Quote:
Originally Posted by Boogalu
hey guys so I was driving around the other day and I wanted to play with my paddle shifters.  . so while coming from an on ramp I forgot that I was in manual mode and floored the gas pedal and I didn't shift right away so it went into the red line for about 3 seconds.
that's not bad is it?
I was told by a mechanic who works at bmw that they red line each gear to make sure the engine is without malfunction, but then again.. he's just a mechanic haha
any opinions??
thanks |
AS others have stated, your car is fine.
With an automatic trans the computer will not allow you to shift into a gear that will cause your engine to 'over rev', meaning go beyond it's rev limit.
You are protected even when downshifting in manual mode.
For example, if your engine is near red line and you accidentally down shifted the computer will not allow the shift.
Also, every engine is equipped with an electronic 'rev limiter', which will stop the engine from accelerating beyond it's mechanical limit.
The engines mechanical limit is actually higher than it's electronically controlled rev limit or "red line". The computer can cut either spark or fuel or both to stop the engine from accelerating beyond it's limit.
With a manual trans if you accidentally downshifted while near red line, then you would have a mechanically caused over rev where the cars momentum will cause the engine to rev beyond it's mechanical limits.
The electronic rev limiter can't help you in that scenario because in that case the engine is not accelerating due to normal combustion, it i being accelerated by the cars momentum.
This is lovingly called a "money shift", as it will cost a lot of money to fix the engine
