Revving the car to max revs/redline cleans the engine..is this true?

[Crackman 619]

Well the title says it all really..

Was just wondering if there is any truth in revving the car to max/redline helps clean the engine out.

If this is true then how often do any of you lot do it? Also whats better doing it with.a full tank of fuel or an empty tank?

Thoughts appreciated.

[Phil_P]

I believe what you are referring to is commonly known as "The Italian tune up". Google will give you plenty of opinion on the subject.

[Crackman 619]

Yea ive googled it and read about it on the various sites..looks like it does clean out the carbon.however, it doesnt answer my last question of whether to do it on an empty or full tank and how often?

[Phil_P]

I can't see it would make any difference how much fuel you have in the tank.

I generally drive my car very sedately, but there is one good hill on my regular commute, so I tend to give it some beans going up there each day just to get the temps up and burn off any crud that may otherwise build up. I guess if you drive more enthusiastically then this may not be so necessary and once per month should probably keep things in order (if you subscribe to this thinking). However, if you only potter around doing short journeys then I'm guessing a regular weekly blast would probably be beneficial.

[Crackman 619]

Thanks alot Phil..just a shame that when you look at the trip computrr on how many miles you have left it drops alot lol

[Phil_P]

Thanks alot Phil..

You're welcome - I'll be interested to hear others opinions too

just a shame that when you look at the trip computrr on how many miles you have left it drops alot lol

Hmm, having the real time consumption figures in front of me have turned me into a far more economical driver, but then so has seeing the price of a tank of fuel fast approaching £100!

[JimC64]

Hmmm, sumthin to think about I guess?
Having had company cars for over 16 years I used to really boot them all day long every day pretty much " Italian tune up" every day, wheras my workmates usually pottered around.....My car funnily enough always seemed to be faster and had less problems it seemed???
Anyhow, having my own car over the last 4-5 years things have been a little different.....I usually drive much more sensibly with fuel the price it is but pretty much have a blast quite often too just to keep my hand in and keep things fresh

on the Italian tune up scenario? A neighbour with a BMW 2.0d I think was revvving the *** of his today for around 10 mins whlst stationery, so I guess he subscribes to that theory too

[Quatrelle]

There's a long uphill drag from a slip road onto dual carriageway that I use fairly regularly, and I always rev it to 4,500 in the gears. Otherwise I rarely thrash it.

[Zeb]

Surely that will cause engine damage! I would never ever do that. I will only boot the car when I feel like it.

[Quatrelle]

Italian tune-up involves, theoretically, driving like the Italians, i.e. revving it out in every gear, not revving the nuts off it when stationary, which is a complete no-no, imo.

So, occasionally revving it out in every gear is no bad thing.