All:<p>I got carried away with a takeoff last night while pulling<br>onto a busy two-lane highway and exceeded redline briefly<br>with a 2.8 30v engine. Much to my horror, I looked down <br>to see I was at about 6,800-ish by the time I shifted out<br>of first. Since then the engine is behaving normally.<p>What are the chances that I caused damage or premature<br>wear to the engine? The car is a 99 Passat with 2,500<br>miles (it was broken in properly). I posted here since<br>the Passat and A4 share the same engines.<p>Any assurances my stupidity didn't ruin my engine<br>would be appreciated.<p>DLS<p><p>

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm surprised you didn't hit the rev limiter (is your car chipped?). If your car is stock, I'll bet you were just shy of the limiter (not sure what the exact limit is but there may be some tach error at the high end).<p>I had a 96 Passat GLX (VR6) prior to my A4 and I hit the rev limiter on a number of occasions. It can be very disconcerting, especially the first time, as the engine seems to die momentarily.<p>- Charlie (98.5 1.8TQMS, 4900 miles)

I wouldn't worry about it.<p>The redline in production cars is rarely set just below the grenade point. There usually leave I nice saftey zone.<p>I used to hit the rev limiter @ 7500 rpm at least twice a day in my 16v motor. Since then I tore down the motor and surprisingly the motor showed no excess wear (I still had the hone marks on the cylinder walls at 80000km).<p>Again, I wouldn't worry about it, the 30V can probably sing to 7500 rpm without too much trouble. Beyond that I think that you would encounter valve float and would perhaps risk break/bending valves.<p>Kev<br>99 1.8TQMS due in March

Don't know about DLS's V6, but the rev limiter in the 1.8t is above 7000 (around 7200 stock, a couple hundred higher chipped). You'll know it when you hit it :-)<p>Sharon<br>97 1.8t and stuff

I have been driving slower as of late, but when i do drive really really fast (wanna feel all that power!!! hehe) I shift just a bit north of the 6500 rpm redline. I think that shifting around 6700 yields the best acceleration times (i've messed around with it with a G-tech). Don't worry about it, it doesn't hurt the car at all. . . until your valves go smashing into the cylinders, it's fine! =)<p>Edmund Louie<br>98 A4Q 30V

We mistakenly hit about 7000 on the dyno when one of the chips we tested didn't have a rev limiter. Doing this now and then is unlikely to do any harm. The Wett chip ups the rev limiter to 6800 rpm for the 30v, and I have hit the limiter PLENTY of times. Not to worry. However, I usually end up shifting at about 6000 rpm even since I don't see much benefit to shifting higher. Once the supercharger is on...it may be a whole different story!<p>Mike