What is more damaging: Throttle or RPMs?

[hyphy1]

I think someone here, said it best, along the lines of...

the engine is gold.
the supporting parts (i.e. water pump, charge pipe) could be better.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by 1AddictsAnonymous

A while back I read something a Z4 owner wrote about lifter tick. He found that while babying the car he experienced lifter tick on his N52. If he shifted only above 4000RPM once the engine was warm, the to I disappeared

He concluded that the engine was designed to be driven over 4000 RPM, and babying it was actually harming the engine.

Food for thought

I believe the lifter tick issues on the N52 were a known design flaw (not sure, but a service bulletin may have been issued for it), that were corrected in subsequent model years.

[BMWX1-35i]

As with any engine, babying it is not a good idea. If you need to do that, there was no need for you to buy a BMW. Get a Kia..

[e36addict]

Originally Posted by HooningB2G

I wait till my JB4 tells me the engine is warmed up before I go over 3k rpms. After that, it's the beans. I don't drive my car easy.

+1

[chris82]

Originally Posted by BMW135pls

What essentially causes more wear and tear on a vehicle, wide open throttle, or high revving RPMs? Or are they pretty equal?

I drive a 6AT N54 135i, and I always drive using automanual mode, and I'm actually pretty anal about what RPM I shift at. I never rev above 2.5k before the temp needle gets above 160F, and even afterward, I normally don't go above 3-4k even when doing pulls. It's stupid, but I love my car and don't want to beat it up I'm curious what will cause more wear and tear on the car, high amounts of throttle, or high RPMs. Say for instance somebody uses WOT but still shifts at 4-5k instead of letting it get to redline RPM @7k. Are they still causing a similar level of wear and tear to the vehicle, or is there practical merit to shifting early to save on some engine wear?

Something tells me that putting all that boost through the engine at those lower RPMs isn't good either.

[MZWIE]

After warm up I give my AT 135i a good flogging. Cars are meant to be driven. Especially this one.

[BMW135pls]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

For me, I try and keep it under 2500 RPM, and light throttle when warming up. Wait till it hits 100 C.

By the time my engine fluids reach 100C (212F) I'm already where I need to be aside from the odd time where I just drive nowhere for the fun of it

[ejm3]

Based solely on common sense rather than science or engineering knowledge I keep mine under 3k RPM's until it reaches something close to steady-state temp (this could take a while in the winter here in CT).

Then I drive it enough normally which is for me a mix of babying and fun.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by ejm3

Based solely on common sense rather than science or engineering knowledge I keep mine under 3k RPM's until it reaches something close to steady-state temp (this could take a while in the winter here in CT).

I wait till it hits about 100 C, unfortunately, this winter, that meant I did not go over 2500-3000 from January to March.

REALLY need to take the car out and high speed cruise to clean the carbon out.

[FactorX81]

Why 3k what is the significance of 3k. I usually take it easy until the needle starts to move but easy for me occasionally means between 3-4k. I find it near impossible to drive under 3k without being an obstacle for everyone else on the road.

[JimD]

The reason to get the oil temperature up is to get full lubrication. A significant amount of wear is on cold starts. The engine is turning and the lubrication is not close to fully functional. This improves a lot when oil pressure is reached - fractions of a second - and then further improves as temperature increases and oil viscosity decreases. The difference between off and 10 seconds of running is large. The benefits of further temperature increases come much more gradually. It is one of those typical exponential curves.

We usually measure wear on cars by miles. But it isn't a terribly accurate measure for engines. If you do the same number of miles at twice the rpms, the engine will obviously be more worn. But if you keep the car in a garage so it warms up quicker wear is less. And if you live in a warmer climate so you get lubrication sooner after starting the motor, that also decreases wear. Lugging, opening he throttle too much at low rpm, can rapidly damage rod bearings especially if the engine is cold. Much better to let the rpm be consistent with the load (higher rpm for higher load).

So there are several variables only some of which we can control. Higher rpm does increase wear but I still use it whenever I need to. We didn't buy micro cars with 1.5l engines. We should enjoy them and not worry about wear. But delaying maximum revs and load until the engine warms up a little is wise and not pushing constantly for maximum acceleration will lengthen lifetime.

[ejm3]

Originally Posted by FactorX81

Why 3k what is the significance of 3k. I usually take it easy until the needle starts to move but easy for me occasionally means between 3-4k. I find it near impossible to drive under 3k without being an obstacle for everyone else on the road.

For me 3k is just a number with no real significance, just a generally low number.

[Shawnski]

I have rebuilt 3 engines for grassroots motorsports (autoX and open track), and although I have never broken an engine (knock on wood) I have always been careful with pointless RPM. If you know the power curve; the spread between peak torque and peak HP (cam), stay in that range. With modern OEM ignition controls you should not have a problem exceeding the max recommended RPM.

I have heard of engines throwing a rod on high RPM decel, perhaps due to a lean situation on the piston from a lack of (cooling) fuel.

If you want to be sure always run a quality aftermarket oil pressure gauge, and fuel pressure guage if injected. A well maintained factory motor (adequate fuel and oil pressure) will run a good long time in competition, assuming too you don't overheat it.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by JimD

The reason to get the oil temperature up is to get full lubrication. A significant amount of wear is on cold starts. The engine is turning and the lubrication is not close to fully functional...

All the more reason to use a 0W oil (0W-30 or 0W-40).

[BMW135pls]

Originally Posted by Iron Man

All the more reason to use a 0W oil (0W-30 or 0W-40).

I actually brought that up as an option for when I got my oil change recently. The tech at the indy I go to for work (who actually builds and races E30s professionally) advised against it because he thinks it's too thin of an oil when he handles it, doesn't believe that it can have good lubrication properties, so I went with 5-30 Mobil 1 oil instead on the safe side. I was considering a 0-40 oil possibly. He actually said a 40w oil could be a solid option if I notice my engine oil temps going too far above 250, but for a DD he says it could be unnecessary since I don't currently plan to track my car for events or anything like that.

[Iron Man]

Originally Posted by BMW135pls

I actually brought that up as an option for when I got my oil change recently. The tech at the indy I go to for work (who actually builds and races E30s professionally) advised against it because he thinks it's too thin of an oil when he handles it, doesn't believe that it can have good lubrication properties, so I went with 5-30 Mobil 1 oil instead on the safe side. I was considering a 0-40 oil possibly. He actually said a 40w oil could be a solid option if I notice my engine oil temps going too far above 250, but for a DD he says it could be unnecessary since I don't currently plan to track my car for events or anything like that.

I would fire your tech. The 0W-30/0W-40 will protect your engine better on start-up, since it will actually flow better. At operating temps, the 0W-30 and 5W-30 are the same viscosity.

Mobil 1 5W-30 is not LL-01 approved, so the wrong oil was used for your car.