My 98 C5 with 15K miles sleeps in the garage under a car cover for the winter months. I use a battery tender and take extremely good care of the car. It’s in basically new condition. I Don’t drive it all the time and make it just a utility vehicle for no reason. It has probably been driven in the rain less than 10 times. Because it’s just a toy, I treat it like one. I keep it in nice shape and drive it when I’m in the mood. This is not to say I drive it like a little old lady. I drive it hard and run it through its paces when I drive it. When I use it my average MPG is maybe 10-12. It doesn’t just sit there running to make that low mileage, its flying when it’s on the road, at the verge of breaking loose in competitive driving mode, right at the verge of the rev limiter kicking in. Of course responsibly like a little old lady I know how to drive, I’m 51 and have been driving high performance cars since I was 17. I had a Hemi charger and a 440 Magnum Challenger at 17-18 years old.
Those cars didn’t have all of the driving safety equipment like today’s modern cars. It was a big engine, Trans, (456 rear end, as I recall in the Hemi) and that was it. Just a go fast ball buster on wheels. So I pretty much know my around running on the edge.
Anyway, the point of this topic (which I never really thought about until today) is if I’m doing any damage running the RPMs up to almost redline, just to blow out any crap build up and maybe part of it is my killer sounding cat back system. I use staybil and don’t do this revving until the engine has been at idle running long enough to reach full temps. So, without any load on the engine, could this damage it, I ponder? I run it like that once a month while it’s stored.

Any thoughts?

 

You're redlining the engine in neutral? Even so, it shouldn't hurt it anymore than redlining at WOT under load. In fact, I'd say there is less stress on the engine at redline in neutral than at WOT as the cylinder pressures are much less and the amount of HP required to hit redline in neutral is only a fraction of what it is at WOT.

If it was my car I'd probably keep the revs between idle and about 3000 rpm in neutral if you are trying to get the engine temp up faster.

 

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I'm no mechanic/engineer, but I would DEFINITELY not do what you are doing.

 

If your car is stored there's no need to start it up, from what I heard it does more harm than good to just start it and make it idle.

 

Really no need to rev the engine like that when it is just sitting. I do vary the RPMs when I let it idle for a while, but get no where close to readline.

 

free reving motor is not good.

if your the gear head you tell us you are,,,you should know that.

(just kidding,,,)

 

If a car is in storage its best NOT to be starting it up just to run it. I would NEVER be redlining my engine just sitting there in neutral either. So yeah to answer your question you are certainly doing your engine no favors with the way you have been running it. If you have a battery tender on it and only go to start it up why start it at all unless you are gonna drive it?

 

I'd say it's better to keep that kind of RPMs under load.Cylinder pressure under load keeps the piston geometry more stable especially the ring seating .That kind of free revving is not good for rings ,rods and rod bearings.

 

The reason I ask, and I have been a gear head in my early years, is that I have never stored a car before. I actually had to drive those cars when I was young to get places. I never hung on to them very long anyway. Usually they were not in top notch shape when I bought them used. A guy with a 426 Hemi with duel quads isn't using it as a grocery getter, and those older engines seemed to deteriorate much quicker than our modern cars. I had maybe 3 year old cars with rust through starting. On my Corvette I run the engine at maybe 2k-3K steadily for maybe 20 seconds or so. It’s after that that I do 5 or 6 high revs and let it idle for several minutes before shutting it down. The thing about running it once a month is to avoid what is called scuffing. GM recommends running the car once a month while in storage. As the engine sits for long periods of time the lubricant is falling down in the cylinder walls by gravity. At some point the walls start to become less lubricated and microscopic scuffs begin to form more and more as the lubricant falls away. If the engine isn’t run at all for an even more extended period of time the scuffs become more prevalent, thus more wear when it is finally started after around 6 months or so.

 

Technically, there are greater stresses on the pistons, rods, rings and rod bearings at WOT redline than at no load redline.

In any case, what's bad about redline is that the piston speed is near design maximums allowed to keep from damaging engine components. The stresses due to acceleration of the mass at TDC and BDC is also what's critical. Also, the valve train is at max stress levels ... regardless if it's at redline at WOT under load or in neutral.

But in any case, running at redline isn't a wise thing to do.

 

this seems to make sense

 

This one too.

 

That's way more information than I need!! A life history to ask a question? Why?

 

 

Please guide me to the location of this information. Everything I hear and read tells me this is a terrible idea. I store many vehicles every year and I have yet to read any manufacturer recommending starting once a month. Engines should not be sitting idling while trying to warm up they should be driven. I think you are doing far more harm to your engine than good.

 

My car is stored during the winter months as well (in a heated garage). I use a battery tender and from time to time I do start the car and idle for 10 to 15 min. I then slowly increase the rpms up to 2000/2500 rpm and hold it steady. After a few moments I idel back and shut the car off. You do not have to redline the car to blow out any crap.

Some people still think that starting a car like this is a bad idea because of what they heard about vehicles 30 years ago. It's not a carburetored system, the exhaust is not going to rust out and most of us are burning premium fuel.

 

with this one here. I've stored a few vehicles several times for long periods. I only hook up a trickle charger and leave it be. When I return, I change the oil. No issues. I have my C5 hooked up to the charger right now... hope to be driving it in August.

Cars need to be driven to stay fresh.

 

Ive heard its ok to start up but when you start it up you need to get it up to full temps to burn off any mosture... something about acid n stuff I forgot. It doesnt apply to me becuase I cant stop driving it

 

I haven’t been on the forum for quit some time and I can’t figure out how to use the smiley faces.

Yea you have a point. (Laughing face) I guess giving my life history was that it's not a garage queen. I keep it nice, but when it’s driven, it’s driven hard as that is what the car was built for.

Or I'm just a guy that was up too late in a nostalgic mood (some kind of smiley)
Was this answer too long (smiley face)