A mate(ahem) of mine was driving his S, accelerating hard in second gear when his mind wandered off. Whilst day-dreaming he kept his foot planted to the floor and wondered why the acceleration was being interrupted. He then realised that he had forgotten to change gear and had hit the limiter 2 or perhaps 3 times before changing up. This was a good 2 whole seconds(roughly) of having the accelerator floored while the limiter was being hit, the revs dropping, then going up to the limiter again, etc.

My friend was very concerned since, although the car seemed perfectly fine afterwards, this is clearly something to be avoided.

Has anyone here done this before? Did the car suffer any ill effects in the short or long-term?

What's the theory regarding this? Is the limiter supposed to protect the engine enough if this happens sporadically? Or could it potentially cause damage? Is my friend overly concerned?

 

limiter is there to protect the engine, so id say as long as the engine was warmed up, and you obviously didnt do this daily, i cant see it being a problem, after all the S is made to be revved hard anyway, thats what limiters are there for - to protect the engine.

so i would tell your "friend" not to worry

 

the limiter will protect the engine from over-revving going up through the gears..........

going from 5th to 1st will not and you will lunch the engine

 

Your friend needs an auto then he can day dream all the time.

Your be ok, just don't do it going down the box BIG no no.

 

Glad to hear all this. I've also been asking around and got a similar response - particularly as the S has a hard cut off type limiter, which completely switches off the power, rether than just maintaining the revs at a high level. Must be more careful in future though...

 

You can still do some damage to the car by hitting the limiter on the up shift - most likely damage would be to the retainers. Take a look at `Under the Hood`.

 

Thanks god it was your friends car and not your own!

 

A 'friend' of mine changed from 6th to 2nd today by mistake, fortunately put the clutch in before the revs went over 9k...Back end even squirmed on the wet motorway as the wheels locked up.

What a silly sausage! *ahem*

 

You ought to have words with your 'friend', Neil

 

I wouldn't let your 'friend' touch your car again

Bharat