52 Which is better High or Low revs when driving? Will either one damage the engine?
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This article is from the Watercooled VWs General FAQ, by Jan Vandenbrande with numerous contributions by others.
52 Which is better High or Low revs when driving? Will either one damage the engine?
A: The answer is to avoid extreme stress on the engine, neither excessive high
or low revs are advised.
Low Revs: You are putting a lot of torque on the engine with a low oil
volume & pressure. This can lead to damage. Generally stay above 1500 or
2000 rpms.
High Revs: VW engines are rather comfortable in the higher ranges. However,
at high revs you have a lot of (transient) thermal effects taking place
which are not always healthy (valves, head) in addition to certain harmonic
vibrations in all the shafts that spin, sometimes also the pistons
(motorcycles tend to have that problem more).
So far I have found VW engines to hold up well.
These cars were designed to sustain fairly high speeds in Germany.
However I have also found that the periphery does not always hold up:
Waterpumps tend to leak a lot quicker when you rev high.
Now what's high? Generally near redline is high, and it's not advised to go
over, or stay there for long.
Normal non-aggressive driving should be done between ~2000rpms & max torque
which is usually around 4000 rpms, resulting in "normal" wear.
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