In a similar vein to Mark(RLBS)'s thread on 'mollycoddling' cars, does anyone know if continually driving in a restrained manner can actually damage your car's engine?
I vaguely remember reading somewhere that failure to 'exercise' the engine into the upper rev range can cause problems. Can this really be true, or is it stretching the 'human fitness' analogy too far?
Most of my driving is conducted below 3000 rpm, so I'd appreciate your thoughts!!
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In my opinion, most definitely, modern multi-valve engines, designed to rev much higher than in "the good old days", will benefit, and last longer without major overhaul, if well exercised now and then. This is not an advocation of continual thrashing, but provided the engine is correctly serviced, and when road condidtions permit, taking it to 500-1000rpm short of it's maximum in 2nd and 3rd gears will serve to remove gummy carbon deposits from the valves and piston crowns - this applies to engines of all ages.
On modern engines such regular treatment is essential to heat the Oxygen Sensor and Cat (if fitted) to their proper temperature, and by taking things such as the Throttle Sensor, RPM Senor, and Air Flow Meter / MAP Sensor to their full range correct ECU adaptive memeory mapping will be maintained. Many problems we encounter on modern cars are down to short trips and gentle use. My advice to those whose normal use is short / slow trips is 25miles on a dual-carriageway at 50-70, with at least some full-throttle acceleration, at least once a month, preferably fortnightly.
We are happy to undertake this exercise regime for Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Lola T70 owners !!
Regards, Adam
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I don't know much about the technicalities of this but I have recently sold an imported Mercedes E250 diesel after 4 years and 102k miles. When I took it for its MOT the year before last I was told that they had had difficulty in getting it to pass the emissions test and they suggested that I was driving it too gently. As one of the slowest cars on the planet (acceleration wise) it was not too easy to drive other than gently as you never felt that you were getting anywhere even when you floored the accelerator but I did make a conscious effort to drive a bit harder and had no problems with the MOT after that.
As a result it seemed to me that there may have been something in what they said.
BobM
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Commonly known as Italian tune-ups
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Well, I manage to give the Fiesta italian tune ups every morning when going through the City Centre, I can drive a long way in 2nd to make sure that I can slip into any gap with ease...
Blue
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I run the Octavia round to the red line at least 2 or 3 times a week, having read all about valves rotating in their seats on here, as well as blowing out all the gum and gunk that accumulates.
At its last emissions test it fell well within the guideline figure at the first time of asking, whereas one of my colleagues (who never takes his engine past 3,000rpm) took 6 full-rev attempts to get his diesel smoke emissions -just- within acceptable limits...
I reckon if an engine is designed to rev to 4,500rpm (or 6,000rpm, or 10,000rpm, or whatever) then it needs to reach that speed at least occasionally.
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Why is it that HGVs which run for millions of miles at about 1800rpm (or so I'm told) don't have any of these problems?.
alvin
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Maybe Honda should use this in their advertising..the VTEC engine in my Accord definitely sounds better when you get it above 4000rpm....
Andy
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"Clearing the gunk out" - That might explain the clouds of smoke coming out the back of the Astra TD first time I ran it up the rev range on full bore going up a hill. Doesn't smoke normally (though I've only had it for a month or two), but the smoke only appeared above 4000 rpm. The power at that point was dropping off steeply though (even with red line at 5500) so it's not something I'll be doing all the time (especially at 106K miles), though it seems the occasional blast might be beneficial.
Trying to get used to a diesel after lots of petrol engines so I've been following a few threads with interest.
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Im the same, Chris TD, I'd never had a deisel before the big purple one and I've realised how niaive I was, it makes me worry how much I STILL do not know.
I didn't realise for the first week, until I read it on here, that you have to wait a few seconds for the sparky-things to heat up before you turn it over. I just thought deisels took longer to click on. Mind you, Im a strict heater-uper now!
I had been following the "under 3,000 revs" rule that I read on here and thought that was the best thing. I'll do some motorway driving in 4th tonight then when I go home to get the cobwebs out. That will be fun!!!!
Patricia
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