Originally Posted by
BAMF
I came in here to tell you that what you're doing, while great for your fuel economy, is bad for your engine and undoubtedly other parts of your car as well, and that 300 bucks you saved during the year really doesn't sound that great when its accompanied by the sound of a rod bearing going to hell.
Not wanting to argue with you because you seem pretty set in your ways, I never pressed that issue, but since no one else is asking... what exactly do you think I'm doing that's harming my engine and why?
You said yourself that my engine barely makes 100 hp, and that's true... it makes 106 hp at about 5500 rpm. That means about 40-50 hp max hp in the sub-3,000 rpm range that I'm talking about "hypermiling" in. Worst case, I'm "almost" lugging the engine (I know what lugging feels like, and I'm not going there, I'm not straining the engine in any way) at 1500-2500 rpm in 5th gear. The engine management system is sophisticated enough to adjust the valve timing and the ignition timing to handle this without issue. I get smooth, though slow, acceleration from 1500 rpm in 5th gear.
Now, if I tried to dip lower in the RPMs to say 1000-1200, THEN the car would protest and if I made a habit of doing that, I absolutely agree that I could do some damage.