I don't drive 65mph
 

If you are a police officer in LA, don't read this!!

I drive a medium distance on a freeway for may commute to and from work, I leave work in the early morning hours so the 5 lane freeway is all mine. Literally there is usually no one else on the road for this 10 mile journey. I just purchased my 2002 PR5 on sunday and very much enjoy the car. My question is that when I am traveling at my normal cruising speed. 90mph+, the RPM's are in the mid 4000 range. Is this OK for this small engine, or will I be damaging the little guy? My previous commute car was a 1992 Nissan Altima, that has a 2.4L inline4, the 90mph RPM was just over 3100.

My PR5 feels extremely stable at this speed, allmost like it wants to go farther, which I would do, except for fear of damage to the engine.

Any comments on this? I want to keep this car for a while, my gut says cool down, drive 80, but the car just wants to go faster :)

Thanks!!

This is normal. My 2003 ES 5 speed runs 4000rpm at 88mph in 5th gear.

Damage to the engine?

You ain't goin' nowhere till around 5800-6000 RPM anyway.

Good news to hear, I am just not used to these high RPM engines. All my previous cars have been older high torque, low RPM V8's. '72MACH1, '82GT

Thanks for the heads up, and just broke 100 yesterday, this little puppy wants to fly!!

let it fly
 

if the car wants to go dont hold back. on a my wife's si at 80mph the damn rpms are almost at 5k like 4900 or 4800... and all that car wants to do is fly low... hehe... i say fear not and fly on brother...

I don't drive 65mph either. My mileage has been suffering since my cruising RPMs are ~4000 and often ~4500 on my daily commute. Also, I often floor it to pass someone (in 3rd gear, automatic), and that brings the RPMs up to 5500 while I get the extra pep. I redline the engine in second about twice a day (some days more, some days not at all), often when I get on the highway.

I heard that it's healthy to rev your engine high, it clears up the buildup. After all, redline is there for a reason, and I assume that the engine is built for proper operation in the RPMs before redline.

If anything, I'm wearing the engine more, but I don't think that I'm damaging anything.

I agree with Astral. A lot of people cruise at around 85-90 mph during long road trips. The issue with the Protege and similar cars is that the gearing is a little too aggressive. Perhaps this was done on purpose by the engineers, thinking that most people would want the optimum balance of fuel economy and *some* passing power around 55-65 mph (which the car does have). The tradeoff is that at 85-95 mph the car will be revving around 4000 RPM even in the overdrive gear.

I would say that such driving will shorten the life of your engine, because the engine parts are physically moving faster. But it will not cause damage in the sense that you will damage any engine parts immediately. I would initially keep the car below 2500 or 3000 RPM when it is cold outside and the engine hasn't had a chance to warm up. Once the engine coolant reaches operating temperature (where the needle is right in the middle of C and H), you can take off. Just make sure your radar detector is on.

I wouldn't worry about it.....high revving engines are just that.high revving engines.

Thanks for the info guys, and from what I have found the only thing that it hurts is my milage, but.. oh well....

I'd say it won't hurt your engine.

You will use more fuel thus producing more heat, which should be dealt with adequately by your cooling system.

The extra fuel means more blow by of fuel and other combustion products into your crankcase, meaning you'd probably want to change your oil a bit more often.

Anyone ever get their oil tested to see if the additives have been used up? I'd do it, but I am too cheap to dish the $30 bucks for the test, when the oil change is actually cheaper.

If I ran my car engine consistently at 4000 RPM I'd probably switch over to synthetic motor oil, or at the very least a heavier grade.

Just my 2 cents.

Power to the protege people!

Consider Synthetic Oil change if your going to make a habit of that driving in the future long term.

I second Blades suggestion