Breakin redline
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,769
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From: Lovin Life Oh
Breakin redline
So I read everywhere it’s 4000 for the first 500 miles and indeed my tach shows that. But when I’m driving it on the highway and I give it some throttle the tach sure looks like it’s going over 4000. He’ll it looks to me like 5500. Now that I saw that 2x I’ve been damn careful about driving it and I just use manual mode and make sure I’m under 3500. But what gives?
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2019
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It's mostly just a visual aid to not be hammering on it before the engine is properly broken in. It's not going to stop you, and it's not even a big deal to go over a little. Just keep it close to that until the proper break in at 500 miles.
Last edited by Spamburger_Hamburger; Feb 12, 2021 at 04:03 PM.
Moderator
Joined: Feb 2006
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From: DFW Area TX
As others have stated, the reduced tach "red line" is not an actual rev limiter. The true red line is a rev limiter. Even after your 500 break in, the tach will show a reduced red line until the engine was properly warmed up. What really is limited during break in is torque is reduced in 1st and 2nd gears:
From Tadge:
From Tadge:
For the 8th generation Corvette, we have taken it a step farther. With more weight on the rear, the car has more traction and we take advantage of that with more aggressive gearing. That translates into more torque multiplication and more loads in the driveline. We decided for the first 500 miles to limit maximum torque in first and second gears. The torque reduction is roughly 25 to 30% depending on which transaxle (standard or Z51) and which gear. That may sound like a big reduction, but in reality the car is still really fast. In fact, you could easily spin the tires on some surfaces. Engine speed is not limited at all – it will wind out to redline. So the torque reduction limits the worse of potential break in wear, but is not a panacea. We will still be asking customers to stay well off max torque and speed for the first 500 miles. We know it is hard to stay patient when such performance is available, but it will pay off in the long run.
