Revving - What's acceptable

[Flibby]

Just so everyone is clear, i'm talking about when the enginer is up to speed...

is there a discernible prolonging of an engine's life, from say changing every time at 2-3k revs, or changing at 4-5k revs once the engine is warm? I'm not talking about using these revs on the motorway constantly, just between speeds.

The car is a 325i and to be honest it sounds and feels so much better between the higher echelons of the power-band, however from driving diesels i've been used to changing much earlier, and don't want to be un-neccessarily causing wear.

[Dr Jekyll]

No problem at all once the engines warm.

[jones325i]

Flibby said:

Just so everyone is clear, i'm talking about when the enginer is up to speed...

is there a discernible prolonging of an engine's life, from say changing every time at 2-3k revs, or changing at 4-5k revs once the engine is warm? I'm not talking about using these revs on the motorway constantly, just between speeds.

The car is a 325i and to be honest it sounds and feels so much better between the higher echelons of the power-band, however from driving diesels i've been used to changing much earlier, and don't want to be un-neccessarily causing wear.

Rev the arse off it; forget the diesel characteristics. I had an E36 325i which I ran for 10 years. By the time I sold it, it had 195,000 miles on it having had no internal work whatsoever, and was still very strong and loved to rev. It'd see 5500 rpm very regularly, with the little bit of reserve there when required. It didn't use any oil either.

[GroundEffect]

Obviously engine wear is linear with average rpm (higher inertias and frictional forces) but honestly, it wont make a big difference....

...just don't go bouncing it off the limiter all day.

[Pothole]

Flibby said:

is there a discernible prolonging of an engine's life, from say changing every time at 2-3k revs, or changing at 4-5k revs once the engine is warm?

Depending on your definition of 'discernable' I'd say no.

[illmonkey]

GroundEffect said:

Obviously engine wear is linear with average rpm (higher inertias and frictional forces) but honestly, it wont make a big difference....

...just don't go bouncing it off the limiter all day.

[Wattsie]

It's my understanding that the red line is built into the engine management software to stop any damage being done to the car.

During development, new engines are run at the red line non-stop 24hrs a day over the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of miles, so I wouldn't worry about occasionally booting it.

I'll link to the 5th Gear Focus ST development video if anyone needs citation on that ^

[Major Fallout]

GroundEffect said:

Obviously engine wear is linear with average rpm (higher inertias and frictional forces) but honestly, it wont make a big difference....

...just don't go bouncing it off the limiter all day.

But don't let it labour at low revs or it will give your bearings a kicking.

[Kozy]

I'd rather buy a car I know has been taken to the limiter on a regular basis than one that's never seen more than 50% of the rev range.

[chrisw666]

Its your engine use it as you please.

I don't see the point of using half or less of what is available especially when accelerating or overtaking.

[RobM77]

Once the water and oil are warm (so a few minutes after your temperature gauge shows you warm water), use as many revs as you like and with whatever throttle opening you like. Your assumption is correct, you will wear the engine more using higher revs, but for a 325i it's nothing worth worrying about; mine ran to 155k miles without using a drop of oil and that's fairly typical.

[Baryonyx]

It's there to be used. I find cars better for a good rev. Even the stinking, smokey diesels I drive at work need to be revved out. You can tell when someone has been driving it softly all day and you get in, clouds of smoke shoot out of the back when you clear the exhaust!

[Leins]

Get it up over 4k RPM into the Vanos-zone

As already said, no harm once the engine is nice and warm. The newest of my cars is nearly 10 years old, but they all love a bit of a rev every now and then

[TheEnd]

On the older BMs, like the E36s, 3500 was regarded as the point between high and low revs, and the "units" for the service counters would count down at the double the rate.

[y2blade]

I weep for the future.