It depends on which gear you're in. My calculation tell me you should be shifting at the red line in 1st and 2nd, 6k in 3rd and 5.8k in 4th.It doesn't hurt anything, or sound bad, it just slows you down, so you should have already shifted.

 

well since every engine has it's own individual specific power output and power band, why don't you just get your car dyno'd and then you'll find out you ideal shift point, which won't be in the "red" but around 5500rpm.

 

I rev mine up to 7500rpm all the time. It likes it up there.

 

Before the remap mine would cut out at 6500 but only in 3rd gear. With the auto it starts bogging down and turns into a chugga chugga!

 

Well. my concern isn't exactly analogous to hitting myself with a hammer to see if it hurts, exactly.

I'm actually concerned with accidently red-lining when I'm a bit tired but still fighting traffic and I hit the wrong paddle on the paddle shifter for a second. Obviously the RPM(s) [parenthesis indicate a spoken, but not written, s] jump when I do that. I don't know if they hit the red zone, but it always makes me nervous.

So, it would be more apt to compare this process to accidently hitting yourself with a hammer because it slips out of your grasp.

 

In a previous thread where I made the same comment the OP basically said he wanted to try it in his driveway just to see what happened. That was more in line with my comment here in this thread. I can see a more realistic situation of a auto trans shift error, or in a race as stated, but to do it just for the sake of doing it, seems a little strange, hence my comment.

It was this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...wn-engine.html

 

In other threads, I've seen inadvertant shifting into the wrong gear (usually with a manual transmission) and overrevving the engine called a "money shift" because it is so expensive to rebuild the engine. I suggest you try to avoid it, even with an automatic.

Because I am perfect, this has never been a problem for me...

 

[
According to miniusa.com, the MINI auto has a system to keep this from happening:
"And don't worry, the intelligent automatic transmission is always on duty to take over if you forget to shift or try and rev it too high while in the midst of an exceptionally challenging stretch of road."

I think it is safe to assume this feature will work on a typical stretch of road as well as an exceptionally challenging bit, but it doesn't say anything explicitly about downshifting.

Anyone have an reason to think that the AISIN auto will keep you from downshifting from 4th at 5500 RPM into 3rd? Anyone had an experience like that?

 

I've never had the experience with my manual car, either, but this AGITRONIC stuff seems to invite mistakes.

Or, more likely, with a stick, I was able to figure out that it was in the wrong gear as I was releasing the clutch, re-clutch, and then get it into the right gear, avoiding the RPM bounce.

 

There is no money shift with the auto.

 

If you're tired and just fighting traffic, why not let the computer do the work then? I mean, that's one of the advantages of a slushb--er, automatic transmission.

 

No doubt my automatic transmission contributes to my perfection...

But what happens if I should be stupid enough to be tooling along in 5th gear at 85 mph or so (using manual shift) and try to downshift three or four times in rapid succession? The transmission's computer (or whatever) would prevent RsPM (revolutions per minute) above 6500?

 

The Aisin auto trans will NOT let you downshift if it'll put the engine into the red zone.

 

Interesting question. This is one of the reasons I got the auto, plus my significant other can't drive a manual... and I didn't want to teach her in my new MINI!

The auto does not predict when I'm going to need extra horse power for maintaining my following distance... at least not as acurately as I'd like. In the traffic in which I drive, one must maintain less-then-a-car length distance in stop-and-go traffic if one wants to minimize the number of cars that cut in front of them... as these cars often then do not maintain a less-then-a-car-length distance, allowing other cars to cut in front of them, and so on, until there are no parking spots available on my street and dinner is cold.

I usually down-shift in the 1.5-2k RPM range, rather than the >1-1.5k RPM the auto chooses.

 

The engine can handle the revs to red line...it is designed to go there. There rev limiter is there to damage. If revving to red line would damage the engine Mini would be replacing many motors.

I will say revving a cold engine is a NO NO...don't do it. The engine needs to up to temprature. Also free revving does put some more stress on the motor but still won't damage the engine. As MpowerF1 stated if you track or SCCA you pretty much bounce off the limiter most of the way around the track...most do.

 

This is simple, STOP AT A RED LIGHT, You know the rest.

 

Question: I hit the rev limiter today (first time) and the fuel cut and I quickly shifted gears but now I have a CEL on the one with the engine that is filled half yellow... any ideas? did it come on becuase of the fuel cuting off? how do i reset it? :(

 

Disconnect the negative battery terminal,hit the brake and wait about ten minutes.
Reset

 

From what I've heard, the Gen2 fuel system starts to kick out when you hit 6500 rpm. (I can't verify since our Gen 2 is still in the break-in period). The Gen1 would cut out at 6700, but many of us that use the full potential of the car have pullied and tuned the car. I now run a tune that kicks out at 7500. With the pulley and retune, the power continues to climb up to the limit. The Gen2 car will do the same with a tune as well, according to the tuners.

MINI puts an artificially low limit on the car to preserve reliability and hold down on its warranty costs.

 

If you are not able to read the code, you should go to autozone or pepboys etc to find out what it is. They read it for free. You should not reset the code till you figure it what it is.

Reving to redline should not bring up a CEL.

 

So do I hold the brake down for 10 mins after i disconnect the negetive terminal?

 

To all you young folks: Back in the old days when there was no rev limiter to cut either spark or fuel to an engine it was easy to go into the red zone. However, if held there for more than a few seconds the valves would "float" (i.e., would not close due to the speed of opening and closing) and in many cases a piston and valve would collide and goodbye engine. I say this from experience and a very expensive mistake.

 

[FONT=Arial]I have not worked on an engine in a long time and have never worked on a MINI. But back in the days when I worked on 1960 & 70’s Corvettes, what almost always happened in an over-rev situation was that the valve train failed. The valve train cannot keep up with the high rpm of the engine and the valves fail to follow the camshaft. When that occurs, one or more valves will contact a piston causing some slight damage or it starts a cascade of damage that will eventually trash all of the rotating internal parts of the engine. If your engine fails and there is no evidence of valve train damage? It was not an over-rev. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]The other problem is that the oil pump is working so fast that it pumps all of the oil up into the engine. The connecting rods and crankshaft do not actually ride directly on the bearing material. They ride on a film of oil provided by oil pressure by way of the oil pump. So, if there is no oil left for the pump to pump, their is no oil pressure and you get bearing to metal contact, and that is not good! You never want to have bearing to metal contact without lubrication pressure or things heat up and break in a hurry![/FONT]

 

for normal wear, it goes with the square of the velocity... So double the speed and quadrouple the wear. So running engines faster tends to wear then out faster. But one or two (or even many) rev excursions isn't really that big a deal.

Modern electric fuel systems don't fire one of the injectors to limit engine torque at read line, and this is why the car sounds funny. It doesn't hurt anything. It may stop firing two or more injection events per two crank revolutions if the engine doesn't stop speeding up (this would be the case of the guy who wanted to do it in his driveway...)

The R53 valve train and rotating assemblies have been tested to do pretty well to speed a bit above 7000, then the debate opens up as to when valve foat is a problem. FWIW, if you're building a head to go above that RPM, then a good head building will look at the cam profile, planned red-line and valve construction to select a spring that will keep the valve train "tight" but not much stronger than that... It just wastes HP and increases wear to have to strong a valve spring.

For non-normal wear and tear, this is where the fast damage occurs. There are the floating valve/piston top collisions that a previous poster mentioned, but in theory you can also have events where parts go past the limit of plastic deformation, and they streatch or break. This is possible, but rare, and usually very expsensive.

Matt

 

if it destroy the engine at 6500 rpm then mini wud have set it to 6000rpm... so do what ever... the engine is design to take to 6500rpm... while Honda S2kp1 and Mazda RX8 designed to withstand to 9000rpm