Engine

[Trixter]

Hey ppl, I was wondering at what rpms does your engine start getting loud and when it screams out to you to shift to the next gear? I drive a 06 trix (base) and i start to notice a significant increase in loudness when i pass 3500rpm and when i hit 5000rpm my engine becomes so loud that i'm afraid to go any higher. Also, when i do shift at 5000rpm i feel such great pressure on my clutch and the engine roars in pain. After reading some reviews about the trix, i have notice that engine noise is amongst the cons of the car, but i didn't know that it would get so loud so quickly (at such low rpm). Meh...maybe its because of its small engine and its sweating efforts to perform at higher rpms. Anyone care to share their experiences?

[mistamatrix]

In my 03 XRS, from 6200 to redline...it's a symphony.

[ksbrace]

The engine will smooth out as you break it in. Show it gradually higher revs in a low gear under light load. With the engine fully warmed up, just leave it in 1st gear and stay light on the gas pedal and let the revs drift up. Do this every day, going a little higher each time, and you will notice the engine getting smoother over time, perhaps sounding loud the first several times you reach a new, higher rev. Eventually you should be taking it to 6000, always under light load, and it will be smooth all the way.

In short, if you show it high revs under light load, it will smooth out, and then you will be able to USE the high revs under HEAVY load to get going when you need to. If you have a short entrance ramp up a hill, 2nd gear (base Matrix or XR) is good to 60+ MPH (6000+ RPM) and the car REALLY scoots.

My 93 Saturn had a noisy transition at 3500 RPMs after 10,000 miles because I babied it. When I started showing it higher revs once a day (as I described above) it smoothed out completely all the way to red-line over just another thousand miles. So I'm speaking from personal experience. The theory is that the crank shaft distorts at higher revs, allowing the piston to travel a microscopically further distance up the cylinder wall. If you limit your revs to 3500 (which I had done), there will be a ridge on the cylinder walls at that height, causing a roar at higher revs. Showing the engine higher revs eventually smooths over that ridge, making the engine smooth all the way to red-line. I made sure not to have this problem with my 04 XR, and showed it gradually higher revs over the first 500 miles, and it never developed a point where it roared, and it sounds very smooth all the way to red-line.

[xrs22]

Originally Posted by mistamatrix

In my 03 XRS, from 6200 to redline...it's a symphony.

w3rd to yo' mutha'. Should install an intake, port the oem header and throw on a full exh. including the cat. and see what it sounds like then. I'm about to go open header on mine and you think yours is loud?

[Trixter]

ksbrace: I am enlightened :P Thanks for your insightful advice, i will surely try that.

mistamatrix: haha...a symphony is good (at least it has sequence and rhythm :P)