First off, I'd like to start off by saying Hi! First post here on Honda-Tech.

This year I finally got me a new car, an 09' Honda Civic-Si!

So here’s the deal.

Friday night after leaving downtown, my friend asked me to take him and his 2 gf's home otherwise they'd have to get a cab. I should have let him get the cab

So as I'm driving them home, I'm on this street doing about 35mph in 5th gear (keeping it at 2K RPM's) The girl sitting shot-gun is drunk and starts going "I want to change gears, let me change gears" I keep telling her to no, back off, there's just to much going on for you to do that.

So the music is up loud and I really can't hear my engine. All of a sudden I look down at my tachometer and the needle is going from 7K RPM to just a little over 8K RPM. (09 Si red-lines at 8K) Apparently this girl pulled the car out of 5th into neutral. My friend in the back seat said he saw a "red light, or shift up light" come on for about a second. Soon as I saw it at 8.1K RPM I immediately let off the gas, let the RPMS go down and put it back into gear. Told the girl she is never allowed in my car again, but now I'm scared that there is possible damage.

So the car isn't brand spanking new, it has about 3050 miles on it now. Do any of you think there is possible damage? I realize that my engine isn't blown since I'm still able to drive it, but a friend of mine says I just need to watch my oil levels, to see if the rings were worn out or something. The highest RPM I've ever personally taken it was to about 7.5K RPM, but I've only done this about 5 times since I hit 2K miles, and don't shift up and keep going, rather just go to neutral and slow down.

Thoughts?

 

Its not going to hurt your engine if you red line it occasionally.

 

i redline my car almost everyday. will be ok.

 

There's a fuel-cut rev limiter at 8200 rpms. Relax man....you don't give this engine enough credit. You'll be fine.

There's a bonehead that used to come on here that intentionally OVER-revved his engine to above 9K rpm out of some mis-guided need to prove how strong they are. And while I don't recommend doing anything dumb like that...red-lining occasionally and even frequently isn't going to cause immediate catastrophic damage.

 

It will be ok. *rolls eyes*

 

Is there much of a difference between red-lining while accelerating (in gear) vrs red-lining while the car is neutral. More or less strain on the engine, or is it basically the same thing?

Well my nerves have been calmed. I tend to over think things and work myself up

 

It will be perfectly fine. Where you run into trouble is when you shift from 5th to 2nd at about 60 mph or so...

 

That wouldn't be the smartest move but only put you at 8200 rpm. The rev limit on these motors is a little conservative, the hondata reflash sets rev limit to 8500.

Where you run into trouble is when you shift from 5th to 2nd at about 90 mph or so...

 

the rev limiter does absolutely nothing if you downshift incorrectly...

 

Yes, but if you downshift incorrectly and you don't go over rev limit you would be fine. It's when you down shift and pass rev limit you can have issues.

 

Like Clemson said, it's not smart but it really won't hurt you too bad...but honestly, if you mis-shift from 5th to 2nd at 60 mph, you deserve to be shot. I can't really understand ever mis-shifting from 5th to 2nd (or any gear for that matter) because, if you're quick shifting, it's a little more understandable. But if you are just putt putt-ing along, there is absolutely no excuse for you to mis-shift.

OP-you couldn't feel the lack of resistance through the gas pedal? I don't care if my music is up all of the way, I'd be able to feel my car pop out of gear, especially bogging it in 5th at 35 mph! You sure this wasn't an elaborate story you fabricated just to see if you hurt your car, because you're embarrassed of the real reason you hit the rev limiter?

 

hitting red line one time isnt going to hurt the stock engine.
if you go over 8600 rpm where the oil pump loses
efficiency, then you risk more damage than hitting 8k.
but u cant hit 8600 on a stock motor just giving it gas.

 

A. Dont let people touch your **** (read: pay attention)
B. Your car is fine, shut up.

Read your owners manuel dummy, your break in is only 600 miles

 

Also, didn't you feel the car fall out of gear, as in it was no longer pulling?

 

He was probably to busy dealing with the drunkies to pay attention.

 

he was cruising 35?

 

I can still feel it when I let off the throttle.

 

but going from 5th to neutral isnt a really noticeable until you push the gas cuz the rpm is so low. but i would notice anything about 3k in a heartbeat

 

No I'm not fabricating this story. I wasn't trying to haul *** around town. Soon as I hit about 35 mph in 4th, I'm at around 3K RPM, and if I'm not planning on trying to accelerate like I'm racing, I'll kick it in to 5th so that I'm cruising @ 2K RPM. Sure 35mph in 5th gear and trying to accelerate quickly is going to bog down the engine, but I was just trying to maintain speed without burning up fuel.

So like I said as I was cruising at around 35 MPH I had my foot lightly on the gas to keep it going. All of a sudden I felt the car slowing down, that’s when I looked down to see my RPMs right at 8K. I wasn't the one that knocked it out of gear, this drunk *** girl did. The second I saw my RPM's where it was at, I let off the gas, then got it back into gear.


Name calling really necessary? I was just asking because I didn't know. The Honda dealership told me go easy for the first 1K miles.

Either way, I thank you all for calming my nerves.

 

You might want to cruise around at 2200-2500, that way you're in the torque plateau so you don't overload the motor at such a slow speed.

 

Yea I usually try to keep it in that rage. It's just 35mph @ 4 gear = 3k RPM. So if I'm not going up a hill or not trying to accelerate, I'll kick it up to 5th. Same with 45mph @ 5 gear = 2.9K RPM, so same thing, once I'm back to just trying to cruise, I'll kick it to 6th to help and try and save on fuel. Which I'm averaging about 30mpg.

I have to say though, I'm still trying to get used to this car and the gear ratio. I'm used to driving V8's. I'm used to keeping it at 2k RPM and shifting at 3.5k, since redline is usually 5.5k to 6k.

 

There won't be any harm, but redlining the engine in neutral is far more hamrful than when it's in gear.

 

Would that be because the RPM's is climbing at a faster rate than it would be if it were in gear? I thought maybe if it were in gear it could be more harmful redlining due to having more force on the engine from pulling the weight of the car.

 

No, but it allows me to make myself feel bigger for just that momen...wait, yep it is

No hard feelings OP, this question has been asked a million times before, and you're very fine. Almost all the guys here that have 06's and 07's gave their car a hard break in and all of our cars run great at 30,000+ miles

 

In 5th at 90mph you're already in VTEC, why would you ever downshift?

I can't stand cruising at anything lower than 2800rpms. Just not enough power at >2800 to get out of my own way.