Is it bad to Red line too often?

Pardon my ignorance, but is it harmful to the car/engine/transmission if you redline too often? With my 599, I am still learning how she responds. I normally up shift at between 3-4000 RPM, but today I let it ride to 6-7000 RPM before up shifting. It was a lot fun hearing the engine roar, but I want to make sure I am not doing anything that will harm the car.
When the car is in auto, I have noticed it shifts at 2-3000 or 3-4000 RPM.

Thanks,
AJ

 

nothing wrong with redlining a car regularly, in fact the cars i know that get redlined a lot last a long time! Just make sure to change the oil regularly

 

Negative, so says my brother. He is a certified auto mechanic. Drive the hell out of it.

 

If you have one of these and are shifting between 3-4k, you need to either teach yourself to drive faster or have someone teach you. Don't waste a Ferrari! Pretty sure not redlining it at least a few times per drive results in all kinds of crap building up on the valves, not good.
Just make sure everything is up to temp before hitting it.

 

Well said. Make sure and test the limiter now and again also.
dave

 

Its overrev on downshifts that is bad but Iam pretty sure the F1 will not let this happen..It really feel great when you lite all 5 lights on the wheel!!!!!!

 

Oil up in normal opearting range (above 160dF below 240dF) and the RedLine is more like the yellow line for cars in the mid 1960s. No harm done, but don't stay there all day either.

 

+1
These cars are designed to be driven under load or near red line upshifting, especially with the V-12's.
Use it as it was designed to be driven, just don't abuse it.
IMOH, as cuneo stated, you will start to build up deposits if you generally lug that car while driving it.

This is just me; I usually drive between 4000-6000 rpm's around town & 2000-3000 rpm's on a long freeway trip; unless I have to pass or want to accelerate.

 

Not apples to apples, but I run my 308 hard whenever the road is clear. Putting a load on those seals keeps them tight.

 

Agreed!

 

Depending on the machine, running it like you're driving Miss Daisy would be worse than redlining it.

I had a turbo gunk up because I didn't spool it up often enough (commuting in an urban setting).

It's not good to go well past redline, and it stresses the friction circle to bounce off the limiter, but otherwise, there's no point shifting at 4K when redline is 7.

Every spring, I take the 328 out on the freeway in 3rd or 4th to get the revs up.

An "Italian Tune-Up".
The car really does run better after taking some deep breaths.

Does it really make a difference in the engine? Well, the first couple of years I owned the Alfa, I'd gotten into the habit of driving it in "break-in" mode. And every time the mechanic got the car in for scheduled service, he'd yell at me for not revving it enough.

 

LOL, this is so true.

 

I don't think I ever shift BELOW 7,000! ..............after it is warmed up of course

 

It's one of the things I'll never understand about these cars. What it is that keeps these engines together when redlined?? It sounds like it's gonna fly apart!

 

I think it's adrenaline and Passione that keep them intact.......

 

If it makes the OP feel better, over the past few years I have posted this same question to three top tier Ferrari master mechanics that I have met on different occasions. At least as pertains to the 1980's 4 valve Ferrari V8's, the recommendation was to drive spiritedly, keep the revs up, and don't be afraid of the redline. I can't imagine the same advice does not hold true for newer Ferraris.

Personally, I have found that in the 10K miles I have driven my Ferrari the engine has opened up, idles smoother, and just generally runs better thanks to a steady dose of spirited driving.

These cars were designed to be driven aggressively. You are not doing them any favors farting around at 2500rpm.

Just my .02

 

Isn't the red line the "change gear" indicator??

 

HA!

 

These engines are designed to rev high and hard. You prob doing more harm shifting low.

 

Thanks everyone! I will make sure to shift at much higher RPMs from now on. It just tough in stop and go traffic.

 

The materials. Cranks machined out of forged solid billet, Rods are forged titanium, pistons are forged Aluminum. Actually, modern Ferraris will survive 1000-1500 RPM overrevs without mechanical destruction. What happens is that the wear rate gets to unacceptable levels.

 

I hate these threads, cause everybody talks about how their "expert" mechanic told them to get on it all the time, then you get the tards who drive around at 6000rpm in traffic for some unknown reason, and the people that say driving gingerly is bad.

Bull**** to all of the above folks.

Your 599 has modern fuel injection. It is design to keep a stoich a/f ratio under light load. This is not some 60s ferrari with a bunch of carbs. The engine will be fine if run at 2500 rpm for its entire life. It won't develop a ton of carbon deposits regardless.

Further, higher revs=faster wear. This is not debatable. The faster you rev the engine, the more quickly it will wear out.

My advice? Rev it any which way you want. Go to redline occasionally, or don't. Don't let some anonymous "expert" tell you that you are wasting your ferrari or harming it by driving it normally. Going to redline a few times is not going to harm it, but its not doing it any favors either.

 

I'm not going to speak to modern Ferraris, because I don't own one and don't know to much about them. But I will accept your call of B.S. as pertains to the 1980s Ferraris and tell you that my own experience dovetails perfectly with what I have been told by no less than three Ferrari master mechanics. You fart around in a 1980's Ferrari and drive it like a grandmother and you are going to get all sorts of problems. Of course, you shouldn't be driving at high rpm in traffic or racing light to light--but I assumed everyone here has enough intelligence to know that. What is encouraged is to open the engine up when road conditions are appropriate and safety is not compromised.

In fact, as for modern sports cars, I'm sure they are much more sophisticated, but they can still suffer from carbon build up, among other things from leading a life of putting around. I used to have a few E36 BMWs and as I recall the manual clearly stated that you needed to drive for X distance at high RPM (4K or above?) on the highway to clear potential carbon build up if you spent a prolonged period in traffic. You had an E36 BMW M3, it was right in the manual. They weren't meant to loaf around either.

 

80s ferraris had carbs or early fuel injection, so I can kinda see that.

I don't recall reading that in the E36 manual. And I don't see why 4000rpm at light load is going to be any better than 2500rpm at light load.

The biggest reason carbon deposits form, in my opinion, is short trips where the car never, or barely, makes it out of open loop. Once its at operating temperature, there should really be very little deposits forming on a properly operating engine.

 

What your saying regarding modern cars would seem to make sense, but I just don't know enough about them to offer anything meaningful. It was definitely in the e36 manual but I don't know the rationale behind the recommendation.