car was in 2nd gear at 40 mph

[nova2]

I would like to know. One car was at 40mph in 2nd gear for 1 or 2 mins, and another possibly 10-20 mins

thanks

 

[thedarkwolf]

Nobody is really going to know the answer to this but I'll go ahead and say a long time. Whats the redline and how many RPMs was it turning? Aslong as it didn't over heat and the oil pressure stayed where it is suppose to do I wouldn't worry about it. Its not something I would do all the time but I wouldn't freak out.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Depends entirely upon:

- Rev limit of vehicle; Pulling 4k rpm in a car that limits @ 8k, not a problem; In a car that limits at 5k, not so good.

HOWEVER:

- Unless you are in the red zone of the tach, and the car is well maintained with regular fluid changes I can see no problem. i.e., no damage even after 20 minutes.

Manufacturers and automotive consultancies do this sort of testing on all engines. The fact it was 2nd is irrelevant, the RPM is all that counts as far as the Engine is concerned.

2c.

 

[StageLeft]

What sort of a question is this? Was that on a saturn vue or on a lamborghini? Different cars have wildly different speed ranges for a given gear. Impossible to answer. I presume that since you didn't know to supply this information you're not well versed in cars in any way and would recommend finding an adult to teach you and your friends how to drive before you run over some kids at a crosswalk.

 

[Jahee]

How did this even happen?

 

[XZeroII]

anywhere from 0 to infinity seconds.

question answered.

 

[Savij]

My car redlines 2nd gear at 60mph so I'm thinking it should be fine at 40 for quite a while.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Depends entirely upon:

- Rev limit of vehicle; Pulling 4k rpm in a car that limits @ 8k, not a problem; In a car that limits at 5k, not so good.

HOWEVER:

- Unless you are in the red zone of the tach, and the car is well maintained with regular fluid changes I can see no problem. i.e., no damage even after 20 minutes.

Manufacturers and automotive consultancies do this sort of testing on all engines. The fact it was 2nd is irrelevant, the RPM is all that counts as far as the Engine is concerned.

2c.

It's not the engine that you need to be concerned about, it's heat in the transmission...especially if the car doesn't have a transmission cooler.

If you're worried I'd change the engine oil and transmission fluid. Couldn't hurt.

 

[LTC8K6]

I can't see why there would be any damage at all.

I can't think of any regular car that would be near it's redline in 2nd at 40, and any modern car is not going to exceed it's redline anyway. It's going to protect itself by cutting fuel and/or ignition.

If you're worried, change the tranny fluid on the second one as suggested.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Depends entirely upon:

- Rev limit of vehicle; Pulling 4k rpm in a car that limits @ 8k, not a problem; In a car that limits at 5k, not so good.

HOWEVER:

- Unless you are in the red zone of the tach, and the car is well maintained with regular fluid changes I can see no problem. i.e., no damage even after 20 minutes.

Manufacturers and automotive consultancies do this sort of testing on all engines. The fact it was 2nd is irrelevant, the RPM is all that counts as far as the Engine is concerned.

2c.

It's not the engine that you need to be concerned about, it's heat in the transmission...especially if the car doesn't have a transmission cooler.

If you're worried I'd change the engine oil and transmission fluid. Couldn't hurt.

Heat buildup is caused mainly by torque converter slip. There is not going to be any appreciable slippage occurring at 40mph, even in 2nd gear, unless the car was also hauling an exceptionally heavy load (e.g. towing a trailer, etc).

That being said, you're right that changing the fluid can't hurt.

ZV

 

[Kabob]

As mentioned, this varries greatly by car. My WRX will do 60 in 2nd gear before hitting redline. Not that I wanna go long distances in it with high RPM's (more for fuel efficency than damage fears).