driving below 2800 RPM = trouble? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Perfectlap · 04-03-2009, 11:06 AM

Snipped from the internets...
Ever since the last year's oil hijacking by the NYMEX speculators I picked up the habit of driving AT the speed limit. When gas crashed back to below $2 I continued my frugal driving, keeping the car in th 6th gear on highway and rarely keeping the RPM's above 3,500K. Not just to save gas but I figured I'd do the real driving at the autocross and cut down on engine wear. My car by the way, is only driven weekends and 90% of it on the highway the other 10% usually darting around lower Manhattan. Guess I'll have to keep it in 3rd gear more often.

I'm skipping Mobil 1 for the first time ever. I'm thinking of going with Castrol Syntec 5W40. I hear there are issues with Royal Purple "shearing".
Flamesuit on...

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"What do you all think, lower RPM's = less probability of IMS failure?"
__________________________________________________ ____

"Absolutely not.

The exact opposite has been true.

We have yet to see a single IMS failure from an engine that has been driven hard and thus far we have the biggest library of documented failures on this Continent.

Most IMS failures come in stop and go street driving, or in cars driven by Women.

The statistics prove that these engines like to be driven more aggressively, this information is included in the December 08 Excellence article on the M96 engine that features our development program.

The key to reducing IMS issues is to reduce the oil change intervals provided by Porsche by 1/2 and use an oil other than Mobil 1. If you coupkle this with a driving style that a Porsche is designed for your chances of having a failure are greatly reduced.

Do NOT drive at less than 2800 RPM and do not lug the engine!!!!!!!!! Nothing is worse and nothing has proven to kill the oil faster!

I have been TRYING to make the IMS fail in one of our test cars for the past 8 months or so. I hold the car WAO against the rev limiter for 2-3 minutes at a time, flog it in second gear against the limiter for as much as 5 solid miles at a time. When the car fires up, stone cold I hold it WAO for at least 45 seconds. There IS NOTHING that can be worse on an engine than this kind of abuse since the engine sees a huge temperature differential and it's not even well lubricated when it fires up and revs immediately to oblivion.

I have been doing this for almost 20K miles and have not changed the oil since I began the process of "flogging". The engine is equipped with full data acqusition as well as oil condition monitoring systems and the data has remained consistent since I began the torture. The engine has 75K miles on it now.

I'll post a durametrics data log over the weekend showing the RPM and abuse this baby has seen and you won't believe it.

It appears that Boost may be required to kill this engine before January when I'll be pulling it to swap one of my 2.9s into it. "

--------------------

Jake Raby
Raby Enterprises Inc
www.flat6innovations.com

BoxsterLewis · 04-03-2009, 11:24 AM

You may have a point here. I blew my 3.2 last November driving it very nicely. But now I have a 3.6

And im broke lol.

941MXVET · 04-03-2009, 12:25 PM

I agree that driving properly will not only give the owner more fun while he or she owns the car, but seams to be proper for these engines.

However, I beat the bush pretty hard trying to find the right oil, and haven't heard of Royal Purple shearing. I'm not saying I didn't miss it, just haven't seen anything as of yet. BTW I'm using RP 5w-40 at this time.

ocdbilly · 04-03-2009, 12:17 PM

Good news? I thought (obviously incorrectly) that since it was water cooled, then it wasn't necessary to keep the rpm's high. I usually try to keep it between 2500-3000.

crios · 04-03-2009, 12:32 PM

What does "lug the engine" mean?

I've heard of this lower RPM's = IMS failure as well.

Thankfully I’m always driving between 4-7K RPM..I like using lower gears while cruising...3rd usually up to 65-75 MPH.

stateofidleness · 04-03-2009, 12:40 PM

how much of this applies to Tiptronic transmission boxsters? (probably a dumb question)

also on my Tip, how long is it "safe" to stay in first when first starting the car?

i'm always in a rush to get it to 2nd (as it stays above first until you turn the car off)

shaman1204 · 04-03-2009, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stateofidleness

how much of this applies to Tiptronic transmission boxsters? (probably a dumb question)

also on my Tip, how long is it "safe" to stay in first when first starting the car?

i'm always in a rush to get it to 2nd (as it stays above first until you turn the car off)

I would also like to hear something on this as I have a tip. I thought I read somewhere that tips are not as prone to IMS failures as manuals are, but is that because there are more manual cars out there? I try to wind mine up as much as possible once she's warm, but I am in a lot of stop and go traffic.

Perfectlap · 04-03-2009, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crios

What does "lug the engine" mean?

That's like when you slow down to pay a highway toll and then you try to take off with the car still in 5 or 6th gear because you're too lazy to downshift.

My lazy move is skipping 5th gear. I go from 4th to 6th. So I think that's kinda like lugging..

p.s.
There's a case of RP 5W40 sitting at a local NAPA dealer. They're wanting like $12 a quart. I don't mind the price but Castrol Syntec is like half the price. Is it really twice as good? I've seen the load machine tests but I'm not sure how real world they are. And of the dozens of oils that Porsche has tested and recommeded why isn't RP in there? Is it purely business?

Lil bastard · 04-03-2009, 03:17 PM

The Tiptronic cars are less prone to RMS failure... NOT IMS failure.

This is most likely because there is no direct mechanical link to the crankshaft. With a torque convertor, the link is fluid, with a clutch, it's mechanical.

shaman1204 · 04-03-2009, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lil bastard

The Tiptronic cars are less prone to RMS failure... NOT IMS failure.

This is most likely because there is no direct mechanical link to the crankshaft. With a torque convertor, the link is fluid, with a clutch, it's mechanical.

Ahhh, thanks for the clarification. Wishful thinking on my part

But, I guess if you are running a tip car in the Drive mode the transmission will keep the engine from "lugging" with the downshifts. Which from the sound of it is a good thing.

941MXVET · 04-03-2009, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I hear there are issues with Royal Purple "shearing".
Flamesuit on...

I have no intent of flaming anyone, just increasing all of our collective knowledge. Just did a quick search concerning HTHS ratings, if your oil has an ACEA rating of A3, it should have a HTHS rating of 3.5 or greater. This is, I believe Porsche's requirement.

Lordblood · 04-04-2009, 10:05 PM

This is worrying, the two people that mostly drive my Box keeps the RPM's between 2-3k almost 90% of the time. I think my sister also lugs the engine a lot, keeping in higher gears when slowing down then booting the throttle.

I always thought it being ricey to always keep the RPM's blisteringly high, but if the cops catch me for making too much noise, I can always tell him I'm saving my car from destruction :P.