Cruising regularly at 4000 rpm

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

How you maintian the engine is likely to have more of an effect than your cruising rpm habits will. If you're good about that and you don't do 20,000 mile oil and air filter changes with a track day every other day and jaunts down dusty country roads on the off days, I think you're going to be fine for a long time. As long as your driveway isn't the on-ramp to the highway and your fluids have time to heat up a little before you start your 4k cruising, truly don't sweat it. There's another 3500 rpms available to the engine, and you're looking at likely several years and tons of miles before you can even lightly perceive any sort of effect on your engine due to wear. I mean, are you cruising/commuting for 4 hours or something crazy like that?

You're less likely to have problems doing your daily cruising and good regular maintenance than the person who only drives it for a few hundred sunny-day-only miles in the summer, barely lets it stretch a leg, and packs it away the rest of the year like it's a $20 million Ferrari GTO.

The only thing that'll really be hurting from sustained 4k compared to sustained 3k is fuel economy. Just the price to be paid for quicker acceleration. Of you have to cruise at higher speeds to avoid being anhazard on the road going 20mph slower than everyone else, so be it.

Awesome, thanks!

This is for about 15-20 mins at a time. I change my oil every 7-8K km and check the level every couple of weeks. My place is VERY close to the on ramp but I keep it at or below 3K rpm until the temp needle is past the second notch on the gauge.

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

I'd rather not say how fast I'm going, but I will add this is pretty much the staple left lane speed around these parts. But I am in 6th gear when I am at 4K. Thanks for your post and the technical details, it looks like there isn't much to worry about.

They think they are slick trying to get your speed like that. You deflected that confession as fast as you were travelling.

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

They think they are slick trying to get your speed like that. You deflected that confession as fast as you were travelling.

lmao mans out to get me, I gotta watch my six

[Overdrive]

Ok, well I'm going to do my best not to open a different can of worms, but do make sure you're nice to the car under those conditions, especially in the colder part of the year. I've monitored my oil temp in the winter during my commute, and it took about half of my commute before the oil got close to operating temp. The coolant (and the idiot gauge needle) got there well before that, but the oil was still catching up. In the hotness of summer the stuff is nearly up to temp in the 5 minutes it takes me to reach the on-ramp. Our commute times are similar, and for me it's around 18-20 miles one-way. On these really cold days of late I've been a lot nicer to the car ever since I saw just how long it takes the oil to heat up.

Now I'm not saying "ONOZ, YOU CANT 4K NOW!", I'm just saying make sure you're not running the car too hard too early. Keep the rpms under 3k when you can until you have to hit your cruising speed. Your 4k cruise, if it's in 6th, still won't be a problem, and if anything your oil will get properly hot sooner than mine at 2400 rpms, but don't just use the coolant temp idiot gauge. Coolant gets happy a lot sooner than the oil does.

[roddy]

4K at low load cruise shouldn't be a problem. It will do that for a long time before any difference in wear is evident.


In the OP's defense, I have spent more than my share of time on the 400 series highways around Toronto, and when you're not sitting still, you're doing 85-100 MPH just to keep up with traffic (particularly on the 401). If you don't, you run the risk of getting run over by an Escalade/BMW X5/6, etc that is!
This car is invisible to the drivers of SUVs and crew cab dually pick-ups...just sayin'.

[Myriad]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

I don't find it abnormal in anyway, just don't feel like it's the optimal cruising RPM if that makes sense.

Plus, would RPM not directly relate to how hard an engine is working, besides lugging the engine and some other small things that can happen at strange RPM's? 0.7k idle vs 2.5k idle?

Edit: Maybe I should rephrase "working harder than it should" to 'working harder than it needs to'

This is an interesting discussion. Having a 2017 myself I also wonder at what RPM should I shift at for normal cruising. I've been driving my old Integra for 16 years and I know to shift her about 3K. It's instinctual by now. But I still have to think about what I'm doing with the 86. I've been shifting about 3 or 3.25 k, but I've been trying to run it higher, probably since I keep reading on this forum that it's a high revving engine and it's meant to revved. After the hundredth time I've read that it's got nothing until you go 4.5 K and up, I think it's influenced me try higher than I'd normally go. But I agree with you Jordanwolf, it sounds harsher than it needs to. I thought I was alone in that. I think I might shift back at 3 K again and save the higher RPMs for passing and merging maneuvers like I initially was doing. And I thought we were all just a bunch of high revving gear heads? Who knew we could be moderate?

Myriad

[reeves]

I've cruised at/around 4K RPM on trips out of state all the time.. for hours at a time. 1/5 to 1/4 of my total car mileage is from 4K RPM "cruising".. which is about 80mph on the highway. Nothing to worry about.

[Jordanwolf]

Originally Posted by Myriad

This is an interesting discussion. Having a 2017 myself I also wonder at what RPM should I shift at for normal cruising. I've been driving my old Integra for 16 years and I know to shift her about 3K. It's instinctual by now. But I still have to think about what I'm doing with the 86. I've been shifting about 3 or 3.25 k, but I've been trying to run it higher, probably since I keep reading on this forum that it's a high revving engine and it's meant to revved. After the hundredth time I've read that it's got nothing until you go 4.5 K and up, I think it's influenced me try higher than I'd normally go. But I agree with you Jordanwolf, it sounds harsher than it needs to. I thought I was alone in that. I think I might shift back at 3 K again and save the higher RPMs for passing and merging maneuvers like I initially was doing. And I thought we were all just a bunch of high revving gear heads? Who knew we could be moderate?

Myriad

There has been advice I have taken from this forum for sure, but I prefer to drive how it feels right, you ~feel~ me? And oh my god does the car feel much better at 5k+.. everything feels so solid/tight/precise like the car wants to be at those RPM's only, but of course everything in moderation and winter tires suck.

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

And oh my god does the car feel much better at 5k+.. everything feels so solid/tight/precise like the car wants to be at those RPM's only, but of course everything in moderation and winter tires suck.

Have to agree. The only thing I noticed that takes some getting used to is the gear whine I can hear when accelerating up in those last few thousand rpms in the lower gears while doing the spirited backroad thing (@Myriad, I highly recommend you find yourself some nice lonely twisty roads where you can really open it up and stay up in those higher rpms at lower speeds. It's just exciting!). I have an auto, so I don't know if that has to do with why I hear what sounds like a lot of gear whine to me, but I had to get comfortable with hearing that and not getting worried that something was wrong while driving hard on a back road.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by Jordanwolf

In any gear? In a '15(this is what your description says)? I'm always cruising at 2.8k when I can if not slightly lower. I have a stock 17 and feel like it's working harder than it should when above 3.5k, not in 6th gear, and cruising, based on the sound it produces.

Yea pretty much in any gear (on the highway). On the street I'll usually be going 25-30 in 2nd. On the highway I try to keep myself in the "power band", so 60 in 3rd gear most of the time. 80 in 4th if its clear. Pretty sure all those are over 4k rpm.

Also, I wonder if the whole "sounds like its working harder" is because of exhaust drone? I remember my Injen droned terribly around 3.5-4.5k RPM.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Source?

Do we really need a source? It's sort of common sense. The engine wears with time. Each revolution creates wear. Higher RPMs means more wear per minute. If your cruising then you should try to drop the revs as much as possible. I typically cruze around 2k also. Why cruse at 4k if you don't have to. 4K in 6th is another story, not much you can do about that.

Remember, RPM stands for Ruins People's Motors. Hahaha

[ermax]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

Yea pretty much in any gear (on the highway). On the street I'll usually be going 25-30 in 2nd. On the highway I try to keep myself in the "power band", so 60 in 3rd gear most of the time. 80 in 4th if its clear. Pretty sure all those are over 4k rpm.

Also, I wonder if the whole "sounds like its working harder" is because of exhaust drone? I remember my Injen droned terribly around 3.5-4.5k RPM.

But the powerband is just a shift away.

The working harder sound seems to just be resonation. This engine sounds like a lawnmower between 2500 and 3500. Drives me nuts. But at the same time it motivates me to keep the revs down unlike any other car I've ever owned where it's so smooth and quiet that it's easy to creep up to 4k for miles and not even notice.

[TommyW]

30k miles of 3k rpm equals a lot less engine wear than 30k mikes at 4K rpm. And no 30k miles at 1500 rpm is not even better.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by ermax

But the powerband is just a shift away.

The working harder sound seems to just be resonation. This engine sounds like a lawnmower between 2500 and 3500. Drives me nuts. But at the same time it motivates me to keep the revs down unlike any other car I've ever owned where it's so smooth and quiet that it's easy to creep up to 4k for miles and not even notice.

Are you sure the sound thing is not just an effect of the cabin not being very well sound-proofed from the engine bay?

Other cars have more insulation so you probably don't hear the engines or those types of tones as much.

At least that's a theory.