Lunging - pardon my ignorance
 

Can someone explain to me in basic terms what this means? I’ve read on several of the IMS threads that ‘lunging’ leads to bad things (IMS failure and is generally not a good driving habit for these cars). I have no idea if I’m ‘lunging’ or not. Thanks for your help.

we just had a thread on this a week ago.

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/25016-lugging-engine.html?highlight=lugging

Read that

lunging is when your car smokes too much..j/k ..you can lug your car by pulling out in first gear then shift into 4th gear ....it puts a strain on the motor

RE: Lunging
 

I'm searching wrong, it is lugging. Thanks for the feedback, gonna read that thread now.

I posted the thread already. Just go to that.

A good way to think of lugging (lunging) the car is to picture riding a 15 gear bike. When you start at a low gear, you accelerate faster, but max out at a lower speed. When you start at a high gear, you accelerate slower, but max out at a higher speed. Starting out at a high gear puts a lot more strain on your legs to accelerate to that high speed. To be efficient, you would start at a low gear, accelerate up to the higher speeds, and then switch to the higher gears.

Translating this to the car, accelerating at low speeds in high gears will put a lot of strain on your engine and transmission. Don't do it.

Don't drive below 3K RPM if you're traveling at highway speeds. And downshift after you've slowed down to pull up to a red light, pay a toll, etc. Doing the lazy "I'll just get back on the throttle while keeping the car in 4th or 5th"...bad for the engine. Other bad things: warming up the car in park. The car needs to be moving for the oil to do its protective thing. Just give it it time when you're moving by not pushing the RPM's too high above 3 RPM unitl the oil temp needle at least at the 12 o'clock position.

Lugging in the 60's meant you are in a gear wrong for the speed. Ok, your are in third gear at 15MPH, so the car is now lugging or bucking. Not good on the trans and the IMS.

I understand that luging can be bad for German cars as well.

Does anyone have a reference for proper shift rpms for each gear? I know there is a thread that references my question, but the manual I have (2001 Boxster) does not list proper rpms to shift. I find i can shift below 3k without lugging the engine. Especially around town, I very frequently drive below 3k, closer to 2k, and don't feel any lugging. Am I missing something here? I just want to make sure i am not doing damage and don't know

This is covered a bit in the factory manual..

Why does this sound like rocket science???

You'll know when you're lugging the engine because it'll have a hard time accelerating even when you put your foot all the way down.

There's no proper shift rpm... other than the fact not to rev above 4000rpm when the engine is cold. You have to use something called common sense.

Incline/decline, how fast you drive, traffic flow will change your proper shift rpm ALWAYS.

its not rocket science, but you see much conflicting info on it.....good to see that there are some stereotypical pdrivers still out there

In the thread above, you wrote:
"when my car is cold especially, I shift below 2k rpms and never hear an irregular engine sound.....i dont watch rpm too much unless its at the max side, i just listen for the engine"

jacabean wrote:
"why would someone drive their car like that ?"

Lugging is bad for any engine, period. IMS or not has little to do with it. Drive it normally like you would drive any other other car. Shifting below 2k rpm is not normal unless you're stuck in stop and go traffic. There's just so much mass hysteria in this forum it's just not funny anymore.

when all fluids are fully warm, i shift anywhere between 3-5000 rpm. When cold 3k max