Redlining your car

[Coyotes55086]

I have an auto 2017 mustang. Im just wondering, when u go for hard launches, is it bad for the car to redline or should u be shifting it before that ? What's the deal with that ?

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[Vicr]

It’s your engine. Redline the shit out of it.

 

[Shifting_Gears]

It’s not good to bounce off the limiter. Revving an engine with no load (in park/neutral or with the clutch depressed) is much harder on it than when it’s under load.

If you’re doing a high RPM launch you’re best off to practice throttle control and finding your set RPM that way versus banging off the limiter.

The biggest risk in these cars are the oil pump gears. Hitting the limiter just adds to the fatigue they experience.

 

[HeelToeHero]

It’s not good to bounce off the limiter. Revving an engine with no load (in park/neutral or with the clutch depressed) is much harder on it than when it’s under load.

If you’re doing a high RPM launch you’re best off to practice throttle control and finding your set RPM that way versus banging off the limiter.

The biggest risk in these cars are the oil pump gears. Hitting the limiter just adds to the fatigue they experience.

Redline does not equal rev limiter. Nothing wrong with redlining the car while driving it. Free revving it (in park or neutral as mentioned) that high is not recommended though.

 

[Ebm]

Hard launches aren't just stressing the motor, think about the tranny and axles as well. The car was built to take abuse though. You should be good for a while.

 

[Bikeman315]

Ford shows maximum horsepower, 460, at 7000 rpm. Not sure I understand the purpose of going beyond that. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it makes sense to do it.

 

[Coyotes55086]

So redlining it here and there isnt going to cause any problems?

 

[Bikeman315]

So redlining it here and there isnt going to cause any problems?

No, it won’t.

 

[EFI]

Ford shows maximum horsepower, 460, at 7000 rpm. Not sure I understand the purpose of going beyond that. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it makes sense to do it.

Ford also has the limiter/shift point at 7400 so that's what you should be going to. Ford would not make a shiftpoint 400rpm higher if it offered 0 gain to only cause more wear on the engine.

Also if you want the fastest acceleration, you never ever ever shift right at peak power. You should be shifting 3-400rpm AFTER peak power in order to maximize acceleration in the next gear.


Going back to the OP's question, redlining is not the same as hitting the limiter. The redline is there for a reason, so there is no issue to go there. Now keeping it at redline for hours at a time might cause excess wear on the engine, but it should be no problem. If you read up on some of the durability tests Ford does on these engines, they are kept at peak power for hours and hours at a time.

However hitting the revlimiter over and over again will cause damage.

 

[Bikeman315]

Ford also has the limiter/shift point at 7400 so that's what you should be going to. Ford would not make a shiftpoint 400rpm higher if it offered 0 gain to only cause more wear on the engine.

Also if you want the fastest acceleration, you never ever ever shift right at peak power. You should be shifting 3-400rpm AFTER peak power in order to maximize acceleration in the next gear.


Going back to the OP's question, redlining is not the same as hitting the limiter. The redline is there for a reason, so there is no issue to go there. Now keeping it at redline for hours at a time might cause excess wear on the engine, but it should be no problem. If you read up on some of the durability tests Ford does on these engines, they are kept at peak power for hours and hours at a time.

However hitting the revlimiter over and over again will cause damage.

Thank you, got it. That said, on the street wouldn't it be prudent to shift below redline to prevent hitting the limiter? How much are you losing by shifting at 7000-7300 vs. redline?

 

[EFI]

Thank you, got it. That said, on the street wouldn't it be prudent to shift below redline to prevent hitting the limiter? How much are you losing by shifting at 7000-7300 vs. redline?

Well yes, staying further away from the limiter does reduce the change that you may hit it accidentally. However it shouldn't be hard for an experienced manual driver to shift at 73-7400 and not hit the limiter. On an automatic that's not even an issue as the computer shifts at redline everytime if you hold it down.

And no, you won't lose a considerable amount of time shortshifting and on the street you're not racing anyone (or you shouldn't be).

 

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

Ford shows maximum horsepower, 460, at 7000 rpm. Not sure I understand the purpose of going beyond that. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it makes sense to do it.

Because the torque transferred to the street with the rear wheels (what actually accelerates the car) above 7,000 rpm to redline is still higher than the torque at the rear wheels in the next gear up at 5500 rpm (or wherever your next gear lands you on the rpm band). This is because the torque multiplication due to the gearing drops off faster than the torque curve the engine produces.

 

[Idaho2018GTPremium]

Redlining your engine won't damage it. However, it does cause more wear and tear vs. keeping the engine speed lower. The reason is higher heat (mainly due to friction) and stress placed on all of the components.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Thank you, got it. That said, on the street wouldn't it be prudent to shift below redline to prevent hitting the limiter? How much are you losing by shifting at 7000-7300 vs. redline?

What Thug said.

I'd personally prefer to save the high-rpm episodes for the track rather than waste them in street driving. There are fatigue consequences (aka wear and tear) to running at higher revs and the bigger power output that lives up there, and fatigue is a cumulative thing. I'd rather save even the little bits of fatigue life for the track.


Norm

 

[Grintch]

Ford shows maximum horsepower, 460, at 7000 rpm. Not sure I understand the purpose of going beyond that. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean it makes sense to do it.

Because you make more torque to the wheels at 7500 rpm in a lower gear, than at 5300 rpm in a higher gear.

P.S. Doesn't the auto shift at, or before redline no matter the mode it's it?

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