Labouring an engine

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Tue 10 May 2005 14:56
Labouring an engine - tyro
Sorry, but it's another totally dumb question, I'm afraid :-)

How does one know when one is labouring an engine?

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Tue 10 May 2005 14:59
Labouring an engine - Altea Ego
Because the revs are low, it sounds distinctly rough and clattery, it wont go anywhere when you put your foot down, there is a shuddering thought the drive train, the dashboard is vibrating as is the rear view mirror.
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Tue 10 May 2005 15:58
Labouring an engine - TimW
>>it sounds distinctly rough and clattery,
>>it wont go anywhere when you put your foot down,


Either you're labouring the engine or driving my car...
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Tue 10 May 2005 18:47
Labouring an engine - Xileno {P}
It's seriously bad for the whole drive train, to be avoided at all costs. My brother reckons it can also encourage HGF but I'm not sure about that.
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Tue 10 May 2005 19:22
Labouring an engine - L'escargot
>>it sounds distinctly rough and clattery,
>>it wont go anywhere when you put your foot down,
Either you're labouring the engine or driving my car...


........or driving a diesel. ;-)
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Tue 10 May 2005 20:24
Labouring an engine - tyro
Thanks RF.

I take it then, that if the above symptoms are absent, one is not labouring the engine - i.e. if I am going up a hill in 5th gear, and the car is slowing down, it does not necessarily mean that I am labouring the engine.
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Tue 10 May 2005 20:58
Labouring an engine - thallium81
If you allow the car to continue slowing to a point where the engine ceases to sound smooth you will be labouring it. More to the point driving up hill in a gear which is slowing the engine indicates that you are not in proper control of the car as you have lost the capacity to accelerate or perhaps take appropriate avoiding action. Change down, give the poor old donkey a break.
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:23
Labouring an engine - Sofa Spud
On longer 2-axle rigid lorries you sometimes hear the propshaft ringing - a dead giveaway for an engine being laboured!

Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:38
Labouring an engine - frazerjp
I think it can also be the same with old buses as well as they go up a steep hill near me, the virbrations used to go through the whole saloon!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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