered by Steven N 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Heather I wouldn't be to concerned about 5 or 10 minutes of high rpm. Your car is designed to withstand the every day abuse that people put cars through. The engine in cars are tested at above red line rpms for hours to make sure they won't fail. I'm a master auto tech and I've seen cars go through a lot worse than that and keep going.
I hope this helps to ease your mind.
2007-03-02 07:48:24 · answer #7 · answered by Steve 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nearly in red is different than "in" the red. That's why there is a line. Not that I would make a habit of it, though. Shouldn't have caused any probs.
2007-03-02 08:15:33 · answer #8 · answered by Stitch 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
not much that i can think of your just over revving in lower gear
your engine temperature will go high a bit cause of loading your engine but i dont think so it will be a big drama
2007-03-02 08:12:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it most likley clear all the muck out of the engine should not do any harm even in the red you have a little leeway before you reach the danger zone
2007-03-02 07:46:58 · answer #10 · answered by 808fl 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋