Highway speeds=high rpms...

[mam4.6]

Just arrived from Thanksgiving travel, did a lot of interstate cruising. With the new speed limits on the interstates in Ohio being 70, there;s usually a car here and there going 80-85mph that i tail if possible. That takes the rpm's up between 3000 and 3300. How will this affect my engine in the long run? I plan to do a lot of holiday traveling, and want to take care of my engine, since its a recent rebuild. ( But that's for a total different thread!) If i set my cruise at 80, and leave it there for a couple hours, will there be any adverse side effects? Any info will be helpful...

[tmv]

It should be fine. Some high rpm run here and there will help clean out those gunk. 3000-3300 rpm is no where near high rpm anyway.

[mam4.6]

Awesome thanks for the words of comfort! Puts my mind to ease for the the holiday traveling...

[x5Alpine]

I cruise at those rpm's almost every weekend from Reno to san fran, no worries... and why was the engine rebuilt?

[1MEAN4.8IS]

You will be ok, if it was 3500 or above might be ify but 3 to3300 is fine

[motordavid]

Dunno what 'recently rebuilt' means in terms of actual rebuild components, or when it was done,eg how many miles ago...

Like any engine, some would suggest varying rpms vs steady cruise rpms initially, and some would pitch drive it like you stole it. My only rec'd is to avoid redline in any gear and not drive it flat out, obviously not a normal method of driving.

As for those '3000-3300 rpms', our '01 3.0 5 speed manual trans car gets driven on several trips a year, cruising at ~80 mph at nearly 4k rpms. 92,000 miles and 12 years later, it still runs like a fookin top.

Enjoy your car and its new engine...
GL, mD

[upallnight]

Damn when I'm in one of my Lotus 80 mph means about 4000 rpm and it's no where near redline, 6750 rpm. It's kinda buzzy, but when you floor it, there still plenty of power left.

[admranger]

3k rpms in a BMW engine is child's play.

Don't worry, just drive.

[x5Alpine]

Exactly, BMW engines were designed to cruise on the autobahn at very high rpm's for long periods of time, my 02 4.6is with 128k miles does this almost every weekend for about 3-4 hours.

[Ricky Bobby]

for the manual trans owners on the forum, every time we get on the highway and cruise at 80 mph our final gear is about 4k rpm's, no harm, in fact its probably good to give a nice "italian tuneup" every time we get on the highway lol!