Red Line

[Marconi Boy]

Hi,

Today on the way back from work I was overtaking a car and I had the music up quite loud so could not hear the engine. I think I red lined the revs, however the only way I could tell was because all power fell away from the car (I could no longer accelerate).

Does anyone know if the Lexus has an automatic function to shut down any further acceleration if in the red line area? Or what might have happened?

[Fidgits]

yes, the IS has a 'rev limiter', so if you reach the maximum reccomended revs, the engine cuts back (not out as other cars do)..

You wont of done any damage, as thats what its there for... and in all honesty, I've hit the limiter a few times... its the problem having peak power at 6250rpm and the redline at 6500 really...

[Marconi Boy]

Thanks for the reply. Are you sure it cannot damage the car in some way going into the "RED ZONE"?

[Fargo]

i had mine bouncing of the line for about 10 seconds once (car mat vs the go pedal) no damage done..

[Fidgits]

well - the redline is there to warn you that at that point damage will be done to the engine.

Of course, as you have found, you dont always notice the redline when overtaking etc.

So they invented limiters, which, in a nutshell, dont allow the revs to get to the point where they will damage the engine.

On top of this, the limiter will have a 'buffer zone', so more than likely, you could rev the engine 250rpm's higher than the limiter without doing any damage.

Now of course, i'm not saying over-revving the car wont do ANY damage - if you do it when the engine is cold, that can increase the rate of wear, and if your bouncing off the limiter in every gear, that can also reduce an engines life - but every once in a while, that will have no negative effects on the engine...

[Marconi Boy]

When you take the car for a service, is it possible for the Dealer to find out of the computer what max revs were etc?

[Fidgits]

i very much doubt the IS ECU has a persistant store of telemetry... in fact, i severly doubt any standard road car has, or indeed, needs that sort of technology..

[Marconi Boy]

I had an Audi TT prior to the Lexus and when I took this car in for the service they could tell if my alarm had been set off?

[Scorpion]

And i can safely say i bet you opened the boot as well.....at some point :D

[Fidgits]

I had an Audi TT prior to the Lexus and when I took this car in for the service they could tell if my alarm had been set off?

←

thats probably because the alarm horn being active melted half the ECU electronics

What does it matter if Lexus see you hit max revs? it cant invalidate your warranty!

[Marconi Boy]

Thanks thats the answer I needed.

Yes I did once open the boot as well to put my Tuna Baguette sandwich in there!!

[Scorpion]

Now i know your telling porkies coz the boot aint that big on a TT,you sure it was a baguette and not a cracker? :D

[Marconi Boy]

OK you got me.

[lexus boy]

they could have just a basic fault alarm that remains in the memory until it is cleared. Just have various functions.

We have taht on trains, and with 48 inputs, then speed on top of that no for that 128MB remembers about 3 days. So for a car to do same would need a huuge memory on board

[Bazza]

as far as i am aware the lexus ecu remembers fault condition codes

which can then be downloaded at the dealers