We’ve all been there before, stopped at a red light, waiting for it to change to green, and the guy (yes, it’s always a guy) in the next lane over revs the engine. It’s bad enough that you’re stuck at a long red light, and now you have to listen to some dummy revving the engine.
In this blog post, I want to answer the question: “Is it bad to rev your engine?” Just in case, you are busy, and don’t have a few minutes to read the post, here is the quick answer.
Unless you’re a race car driver, revving your engine is a bad idea. It’s such a bad idea that with every engine rev, you are taking your engine one step closer to an early grave.
Let’s look at all the reasons it’s a bad idea to rev your engine, the ways it damages your engine, and how it contributes to global warming.
Is it bad to rev your engine?
It’s not only bad to needlessly rev your engine, but it’s also dumb, stupid, foolish, wasteful, and irresponsible. Do you get the picture?
I admit that it sounds cool at the start of a car race. You hear all those race cars revving their engines. But revving a car engine is bad for the car.
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Is it bad to rev your engine to high RPM?
It’s bad to rev your engine to a high RPM. So, what does “revving” a car engine mean? Revving an engine means putting the pedal to the metal, which doesn’t make sense while your car isn’t moving.
Why rev the engine when the car isn’t even moving? I know what you think it’s dumb, and you are correct.
When you rev your engine to a high RPM, you are pushing the car engine to do what it wasn’t engineered to do. Redlining your engine doesn’t do anything other than put unnecessary wear and tear on the engine.
Is it bad to rev your engine on a cold start?
It’s especially bad to rev your engine on a cold start. Some people rev the engine on a cold start, thinking it will warm up the engine faster. This is true, but it also destroys the engine in record time.
When you rev your engine on a cold start, the engine’s temperature changes fast. Revving a cold engine places extra stress and unnecessary wear and tear on the car engine.
For starters, the oil in your vehicle isn’t warm yet. Cold oil doesn’t lubricate as oil at running engine temperature. The result is more stress on your car and a shortened engine lifespan.
Is it bad to rev your engine with the clutch in?
It’s bad to rev your engine with the clutch in because it’s spinning the throw-out bearing with load (pressure plate) at high RPM. And as a result, it will wear out the clutch bearing significantly faster than if you were in neutral.
Is revving before releasing the clutch bad?
Revving before releasing the clutch is bad. Some people driving underpowered cars like to rev the engine before releasing the clutch.
But, it’s not necessary to rev the engine before releasing the clutch. If you are an experienced driver, you can release the clutch and push the throttle simultaneously to start your car.
If you rev your engine before releasing the clutch, you are wearing out your clutch and engine in record time. It would be best if you would ask someone with experience driving a stick shift to show you how to correctly work the clutch.
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Is it bad to rev your engine while driving?
It’s bad to rev your engine while driving. Revving while driving places unnecessary wear on your engine when. It doesn’t make much difference whether you’re are revving a car in motion or stationary. It’s a bad idea.
Revving your engine can and does damage your engine. The only time a rev makes sense is when you race. But you shouldn’t be racing on the street anyway. It’s not only stupid, but it’s also illegal.
Is it bad to rev your engine in Park?
It’s bad to rev your engine in Park. Revving your engine is not a smart thing to do if you care about your car. Car engines are designed to be under load. In other words, revving the engine in Park can destroy the engine.
Perhaps the only people who tell you to rev your engine are those who would benefit from selling you a new car.
Don’t rev your engine in Park. This is especially true if the engine is still cold. Once the oil is warm, you can bring the RPM up but not to the redline. It’s best to keep the RPM under 2,000 while your car is in Park.
Is it bad to rev your engine in Neutral?
It is bad to rev your engine in Neutral. Most modern car engines have built-in “rev limiters” in the ECU or Engine Control Unit. The ECU is engineered to stop the engine from spinning too fast and causing damage.
Although you can still damage car engines even before reaching the set “rev limit,” i.e., Camshaft lifters ‘jumping’ out of position and causing internal engine damage.
It’s best to let the engine idle as normal, and you’ll save fuel and the environment. Remember that every time you rev the engine, you shorten your car’s lifespan.
Is it bad to rev your engine with the clutch in a motorcycle?
It’s bad to rev your engine with the clutch in a motorcycle. It’s bad to rev your engine with the clutch in a motorcycle. Motorcycle engines aren’t engineered to run at high RPMs with the clutch in. Revving a motorcycle engine can result in engine damage.
It can damage the cylinder walls and pistons, resulting in expensive repairs and a shortened lifespan for your motorcycle.
What happens when you rev the engine?
When you rev the engine, it can increase the running temperature of the engine. For example, valves can get stuck between the open and close positions. And when that happens, the car will shut down.
Revving your engine can result in major engine damage, such as knocking the connection rod out of place. And because the connection rod is a critical part of the engine, damaging it could result in engine failure.
Does engine rev waste gas?
Engine revving can not only destroy the engine, but it also wastes gas.
When you rev your engine, you are forcing the engine to work harder. And as a result, the engine pulls more air in and pushes more fluids throughout the engine.
All of that takes more fuel, meaning you will find yourself at the gas station sooner than expected.
So, even if you don’t immediately destroy your car’s engine, engine revving will put a big dent in your wallet.
What is the difference between Revving vs. Redlining and engine?
There is a huge difference between revving and redlining and engine. Revving can be a few seconds or just a fraction of a second. And it’s less likely to damage the engine than redlining, which is running the engine at a high RPM for extended periods.
If you redline the engine, you may be running up the RPM to 10,000 RPMs, which can easily damage the engine. When you redline an engine, you are harming the engine.
Of course, how much damage revving and redlining will cause also depends on the engine. A high-performance engine can handle higher RPMs than the average car.
Is it legal to rev your engine within city limits?
Now that we’ve covered that revving an engine is almost always a bad idea, we need to know if revving is even legal in city limits.
Virtually all cities have noise ordinances. So, even if you don’t care about your neighbors or people in general, revving your engine could be against the law in your city.
And even if revving your engine isn’t against the laws in your city, it won’t go unnoticed for long. Your neighbors, fellow drivers, and the police won’t take too kindly to engine revving.
Generally, there is a decibel limit to the noise you can make before you are fined. If your engine revving is louder than a specified decibel, police have the right to pull you over and issue a citation.
If you’re driving down the road and do an occasional rev, you might get away with it. But if you’re annoying and continue revving your engine, someone will call the police on you, or the noise you make will encourage the police to give you a ticket.
Is it bad to rev a car engine to warm it up?
If you have an old truck or car with a carbureted engine, getting it to stay running can be tricky, especially during the cold winter months. Some suggest using revs to warm up the engine, while others argue that it’s harmful to the engine.
It may be fine to rev an older engine when you first start it to get it warmed up. Most old cars need this to stay running. This applies mostly to carbureted engines.
You have to rev up the engine a bit when you start it up. But, it’s unnecessary to go full throttle when you start the engine. Once the engine has been warmed up, cars will idle themselves much easier, and they can run much better once you get going.
Often if you try to start a carbureted engine and just let it sit in Neutral or in Park (again, especially during the colder winter months), the vehicle will usually just stall out.
What happens in the car’s engine during revs?
When you step on the gas and rev your engine, more vacuum pressure is created, so the engine is sucking in more air and gasoline mixture.
The sudden increase of air and fuel results in a high RPM or engine rev. The term “rev” has to do with the “revolutions” of an engine per minute. When you rev your engine, you are essentially increasing the speed of the revolution of the car’s engine by using the throttle, especially while the clutch is disengaged (if you drive a stick shift car).
With the increased fuel and air sucked into the engine, combustion inside the motor happens faster. And in turn, that pushes the pistons up and down faster and spins the crankshaft at increasing speeds.
Engine revving is so loud due to the combustion sequence happening faster, pushing a lot more air out of the exhaust valve through the exhaust pipe. For some cars, revving sounds much louder because the owner made some modifications to the exhaust.
Now that revving has been explained, you can see that an engine usually doesn’t cause much harm to it because it’s just speeding up what the engine is already doing. Car engines were made to rev, but not for extended periods.
However, revving a car engine for a long period can eventually cause damage. When I say rev your car’s engine for a long period, I mean doing one single rev at a high RPM for several seconds.
At this point, the cylinder walls and pistons are moving at a constant high speed without load, which isn’t what they were built to do. Despite the oil inside the engine that is lubricating it, the amount of friction and heat that a continuous long rev can create could ultimately cause engine failure.
I can see why some people enjoy revving their engines. They feel better about themselves, no matter how silly they look to the rest of the world. To them, engine revving sounds good, but we can’t wait for them to drop out of sight.
But there is no reason to be doing revs. It makes you look silly and puts your car’s engine at risk for damage.
Conclusion: Is it bad to rev your car’s engine?
Revving a car engine might sound cool but only to someone with a low IQ. It is bad for your car and can put a dent in your wallet. Engine revving also increases pollution and harms our health.
Avoiding engine revs will help you extend the lifespan of your vehicle. If you avoid this foolish practice, you can conserve gas, avoid unnecessary car engine damage, and make the environment less unpleasant around you.
It really is a win-win. You don’t look like an idiot, and your car will last longer.
