Safe engine RPM

Towing is one thing, high revs when cruising or hard acceleration is another.

Setting towing aside.............

The rev limiter is a safe number for the motor. Conservative even. You know. Engineers and lawyers.

No legal cruising speed will get you anywhere near that number, and no excessive wear is being caused.

Interstate cruising, even at high RPM, is the easiest running a motor will ever see, due to the temperature and RPM stability.

It's much more important to have clean quality oil, good air and oil filtration, a prime condition cooling system and a tip top ignition system than to worry about pampering the RPMs.

 

the owner's manual on my 2002 ford escape says to turn OD off when towing. there is a button the end of the shifter stalk. it helps with torque and engine braking and gives you more control when towing a trailer.

 

ALL fluids good
tyres correct
temp gauge stable
U should be good 2 go

 

First, I know this is an old thread, bu I didn't revive it.

I am currently testing this. I hope this post doesn't jinx it. I have an 11' 2tr with 5sp and 233k. Be over 300k by 2022.5 if everything keeps going. Every monday and friday I run 3k + rpm for two hours on the way to work. I live in maine currently and there are steep grades but no long grades. I did live in American Fork Utah for a couple years and have been all up down the spine of the rockies . I've put a lot of miles on in those passes running third gear at 4500 rpm. I towed a trailer from SLC to up to La Barge Wyoming empty and stayed with traffic. Then I towed that trailer back completely loaded with household good and the bed was filled pretty to the cap. Going up the climbs outside evanston and park city were third gear 75 mph pulls. Crossed fingers and knock on wood truck still runs well. I do know I have stripped life from it though. Not sure how much.

You can hurt them and will spend life running them this way.

 

Toyota 4-cylinder engines are legendary for long service lives even when run hard, if maintenance is done on time. So any "reduced life" statements need an appropriate frame of reference. My tachometer shows a redline of 5500 RPM and I have no worries about revving to 4000-5000 rpm as needed. I'm at 163,000 miles and it starts, runs and drives perfectly. I expect to get 300,000 miles and more. I don't know where all this "extra wear" stuff is coming from. 4000 RPM is nowhere near the rev limiter.