am i hurting my car? Options

[chandy1986]

Hi i'm Chandy. I was wondering if they way I drive can hurt my car. Because my car has a 7afe I'm trying to be very economical. So I shift really early. What happens to my car if I drive it in the low rpms? I'm a little worried about the water that comes out the muffler because it is below freezing here in mass.

[TheRockman]

I would imagine shifting at low rpms would be more ideal than maxing them out before you shift. Just make sure you are using the appropriate gear for the speed you are traveling.

Water vapor coming out of the tail pipe during start up is normal, no need to worry.

As long as you let your car warm up a little before you take off in the morning, and make sure your coolant (antifreeze) is ok, you should be fine.

[nightryder]

you ever touch your exhaust after even a short drive? it gest real hot real fast. I wouldnt worry about the water freezing, it would melt again in like less than a minute.


Being a mass-hole myself I know the weather here blows!

[TheRockman]

you ever touch your exhaust after even a short drive?

*points at "do not touch" label on exhaust manifold*

No! Hot! We don't touch that! No!

Edit: Just pickin' btw.

This post has been edited by TheRockman: Mar 7, 2007 - 2:40 PM

[chandy1986]

Theres a dont not touch label on the exaust manifold?

I shift early but when i feel my car is struggling to go in that gear i downshift. So as long as im not hurting my car like this. Ill continue driving it like the way i am. It seems that i'm getting 27 mpg in the city w00t

[InfamousChappy]

Theres a dont not touch label on the exaust manifold?

I shift early but when i feel my car is struggling to go in that gear i downshift. So as long as im not hurting my car like this. Ill continue driving it like the way i am. It seems that i'm getting 27 mpg in the city w00t

If you shift too early however, there is a possibility that you're putting too much strain on your engine and transmission. If you notice obsessive shuttering then you may want to raise the rpms before you switch gears.

[playr158]

if your below 2,000 rpm you are too low

keep it between 2,000rpm and 3,500rpm and you will be fine
a 3-3.5k rpm shift point works very well for these cars

This post has been edited by playr158: Mar 8, 2007 - 10:09 AM

[hurley97]

Theres a dont not touch label on the exaust manifold?

I shift early but when i feel my car is struggling to go in that gear i downshift. So as long as im not hurting my car like this. Ill continue driving it like the way i am. It seems that i'm getting 27 mpg in the city w00t

you should be getting more than that. I actually found that shifting at higher RPM saves me more gas. when I was first driving my car as a manual and wasn't really used to it I shifted early, always under 3,000, and got about 25 mpg or so on average (which was still so much better than the auto). but when I got used to it and started playing around I found that shifting between 3-4,000 I actually average like 5-10 mpg more

[nightryder]

you ever touch your exhaust after even a short drive?

*points at "do not touch" label on exhaust manifold*

No! Hot! We don't touch that! No!

Edit: Just pickin' btw.

haha dont even worry about it, I'm not afraid to say that I have touched my hot exaust! Ive done it! w/e I do what I want

[jc47]

If you make a lot of short trips, water can build up in the exhaust system. I've never heard of any problems due to freezing, but it can cause (or accelerate) corrosion over time. Especially if it is cold outside, I'd make sure that you are making at least an occasional longer trip to get the engine fully warmed up and and get all of the water out. This will also help keep the battery charged, etc.

[rjbibeau]

If you make a lot of short trips, water can build up in the exhaust system. I've never heard of any problems due to freezing, but it can cause (or accelerate) corrosion over time. Especially if it is cold outside, I'd make sure that you are making at least an occasional longer trip to get the engine fully warmed up and and get all of the water out. This will also help keep the battery charged, etc.

also short trips causes water condenstation to build up within the oil pan, so try to minimize short trips and add some longer trips in there to evaporate the condenstation...as far as the water coming from the tail pipe...this means your catalytic converter is working, by means of a chemical reaction, your cat extracts harmful gasses and turns them into H20 in the liquid state.

[chandy1986]

if your below 2,000 rpm you are too low

keep it between 2,000rpm and 3,500rpm and you will be fine
a 3-3.5k rpm shift point works very well for these cars

So by wat u guys are telling me im shifting a bit to early lol I shift alittle under 2k maybe at 1800-1900k I notice more torque around 3k. I usually try to avoid making my car to stutter when shifting. I always thought that lower rpms always meant better mpg.

one more question for those with a manual wat rpms do get the clutch to engage? I engage the clutch at 1k but it seems to stutter so i usually try to engage at 1200. is this to low? Does this hurt the clutch? and im guessing my driving is hurting my tranny as well.

since i want to prolong the life of my lil celica I should adjust my habit of shifting early hehe
Thanks for all the advice. everyone's been a great help

[bindertch]

if your below 2,000 rpm you are too low

keep it between 2,000rpm and 3,500rpm and you will be fine
a 3-3.5k rpm shift point works very well for these cars

I agree here. Toyota recommends not driving gears 2-5 below 2000 rpm. Plus the engine wakes up about 3000 rpm anyways.

[jason]

get a vacum gauge, if you can keep it to specs you will get best gas milage =) otherwise, gas milage usually goes by strain - aka if you are in low rpm but needing lots of power the engine will put in mroe fuel, so in some cases raising the rpm will be more efficiant~ less fuel used i usually shift anywhere from 2k-5k for normal driving, and depending on how im driving, higher the revs the more wear you put on your valve train, the lower the more you put on your bottom end i belive, so somewhere in teh middle is ideal

[playr158]

if your below 2,000 rpm you are too low

keep it between 2,000rpm and 3,500rpm and you will be fine
a 3-3.5k rpm shift point works very well for these cars

So by wat u guys are telling me im shifting a bit to early lol I shift alittle under 2k maybe at 1800-1900k I notice more torque around 3k. I usually try to avoid making my car to stutter when shifting. I always thought that lower rpms always meant better mpg.

one more question for those with a manual wat rpms do get the clutch to engage? I engage the clutch at 1k but it seems to stutter so i usually try to engage at 1200. is this to low? Does this hurt the clutch? and im guessing my driving is hurting my tranny as well.

since i want to prolong the life of my lil celica I should adjust my habit of shifting early hehe
Thanks for all the advice. everyone's been a great help

yes you're doing it pretty wrong...
how do you go anywhere? i would seriously hate to be behind you at like turtle pace..no offense
but yea you should be pushing the pedal in to shift @ 3,000 to 3,500 rpm for an upshift..you shouldn't even consider an upshift before 2,500rpm