RPM Question

[Protege03ak46]

ok i have an 03 protege 2.0L lx with a manual trany
when ever i get on the freeway, going about 60mph, im at 3000 rpm in 5th gear. that wories me and i was curios if its a problem with the trany or am i just short shifting

-adam

 

[xelderx]

You aren't even at peak torque yet. You should actually be in no higher than 4th gear accelerating onto the highway. 3rd is really the correct gear to be accelerating up to 60mph in. Once the car gets to 60mph you can put it in 4th. You are definitely short shifting which is only good for saving gas. The 3rd Gen Protege with a manual trans will do 60mph in 2nd gear before it redlines.

 

[ghettoracingkid]

concur aka +1

02 pr5 2.0 5spd.

Im usually crusing in like 5th at 75 around 3200 or so on.

dude you can shift up to 5000 i would say with no worries.

 

[Protege03ak46]

is this short shifting hurting my engien

 

[NCZ13]

no.

 

[ivyfoxy5]

If I'm cruising at 50 mph I'm usually in 4th gear so that I can react faster if I need to speed up for some reason. If I'm on the highway and I know I won't be changing lanes anytime soon then I'll go into 5th.

 

[xelderx]

is this short shifting hurting my engien

It's not hurting anything and probably isn't really getting any better gas mileage if you are lugging the engine rpm low while accelerating. The fuel consumption of engines isn't totally based off of RPM. The load the motor experiences requires more fuel as well. RPM below the peak torque area will apply more load to the motor which increases fuel consumption.