http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDxptff2WE
I am sorry, but this video makes me sick. They start the car on a cold motor, conduct a 7 second warm up then off to the rev limiter for 10 seconds. What type of tool does this to a Ferrari or any vehicle for that matter. I can tell it was a cold motor by the water from condensation coming out of the exhaust during the torture test. I am not amused.
This is why it is somewhat important to know how many previous owners a car had when you are looking to buy. One out of every 5 (or so - you tell me) owners of these cars is a total idiot, or is rich and doesn't care, or knows he is flipping the car in 3 months. So he does stupid things like this. The more owners a car has had, the more the chances that one of them was an idiot.
This is what scares me about buying a car. That stupidity is burned into my brain and there's no way to tell if someone has abused the car like they have in this video.
Would a compression/leakdown test not pick up on this kinda abuse, nontheless? A visual PPI is ~$300, and I think a compression/leakdown for an F430 is another $300. Seems like a good $600 insurance policy, but of course who knows exactly what/if cold revs do to the engine or if there is a reasonable way to detect it. Yes, very concerning as a used car buyer.
That's what I'm talking about! I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I firmly believe in warming up an engine. Even in the summer time, I let a car or motorcycle engine warm up before I drive, and I'm not revving the **** out of it (well, I am on the bike ). But I used to work for a guy who's daily driver was a 360. And even in the dead of NY winter, he'd just start it up and go - he used to laugh when I warmed it up - and that engine was bullet proof. I mean bullet proof, it never failed or faltered in any way. I partly attribute that to the fact that it was driven daily - the guy didn't even own a battery tender.
One point I'm confused about.... where in the video do they say the car is cold? All we know is they started it.... but it just as easily be after a long spirited run with lots of red-line shifts, only to be shut off and restarted for the video to hear it start up. If the engine were already HOT, would this be as bad a thing, hitting the limiter under no load, vs the obvious YES if were a cold engine? I don't really know - just pointing out there's no way to know the car is actually "cold" from that video link. [edit] just loaded in Youtube instead of embedded.... sounds like it WAS cold in the comments.... But my question still stands - would HOT have made any difference? Jedi
That engine was cold, the condensation on the exhaust says it all. Revving a car that cold at 8,500 rpm guarantees damage to the engine. The car needs to be under load, with no load the valvetrain suffers. Unfortunately, a SD3 read-out won't show anything. I would not buy that car, just for the damage done in a few seconds, but no idea on the VIN number.
Good question, I'm also curious if revving a hot engine to redline is equivalent to hitting redline while driving, or if no load from being in neutral makes a difference, and if so, how much? Regardless, we pay for our toys and even if not ideal, I think we should be allowed to rev them and have some fun, just so long as doing so isn't recklessly damaging. I guess it's even fine to recklessly damage your car if you want, just so long as the next buyer gets the FYI about the abuse. ETA: Perspective also matters here probably. Revving an engine excessively could cause it to prematurely die, say randomly at 50% of it's otherwise expectant life. Most would frown on that as getting a new engine is viewed as a "repair." However, a "maintenance" item like a clutch might be viewed differently. We all know launching (or if you have launch control) will dramatically increase the wear on your (pricy) clutch, but that's still generally viewed as acceptable if you are ok replacing the clutch and no one cringes when they see Ferrari's launched. Perhaps the magnitude of price for the repair/maintenace item also matters.
What is the point of revving the 430? Showing off...? I guarantee he is not the owner, it's heart breaking.
I can assure everyone that I personally saw the car warmed up for a proper amount of time...turned off...started again and moved for pictures...turned off....then turned back on for this video all within an hours time
The car may have been warmed up earlier than the photo shoot but the engine more than likely cooled back down when the video was taken. When the car is warmed up it will not dump condensation like it did in the video. Either way no 430 cold or warm should be hammered to the rev limiter for any amount of time, especially not under a load. You can damage the car very quickly doing this....The impression members have is that the car is abused. The thought that ran through my mind is if the owner posts a video of this what happens when nobody is around? These cars are amazing and sound incredible. I'm sure you were just having fun with the video but this is really not a way to treat a Ferrari.
I am also curious, can any mechanic/engineer please shed some light? If you blip the throttle in neutral , does this damage the engine? Since the consensus Is that revving and holding the throttle to redline the engine with no load is bad Is blipping the throttle also just as bad. Blipping where you step on the gas and release it immediately
To me, it looks like Junior (kid) grabbed keys and revved it for YouTube. Let's hope daddy doesn't see this video and ground someone. I would go ballistic if that was my car.
I believe reving the engine, even when hot, close to redline with no load will damage it. Ferrari lets you do that. Porsche does not. I cannot rev my CGT or GT3 RS to redline with no load. The computer limits it to around 6 or 7K max.
Revving a car to redline with no load (neutral) hot or warm damages the valvetrain, floating valves and vibrations at the limit (redline) due to lack of load will bend valves, scratch camshaft. Then there is a few seconds (close to a minute) to get a F430 to circulate oil on the entire system. I always startup my car with no throttle at all, and let it sit for 2 minutes before moving it. Revving with not enough lubrication yet, is even worse, bearings, scratched cyleinder, cracked pistons, broken rings, these are standard failures on revving a cold engine. I learned my lesson with revving engines in motorcycles (dirt bikes) when I was a kid. A warmed up car doesn't have condensation on the muffler, it just can't. now, where is the VIN #?
Please dont think I am trying to get personal, but it depends on the size of your "blip". And in this case a larger blip is NOT better than a smaller blip. On a more serious note, when I start my car after a couple of days and it idles rough, there are two ways to fix the problem. One is to shut down the car immediately and start it up again (there is a thread that discuses this issue extensively). The other is to give the car a very gentle "blip" (I take it from roughly 1,200 RPM to about 3,000 or 3,500 RPM) to even out the idle. I dont think gentle blips will do any harm.
