Is it bad to hit your Rev limiter?

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I know the Rev Limiter is in the engine ECU to protect the engine from over revving, but is it bad to hit the limiter? Just a FYI to those that are unfamiliar with rev limiters. It's the point when you redline the car to it's redline limit before shifting to the next higher gear. The car will jerk because the computer cuts the fuel to prevent over revving.
 
Its not great but on some autocross courses guys will bounce off the limiter for a second or two if there's no time to get a shift in before a corner. No harm done.
Don't do it all the time but if your motor is healthy otherwise its not a big deal.
 
I think it's bad NOT to hit it. That's why it's there. Enjoy the ride!
 
The redline limit of the motor isn't the same as the rev limiter. IMO, if kept with in the rev limit, motors are usually killed by underlubrication, over heating or excessive time at high load/temp, and cyclic heat loads such as warming up a car too quickly (think rallying your car to work every morning from a cold winter start.)
 
It is not bad to hit the limiter once in awhile, but revving your engine that high on a long term basis will cause wear and damage. Just like it does not hurt to use your anti-lock brakes, but they are not intended to be used all the time, it would be hard on the brakes.
 
Originally Posted By: FowVay
I think it's bad NOT to hit it. That's why it's there. Enjoy the ride!
Wholeheartedly agreed. Use the entire RPM range possible. Try not to have it pegged at the limiter all the time but getting it up there occasionally is good for the long-term engine health.
 
Originally Posted By: scurvy
Originally Posted By: FowVay
I think it's bad NOT to hit it. That's why it's there. Enjoy the ride!
Wholeheartedly agreed. Use the entire RPM range possible. Try not to have it pegged at the limiter all the time but getting it up there occasionally is good for the long-term engine health.


... and if you drive a rotary, it's actually a requirement.
 
The redline is the design limit at which damage could occur. The rev limit is not the same. Agreed that there is no way that a stock engine in good mechanical condition will be harmed. Going along with what BeanCounter said, I wouldn't trust my old Subie with 205kmi on'er at rev limit RPMs for very long, though.
 
Originally Posted By: Burt
It is not bad to hit the limiter once in awhile, but revving your engine that high on a long term basis will cause wear and damage. Just like it does not hurt to use your anti-lock brakes, but they are not intended to be used all the time, it would be hard on the brakes.


I didnt know it hurt the brakes any ?
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Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: Burt
It is not bad to hit the limiter once in awhile, but revving your engine that high on a long term basis will cause wear and damage. Just like it does not hurt to use your anti-lock brakes, but they are not intended to be used all the time, it would be hard on the brakes.


I didnt know it hurt the brakes any ?
54.gif


Do 5 hard ABS stops from 60mph and open your window. You will smell your brake pads, and you've probably just taken a few thousand miles of life out of them.
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: Burt
It is not bad to hit the limiter once in awhile, but revving your engine that high on a long term basis will cause wear and damage. Just like it does not hurt to use your anti-lock brakes, but they are not intended to be used all the time, it would be hard on the brakes.


I didnt know it hurt the brakes any ?
54.gif


Do 5 hard ABS stops from 60mph and open your window. You will smell your brake pads, and you've probably just taken a few thousand miles of life out of them.


Yeah thats funny right ? The only time my anti-lock brakes kick in is in the snow. And that shouldnt be hurting them.
 
No, the odd ABS usage in snow is probably good to keep things from siezing up. Ice racing with the abs on probably would wear out something in the system eventually.
 
As long as you are not overheating the engine there is no need to worry..."spirited" driving is actually beneficial to engines because it allows the engine to burn fuel and water in the oil and it helps removes some buildup on the internals. It is important to maintain any vehicle that will be driven hard like this.
 
Factory rev limiters are set well below the mechanical rev limit of the engine. It's not going to harm anything if its only done occasionally. You do not want to do it without the engine under load, meaning don't rev the [censored] out of it in neutral. If an engine is going to fail from over reving its usually going to do it at TDC on the exhaust stroke when there is little gas pressure on top of the piston.
 
Like mentioned, the proper use can be to ride the limiter for short periods - a few seconds - like those road racers.

I do not believe this will hurt anything at all.

If you are normally racing around, you want to shift right before the limiter, because you cut your engine power, and any acceleration would be best by shifting right before that.

But I don't see engine damage from it.
 
Hi all: I posted this question in the oil forum, did a search, and found this thread so thought I would revive this thread with a similar question. I was unaware of rev limiters till reading this....

Here is what happened...

After a thorough cleaning of my 2015 Corolla yesterday, another family member put in the cleaned plastic floor mat today. Apparently, it was placed on top of the gas pedal thereby pushing on it, because when it was started cold (in the garage at about 30F), the car really roared with a big puff of smoke. The car drives fine and I think things are OK but it still bothers me. I don't know how high the rpm's went but it was pretty loud. In my favor, I think, were:

1. car had been started yesterday so engine surfaces were recently wetted with oil
2. I've been using recommended Toyota 0-20W synthetic oil which I think would be really thin at cold temperature and flow and protect quickly
3. car has 30k miles on so is probably completely broken in
4. car was shut down within 3 seconds or so
5. car is well maintained, never abused and I'm sure this won't happen again!

I'm probably worried for nothing, but buy new cars for life and take care of them mechanically and cosmetically for 20+ years so things like this annoy me when they happen. After reading this thread, I don't know if the 2015 Corolla has a rev limiter and if so, does that mean hitting dangerous red line was not achieved? Someone here mentioned approaching rev limiter levels is worse at idle (which the car obviously was) opposed to under load going down a road.
 
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