is it bad to rev your car to 6k?

[93cr250]

i have a 1995 camry with 100k and my dad has a 1996 camry with 190k. Both 4 cylinders. Is it bad to rev them to 6k, not in neutral btw. I am hesitant to do it to my dads and will only rev it to about 4k but is it bad for them to rev that high and is there any damage that could be done? My dad is a mechanic and we are very good about oil and filter changes.

[BMR]

There's no harm doing it sometimes. Doing it *all* the time will probably shorten its life.

[fenixus]

^+1

can't destroy the healthy engine by doing it on warmed up car from time to time. however if you keep doing it at every acceleration attempt then the engine (and/or transmission and mounts) will probably say bye bye soon...

[Silent Runner]

I can't remember exactly, but I think that your engines peak power production is somewhere around 5500rpm. So thats the kind of engine speed you want to use on those rare times went you REALLY have to get going. Like serious stuff, like safely merging when traffic is really zigging along. Its OK, its not going to blow up the motor! Actually its designed to do that,.. once in a while when you need it. Its just not intended to be reved to 6000rmp all the time. Don't worry about breaking it for rare situations when doing your best to get going for safety is a neccesity.

[heartdisease]

Where is the redline? If it is below 6k, then I wouldn't do it. High rpm's will blow up a motor, just ask any dragracer. That being said I have pushed the redline in all my cars on occasion with no ill effects. You did say not in neutral so your are booking it down the road? That means you have been revving close to 6k for awhile to get there and maybe high speed cruising for awhile? I would say that type of stuff would shorten engine life.


Here is a thread from a different forum with some thoughts on rpm and engine wear.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=317

[fenixus]

I think the red line starts at 6k on the dash gauge, but automatic transmission will upshift the gear earlier than that, around 5,300rpm IIRC.

[93cr250]

i have only been close to 6k once in the last 6 months, redline is a little after 6k. I was just wondering if it was ok to do it. Its an auto but if your press the button by the shifter it will shift pretty damn close to 6k. Im not going to do it when the motor is not fully warmed or do it at every green light but sometimes its fun just to see what my 130hp beast can do lol.

[92Camry5sp]

i redline most of the time on my car but its not getting me anywhere. better off to stay under 3k if you can, since gas prices have been rising.

[Yuko]

I read somewhere that IF an engine has been driven lightly for year with very high mileage, then it is subjected to high RPM; it can destroy the piston rings. The reason I read was as the engine wears, the piston rings will begin to create a small lip in the cylinders. If the engine is driven normally for years; it is not a problem. The trouble is when an old vehicle that was driven by a grandmother is then given to a teen who will revved it up beyond what is been through; the pistons will naturally travel further in the cylinders (by a few 1/100") due to higher RPM, catching the lip, and destroying the rings. But if the engine is normally driven hard when it was newer, it not a problem as the lip is further up.

There’s no hard evidence on this, just a theory I read.

[Tom 2000]

There's not much of a point to rev the engine past the power peak as the power drops off. One the 5S-FE, that's about 5200 RPMs. After that, your power just drops off as it just runs out of breath and feels flat to redline.

I revved it to 6K several times, but I usually manually shift it to the next gear at about 5000-5500 RPM if I really need to hustle.