Manual Rev Limiter

heliliam

Active Member
Aug 11, 2013
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0
This may be a stupid question but I am not too up on car engines.

I have a cupra 290 in manual and was having some fun today, anyway I messed the gear changes up and went into 3rd by mistake instead of 5th, and as I lifted the clutch I felt the car slow and saw the RPM's go into the red around 7800, just worried it may have damaged it or am I thinking too much into it ?
 

Legojon

I only wanted a remap
Staff member
Moderator
Jul 7, 2015
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I wouldn't recommend doing it too often... if you'd dropped it in 1st would have been a disaster. But going into the red won't damage the engine (especially not just once). And 7800 isn't really that high when I get annoyed.
 

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
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I once put my old Ibiza fr into first instead of third, that was a big wake up call for me to stop driving **** lol
 
Jan 27, 2020
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The chap I did my apprenticeship with worked with Honda back in the day and used to test the first gen of vtecs before release. They didn't have rev limiters on the tests and found very quickly they needed them in as the track drivers often blow them up around 12,000. The problem was they had to custom fit the engines in so after a lot of work, 5 minutes off fun on a track became very depressing. Every engines different but the red line should be the max before real damage kicks in.
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,388
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Has happened a few times to forum members on golfmk7.com where the majority of members are from USA/Canada and a manual gearbox is still a bit of a novelty to some.

It’s known as the ‘money shift’ - for good reason - as the consequences can be very expensive is some instances if the driver doesn’t realise in time what they’ve done!
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
Has happened a few times to forum members on golfmk7.com where the majority of members are from USA/Canada and a manual gearbox is still a bit of a novelty to some.

It’s known as the ‘money shift’ - for good reason - as the consequences can be very expensive is some instances if the driver doesn’t realise in time what they’ve done!
Oh my god its a stick shift :wtf::joystick:
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
It's actually very hard to do, if you are on the redline in 4th and accidentally go to put it into 3rd it is about impossible to do, if you are mid rev range in 4th and do the same it is possible, so more likely to make a mistake like this when pootling about not when at WOT
 

Rockbox

Active Member
Apr 6, 2018
162
52
A while ago a mate of mine had one of the first lotus Elise he missed 5th and hit 3rd by mistake locked the rear wheels and went backwards through a fence lots of broken plastic and fibreglass but the engine was fine.
 

motty225

Polestar 2
Sep 11, 2008
953
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Ashby De-La Zouch
It's actually very hard to do, if you are on the redline in 4th and accidentally go to put it into 3rd it is about impossible to do, if you are mid rev range in 4th and do the same it is possible, so more likely to make a mistake like this when pootling about not when at WOT
Yes but if it happens at mid rpm in 4th it wouldn't cause an over rev, redline in 4th into 3rd would almost certainly cause an over rev
 

Dr.Dash

Active Member
Aug 30, 2015
342
73
Midlands
With a 6500 rpm redline (?) then 7800 rpm is a significant over rev. Porsche use a 6 point grading system and that would be a 4 or 5, and classed as either engine damage possible or probable. Whilst it's not strictly valid using their system it is a starting point.

Just because the car is still running doesn't mean you've got away with it. Sending off an oil sample is cheap (c.£30) and easy these days and will give you an indication if there's any internal engine damage. Certainly worth doing if the car is still warrantied, as over revs will be logged and probably result in related warranty work being rejected.

Not trying to be a prophet of doom, but it is a significant over rev and ideally should be investigated a bit further rather than just hoping for the best.
 

Brimfull

Active Member
Nov 7, 2018
1,385
418
Wrexham
"Stay in the black and out of the red, you dont get anything for two in the bed"

Jim Bowen 1989

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
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The Daily Meme

Insta: @thatredcupra
Jan 3, 2018
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Cambridge
Yes but if it happens at mid rpm in 4th it wouldn't cause an over rev, redline in 4th into 3rd would almost certainly cause an over rev
I was a little confused by @BigJase88's comment but i think what he meant was, being on redline in 4th, it is "impossible" to put the car into 3rd since the ratio for the gears to sync is too high. Unless you start double clutching, it would be difficult to change in to 3rd from a redline 4th. Most modern cars have syncromesh gears across all but the reverse gear.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
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I was a little confused by @BigJase88's comment but i think what he meant was, being on redline in 4th, it is "impossible" to put the car into 3rd since the ratio for the gears to sync is too high. Unless you start double clutching, it would be difficult to change in to 3rd from a redline 4th. Most modern cars have syncromesh gears across all but the reverse gear.
Yes thats what i meant, at the redline in 4th would be almost impossible to get into 3rd unless like you say double clutch
 

Legojon

I only wanted a remap
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Jul 7, 2015
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The redzone may go up to 8k rpm but the car won’t hit 8k the rev limiter will come in before then, probably just into the red zone

My dyno chart starts to drop off at 6900-7200. I don't recall it being able to go that high before the map though.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
My dyno chart starts to drop off at 6900-7200. I don't recall it being able to go that high before the map though.
Maybe raised the limiter. Next time you are in the car bounce it off the limiter and then you will know, don’t worry it won’t break it thats why there is a limiter there
 

heliliam

Active Member
Aug 11, 2013
99
0
Yes thats what i meant, at the redline in 4th would be almost impossible to get into 3rd unless like you say double clutch
I don't like to red line cars so when I went to shift up It was not near the red line, suppose that's a good thing lol, drove it today and it seems fine was just worried that's all.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
I don't like to red line cars so when I went to shift up It was not near the red line, suppose that's a good thing lol, drove it today and it seems fine was just worried that's all.
Cannot beat a screaming vtec smacking off the limiter
 
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