angusjohnjones

I have an infiniti and it's generally agreed that the VQ37 VVEL engine benefits from being worked. How about these MB 3 & 3.5 engines? Is redlining a healthy routine exercise, or just something just done on an as-needed basis?

xXHotelCrazyXx

Redlining any engine on a regular basis is not healthy. An engine only has so many revolutions in its life time. You can use them all up at once in a hurry, or stretch it out and take it easy on it.

angusjohnjones

The VQ VVELs actually stay the healthiest when being worked fairly hard on a fairly routine basis. They put out an enormous amount of power for their displacement. But I honestly know very little at this point about the engine in our c300.

splinter

Yeah when fully warmed up (e.g., oil temperature) and stabilized brief spurts of WOT and revs toward the upper end of the range to “keep the plugs dusted off” will do little to no harm.

The likelihood of a well maintained engine outlasting with other consumable bits on these cars is great. :)

angusjohnjones

Also, I've been wonder if, at least anecdotally, anyone has a feel for the impact of redlining and the transfer case failure rate in the 4matic W204. I read one thread where a fellow had a transfer case failure and swore he drove his W204 like a granny. I guess I'm wondering if reasonably robust workouts benefit the transfer case, or put it at increased risk.

angusjohnjones

Italian tune up

xXHotelCrazyXx

Most modern engines now days have variable valve timing/cam phasers. I can't recall one off the top of my head that doesn't incorporate this technology into their engines.

angusjohnjones

Agreed. And the VVEL is an especially sweet one that loves to rev :
http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECH...VIEW/vvel.html

Rodpwnz

I hit redline very often, maybe once or twice most times I drive the car. Is it bad for the engine? Maybe, I don't know. Is it fun for me? Yes, very much. Did I buy an assumed quality vehicle in order to be able to do something like this, among many other things? YES.

If I ever get to find out that the engine fails prematurely due to my driving habits, then I guess I'll have to find a competitor who makes a quality vehicle that will live up to my standards. I'm sure there are many equal or more affordable options.

But I highly doubt such a tried and true engine will fail before something else unrelated does. I don't abuse my car, I don't track it, I don't race with it. I'm a spirited driver, and if Mercedes advertises this as a sports sedan, I will use it as one.

I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable can shed some light on this for the m272. I can only tell you what I think is acceptable for redlining. Of course it could maybe increase the wear and tear on the engine, but what's the point of having a car like this if you can't drive it the way you want, assuming that its still within reasonable boundaries of use. This is all just my opinion OP, those VQ engines are amazing - was looking at getting a G37 a while ago.

Tarek307

I had to go buy a 2001 M5 400 HP so i could stop red lining my gay 2012 c250

JWH321

Mine has never seen redline in almost 80K miles. I promise to try it once before it gets to the planned 350K mark, probably at 349999.9K -- maybe.

||||||||||

I don't think I've taken it passed 4k RPMs yet. Granted, Ive only owned it for a few weeks, I don't think I ever will. It's a Mercedes C350, theres no point in pretending it's fast. If I want speed, ill hop on the bike and hit the I-10 on ramp

abqhudson

Not me.
Can't be good.
A motor is not a muscle.

MDMercedesGuy

I had no idea that your car was a homosexual. Let me send it a welcome kit. Word choice, man.

spyked

I don't REDLINE my car too often, but I will spend some time in the upper ranges from time to time. I figure the engine in my car has been around for 10 years....it's stout enough to handle a few revs every now and then.

Not that it matters, but I've never been a fan of any VQ series engine anywhere close to redline. Not a very elegant engine.

tpdietz

wtf

MDMercedesGuy

Exactly. What a load of bigoted bs.

Tarek307

looooool...Dont get your panties in a bunch man...maybe i should be suspended like the guy from duck dynasty...

MDMercedesGuy

No, but maybe you should consider word choice better next time. It's not a laughing matter.

I had a lot of respect for you man.

Sportstick

You are all absolutely correct. Troubling that the original user of the slur likely speaks in this manner often and may have no idea about the implications. His sarcastic/mocking reply seems to suggest that complete avoidance will be the best tactic here.

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance."

William Hazlitt (1778-1830)

MDMercedesGuy

Amen.

Taking this thread back on topic, my car sees redline a couple of times a week. In my commute, I have to jump into traffic and cross a couple of lanes and then get into the inner express lanes of the highway. This means giving it the boot a lot of times - so it's not a redline from a dead stop, but a rolling redline.

My opinion - once it's warmed up, the entire rev range is usable without worry. I keep the oil changed at about double the MB recommendation so I know it's getting good lubrication and such.

Sportstick

Good idea.....with a manual, I don't hit redline as it seems not productive. I don't have the torque curve on paper to see, but it certainly feels like the optimal shift point is closer to 5000-5500 rpm when being aggressive than the approximately 6500 shown on the tach.

chris5949

no one, a mercedes is not for redlining, go get a honda if you want...