What a drunk driver and a rev limiter had in common?
08-30-2007 | 06:54 PM
#1
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From: McLean, VA
My Ride: 2008 550I, Manual, Space Gray Metallic, Sport Package, Cold Weather Package, Navigation, Satellite, Power Sunshade, Comfort Access.
What are the consequences of driving my car, which has only 102 miles to the red line until the rev limiter kicks in on both first and second gears?
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
08-30-2007 | 07:01 PM
#2
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From: San Jose, California, USA
My Ride: 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera S Convertible. Midnight Blue, 6 Speed.Retired - 2007 997 Carrera S, Midnight Blue, Grey leather, premium audioRetired - 2007 550i, Monaco Blue over Beige, Navigation, Logic 7, Cold Weather Pack, Comfort Access, Sport Package
Model Year: 2008
Originally Posted by Daveella' post='464385' date='Aug 30 2007, 07:54 PM
What are the consequences of driving my car, which has only 102 miles to the red line until the rev limiter kicks in on both first and second gears?
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
08-30-2007 | 07:05 PM
#4
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From: Pittsburgh, PA USA
My Ride: G30 M550i
Model Year: 2018
You should be fine -- the rev-limiter did it's job and the engine will likely be fine over the long term (as long as you at least try to break it in proplerly...)
Glad to hear you're okay!
Glad to hear you're okay!
08-30-2007 | 07:06 PM
#5
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From: Baltimore, MD
My Ride: 2006 550i, Alpine White, Beige Ltr, Sport Pkg, Cold Weather Pkg, Premium Sound, Active Steering, Comfort Access, Steptronic, Nav, Satellite Radio, Split Fold Rear Seats, V1
WOW! That sounds incredible. Good description as I could visualize this happening. As a fellow motorcyclist I can relate to the heads up quick evasive maneuvering. Thank goodness you reacted quickly and got out of the way. I seriously doubt you did any damage at all to your baby. Think of it this way, if you did not take the action you did the damage would have been much worse. The break in is "recommended" and it is just a good best practice. If your car is not misbehaving just continue on smiling. Otherwise any problem should be covered under warranty.
08-30-2007 | 07:24 PM
#6
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From: Los Angeles, CA
My Ride: 2007 E60 530i
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Glad to hear your baby's safe. Sorry to hear about hitting redline on the break-in. 
Sorry to hear about hitting redline on the break-in.
08-30-2007 | 08:18 PM
#8
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Given that the engine was warm your engine is fine... no worries. Its good to stretch its legs once in a while... even if the engine had 1 mile on the odometer and was cold i'm sure it'll still be fine. Running it once like that wont do it any harm.
Heck even if you ran it like that every day I bet it'll still be good given that the engine was warm. I know and read about a few people believing that its better to run the engine in hard rather than baby it for the first 1000 miles. A MINI technician friend of mine did that with his MINI when he first picked it up. Warmed up the engine and with 15 miles on the clock he ran it hard from 0 to redline shifting over 3 gears for 20 mines to hard break the engine in... he now has 80K on the engine and its been flawless. And I have to admit when I raced him against my MINI his was a tad faster... but then again mine was loaded with extra his was bare minimum.
Heck even if you ran it like that every day I bet it'll still be good given that the engine was warm. I know and read about a few people believing that its better to run the engine in hard rather than baby it for the first 1000 miles. A MINI technician friend of mine did that with his MINI when he first picked it up. Warmed up the engine and with 15 miles on the clock he ran it hard from 0 to redline shifting over 3 gears for 20 mines to hard break the engine in... he now has 80K on the engine and its been flawless. And I have to admit when I raced him against my MINI his was a tad faster... but then again mine was loaded with extra his was bare minimum.
08-30-2007 | 11:55 PM
#10
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From: Italy, Milano
My Ride: 545i SMG with Limited Slip Differential
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Originally Posted by Daveella' post='464385' date='Aug 31 2007, 04:54 AM
What are the consequences of driving my car, which has only 102 miles to the red line until the rev limiter kicks in on both first and second gears?
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
Historically I follow the break-in instructions to the dot, but yesterday evening on my way home after work, while sitting in a red light a drunk driver decided to drive against traffic and on a head-on collision with my new 550I. Years of riding motorcycle kicks in and I act instinctively, which probably saved my life. I floored it and run toward the far right shoulders as fast as I could.
BTW, the SOB continues straight and he hit the 18-wheelers behind me head-on. In any case, no visible damage to myself or the car, and I can only praise this car/engine for responding so quickly and powerfully when still new.
Today I was thinking about the potential invisible damage to the engine, realizing that regardless to the damage, avoiding this maniac was the right thing to do.
Be safe and watch out for drunk drivers.
Peace
