just curious how bad is it to take your engine to redline?? i have a b18c in a 90 teg and since swapping it in about a month ago ive taken it to redline probably a dozen times if not more! also, for those with vtec, how often do you guys take it there??

 

We do it all the time. It will not actually damage the motor, but it will cause more wear. Just keep up with maintenance on it.

I doubt honda would have bothered with 4500rpm vtec and 5700 IAB if they wanted you to keep the revs below 3k.

Dustin

 

i used to take my LS motor past redline 5 times a day. Its getting rebuilt right now but it can mess with your valves, and ****, just keep it oiled, and get scheduled maintance done and you will be fine.

 

i revved my civic past 9k daily... when i took it apart the head wasnt that bad... and i only had itr springs

 

stress on the engine goes up with the square of rpm increase so you can decide for yourself.

3x increase in rpm=9x increase in stress

 

If Honda designed the B18C1 to go 8100RPM, I'm sure they calculated that the stresses induced upon all involved parts would be below the yield strength at that RPM, hence no damage at high RPM on an engine that was properly broken-in, and properly warmed up... but this only applies for when the engine was new and in tip-top condition...

Once the engine gets a bit older, MANY things could go wrong that will cause the engine to wear at high RPM... crud in the oil may have scored a surface and every time something rubs against that surface, wear is increased, especially at high RPMs. Also, crud in the oil passages may be restricting flow and causing oil starvation.

Bear in mind that mashing the throttle at low RPM is decidedly worse than mashing the throttle at high RPM, so I'm an advocate of keeping it revved up.

 

care to explain this one!?

 

Yeah, I wanna see the technical explanation of this one as well.

 

me too

 

me 2. actually HOnda designed our engines to rev that high. its meant to be revved that high. besides wear and tear, the only thing to worry about is the gas tank.
R

 

It's obvious! because if you're mashing it at low RPM you've just lost the race

 

LAMO

 

[QUOTE]Bear in mind that mashing the throttle at low RPM is decidedly worse than mashing the throttle at high RPM

QUOTE]

EXPLAIN!

i have heard that too, it has something to do with load but it might be a myth..

about redlining.. Its a honda right, those never break ........

 

Laughing as my off??

anyways, it's good to run your motor hard every now and then, because it helps to clean out all those carbon deposits in your engine...... if you've been driving like a grandma for a long time you'll be surprised to see how much carbon deposits you have

 

this is soo true, I hadn't ran my car above about 6 grand in a month, one day I decided to enter the freeway at full throttle, and once I got to 7k rpm I had a good ammount of black smoke coming out of my exhaust. suprised I didn't throw a CEL

about the WOT and low RPM, if you have your car in 5th gear and the engine rpm drops to say, 1.5k it is best to drop the engine into 3rd not only to accel quicker, but there is a lot more stress put on the engine if you leave it in 5th and floor it at 1.5k rpm than if you drop to 3rd and floor it at 5k (or whatever rpm it would be at).

give it a try some time, you can even do 4th gear, let the rpm go down to about 1.5-2k, mash the throttle, and listen to your engine cry

 

One of my friends is a technician at an Acura dealership. Interestingly enough, he told me that NOT taking an Integra motor to high revs at least occasionally is bad for the motor. Not only are there the aforementioned carbon deposits, but mechanical problems too.

He told me about this one GS-R that came in for routine scheduled service. The car was owned by a middle aged lady. After he finished servicing the car he took it around the block. When he did he noticed that the VTEC was not functioning. It turns out that the lady had NEVER taken it to the VTEC crossover point and as a result the pins that lock the rocker arms together were stuck in the low RPM position. He had to take apart the rocker arm assembly and clean everything up. After that everything worked fine, but I crack up when I think of him telling this lady that she had to occasionally take the car "all the way up to redline" to keep it form happening again.

Not that I think anybody here has to worry about this.

 

Have you ever been on the sidewalk and listened to an oldish, out-of-tune junker make terrible noises as it accelerated?

Here's an article I ran across while researching pinging in high compression engines. http://www.msgroup.org/Contrary/NEG037.html

Some of the points it covers is that under severe load and low RPM, engine temperature rises and pinging occurs. Also, oil pressure is low, so the rods hammer against the crankshaft because of the lack of oil. In turn, the crankshaft hammers against the block.

Enjoy the article. Read the whole thing!

 

I too have read this somewhere and I think DIRep is right it does have something to do with the load on the motor.. think about it like this... if you are walking is it harder to burst into full sprint as it is if you are jogging.. Maybe I am wrong but thats how I look at it..

 

5th gear puts a ton of stress on your engine... if you are in 5th at like 1500 rpms you arent doing good stuff to ur block.

just a heads up.

 

I think it is better to think about it like a 10spd bike.

if you are on the little sprocket on the pedal and the big sprocket on the wheel it is easy to accelerate, you don't have any pain in your knees, and burning in your muscles.

but if you are on the big sprocket on the pedal and the little sprocket on the wheel it is hard to accelerate, your muscles start burning, and your knees will start to shoot little twinges of pain.

it is the same for a car, keep it in the normal operating range and you should be ok, don't exceed that by going over, or under, as they are both equally detrimental to the engine.

 

Okay how about this. How far do you guyz take your rpm while just crusin like normal daily drivin not wantin trouble Hehe of course I take my gsr to redline here and there. I also have this question is it bad to redline 1st gear than redline goin in the other gears??? Or its still the same????? Thanks for the help.

 

i usually take the gears to 3 and then shift, and it's only because of the freaking gas prices....... if the gas wasn't so high i'd take it to 4.5k all the time....... but every single tankful, I always take it to redline at least once so that's at least once a week...... let me also recommend Honda Top End Cleaner, it really works and it works better than anything on the Pep boys shelf.......

it's about $4.95 from ahmotor... Part# 08732-9008
you'll need about 3 bottles

and this is said from an actual Honda Mechanic who used it on an SI and saw instant better performance..... i think it's cuz the SI was poorly maintained though

 

when I am daily driving, I will take it up to ~4k rpm before shifting.

a redline is a redline, but it doesn't stress the engine as much when in first gear, because of the gears in the transmission, it reduces the work the engine has to do. when you increase the work the engine has to do, it creates more stress, which is why it is ok to launch at 1.5k in first gear, but if you are in 4th and the engine drops down to 1.5krpm you need to downshift.

however, if you are in first gear, run it up to 7krpm and then take your foot off the gas, but leave the car in gear, that puts lots of stress on the engine and is really bad for it. whereas if you run the car up to 7krpm in 5th gear and do the same thing, it doesn't put as much stress on the engine because the momentum of the car will not jerk the engine and tranny around.

 

Man, I hope redlineing it doesn't hurt the motor, I probably do it about 10 times a day!!!

 

My car redlines at 6800, but, when I'm racing, I take it to 7100rpm. I know its not good, but, if you only do it now and then, it won't hurt.