Ok, here's the situation -

I was taking a frontage road along the freeway (long, flat, very smooth road with 0 traffic) and decided that it would be a good place to practice my speed shifting skills in case I ever want to drag or something. Everything thing was going great through 3, but when I went to hit 4th I must have slammed the stick into the middle of the 4th and 6th gates or something, cause I missed the shift. Meanwhile, my feet were doing their thing (off gas, tap clutch, GAS!) oblivious to the fact that I'd missed the shift. So, the end result was a whole lotta gas in neutral.

At this point, most of you are probably thinking the same thing that went through my head during that .01 seconds or so when I realized everything had gone awry ... "Ooops, oh well, rev limiter." BUT! Instead, I watched the damn tach plow right passed 7K and nearly bounce off 8k!!!!

WTF? Does anyone know if the rev limiter only works when the car is in gear? If that is the case, then did I majorly screw myself or can the engine handle spinning that fast as long as the tranny isn't hooked up? ARG, I feel so retarded. I've driven MT cars for 8 years now and virtually never miss a shift, but 4th gear in this car has bitten me several times now. Is this a common problem?

Are there any engine officionados out there that know what damage (if any) I may have done to the car in those RPM ranges? I didn't get a chance to glance at my oil pressure gauge, so I'm not sure if I was pushing it or not. The engine was nice and warm though, so I doubt the pressure was too high. I'm really kinda freaked out about the whole thing, so if anyone knows or thinks that this will be ok, then please share.

Thanks in advance,
Scott

<- me kicking my own ***

 

Your RPMs will still rise even after the rev limiter has kicked in, it happens pretty fast.

I drag raced cars for 7 years. I have done this from time to time and it has never caused any damage (with the exception of a turbo car that was denotating anyway). If you did break something, you would already know it. If you don't have any smoke coming out the tail pipe or any knocking coming out of the motor you are probably in the clear.

If your not racing for money or to run a low time at the track there's no reason to shift like that. If your just running the car shift then give it the gas.

 

did you feel a rev limiter hit, and it just hit high? the needle does have some inertia, if its up fast enough, it can float a little higher.

the revlimiter should work always. including then.

the engine can take 7-7500 before it would be considered "oh no" IMO, 6600 seems a bit conservative, but they built it, not me, so I wont mess with it, but I think your fine.

like the guy before said, if it did do harm, youd know it by a severe lack of power.

 

Phew. I didn't hear any knocking and the car felt fine, so maybe I'm in the clear.

That's good advice. Sometimes I just get a little over zealous. Unfortunately, I have a lot more ambition than skill when it comes to performance driving.

I think I picked up the bad habbit of shifting like that from my GSXR. With the exception of going from 1st - 2nd and accidentally hitting nuetral instead, you never had to worry about missing a shift. I could be back on the throttle hard almost instantly. This time in the Z certainly taught me a lesson though. I think I'll take your advice and take it easy from now on.

 

I didn't feel a rev limiter hit at all, but I wasn't in gear. So even if it cut fuel or something, I wouldn't have felt it because I was coasting. I hope that you're right about the needle inertia. It was moving quick for sure. I didn't notice any lack of power on the drive home and everything sounded normal. It was dark, so I wouldn't have seen smoke, but I'll make sure to give it a good once over tomorrow before I take it anywhere.

Thanks for the reply,
Scott

 

Does the 350Z's ECU record any data on engine speed? I know that BMW's record the highest engine rpm achieved. This can be downloaded by the service tech. BMW has used this information to void warranties and decline engine replacements on damaged engines. The new E46 M3 records highest rpm and the amount of time spent above 7,800 rpm.

Anyone know what the 350Z's ECU records?

cjg

 

I'd be interested in knowing this as well. I would not be very pleased at them voiding my warranty for wrong doing though. If it did go over 6600 rpms, I'd really like to know why my rev limiter didn't kick in.

 

TYPICLY they are looking for mis shifts, like going into 4th, but instead hit 2nd, let clutch out, and the engine has no choice but to over rev. it can cut fuel but the car is actually pushing the engine to go faster.

thats what they are looking for, but when all you see is RPM, its a guessing game of trust whether the rev limiter failed, or they think you mis shifted.

 

I see. My friend has a Celica GTS and was telling me that a lot of people were blowing up those engines accidentally by hopping into 2nd instead of 4th. I wonder what Toyota is doing about that. At some point, I think people would have a valid case if it was happening frequently.