What is the point to sitting on drive revving motor?

Andy From Sligo · 17-06-2014 9:29pm #1

Just moved into the village and a young guy has a very nice looking performance car. He gets back home reverses up on the drive and instead of getting out continues to rev car about 4 or 5 times before finally getting out of car, now its obliviously got a large bore exhaust system even though it sounds like many of my old cars have sounded in the past when the exhaust system has had holes in it or dropped off and needs replacing.

It cant be a 'show off' kind of a thing because he does it all the time whether anyone is around or not, and Im not letting it get to me because theres always noise in the village with cars passing through it - but im just trying to get my head around why the owner gets home and revs the nuts off his car before turning it off? - is it to clear the engine or something technical or whatever or is it for some other reason? - not ever owning one of these souped up cars (or ever having the money to own one!) im just wondering. If after a while of moving in and if i find him approachable of course i will pop over and ak him myself why he gets home and revs the nuts off it before finally going into the house. But just wondering if anyone else knows why he might be doing it?

colm_mcm · 17-06-2014 9:33pm

He probably likes the sound of it.
I kinda used to do that the first time I got a v6

Veloce · 17-06-2014 9:36pm

I rev mine the odd time - just for the sound of it. It's an enjoyable sound in an underground car park. Although mine is not modified and is running standard intake and exhaust.

Sitec · 17-06-2014 9:38pm

Is the driveway on an incline by any chance? Loud exhausts make any throttle input noticeable.

Veloce · 17-06-2014 9:40pm

But also, the chap could be an enthusiast that is changing parts on his car such as intake, cat pipes, exhaust manifolds etc.. and maybe is just testing them out

Andy From Sligo · 17-06-2014 9:42pm

yeah, im guessing thats what it is that he likes the sound of it, and if he paid a lot for the system then why not i suppose, he looks like he keeps his motor in good nick. was just curious. When I was younger I always used to take my motors out on the motorways and open them up because i used to guess the mundane starting and stopping and idling in traffic throughout the week choked them up. Just wondering if that was what he was doing on his drive, revving it up to give it a good clearout lol :-)

sogood · 17-06-2014 9:43pm

I used to know an old guy many years ago, who always used to give his car a few little revs before switching it off. He insisted that it helped it start again next morning, but I wouldn't put money on it. A bit of an urban motoring myth I think.

cml387 · 17-06-2014 9:44pm

A guy at work has a Subaru.
When he stops, he blips the accelerator once before he swiches off.

Just likes the sound I suppose.We all have little habits, driving or otherwise, that might seem odd.

Andy From Sligo · 17-06-2014 9:45pm

Sitec wrote: »

Is the driveway on an incline by any chance? Loud exhausts make any throttle input noticeable.

no, the drive is flat - he has a young lady friend maybe he does it to impress her lol -god, im beginning to sound like an old fart 'young lady friend' lol :-)

bazz26 · 17-06-2014 9:50pm

blindside88 · 17-06-2014 9:50pm

Is it a Mazda rx8 by any chance? A guy working with me had some work done on his recently Nd was told that it needed to be revd at around 3500 for a number of seconds before turning it off. Can't remember the reason, something to do with the rotary engine. Also I know a number of guys with turbo timers in their cars that keep the engine running for a little while after they take the key out and lock it. I doubt he does it for the craic if he does it everytime

Supergurrier · 17-06-2014 10:14pm

He was working the soup through the engine to warm it up for lunch the following day.

wendell borton · 17-06-2014 10:24pm

A turbo engine should be left to idle before switching off.

JohnBoy26 · 17-06-2014 10:25pm

bazz26 wrote: »

I DO NOT BEELIEEVE IT!!!! :pac:

RootX · 17-06-2014 11:15pm

blindside88 wrote: »

Is it a Mazda rx8 by any chance? A guy working with me had some work done on his recently Nd was told that it needed to be revd at around 3500 for a number of seconds before turning it off. Can't remember the reason, something to do with the rotary engine.

He's only supposed to do that when the engine is stone cold before switching off, to avoid flooding. If he does it while the engine is warm advise him against it since it washes away the lubrication as well, no need to do that.

But ~4K is hardly revving the nuts off it anyway, isn't it?

JC01 · 17-06-2014 11:47pm

I'd put good money on it being a turbo timer and a hunting idle

Jesus. · 17-06-2014 11:50pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

When I was younger I always used to take my motors out on the motorways and open them up because i used to guess the mundane starting and stopping and idling in traffic throughout the week choked them up.

Is that actually the case? Because I drive with a light foot and change up at around 2k revs without much Motorway driving. I know it is the case with modern diesels but do you have to give a petrol the odd blast now and again or is it a load of old cobblers?

Andy From Sligo · 18-06-2014 12:56am

Jesus. wrote: »

Is that actually the case? Because I drive with a light foot and change up at around 2k revs without much Motorway driving. I know it is the case with modern diesels but do you have to give a petrol the odd blast now and again or is it a load of old cobblers?

I think I used to do it because a mechanic once told me that one of my cars had a load of carbon on top of the piston heads and the rings and he told me that the short trips I were doing werent enough to burn off the carbon and that a good few regular blasts up the motorway would burn it off. Now to be honest this was absolutely years ago and it was on one of my old fiestas or some car like that which didnt even run on unleaded petrol so it shows you how long ago that was!! - maybe with the advent of unleaded fuel and these days engines you dont have to take them on long high revving journeys now to burn off the carbon in the engine, but even with the wifes car i tell her to make a few long journeys every now and again instead of a lot of short ones cause i think it does the car good.

mickdw · 18-06-2014 1:45am

sogood wrote: »

I used to know an old guy many years ago, who always used to give his car a few little revs before switching it off. He insisted that it helped it start again next morning, but I wouldn't put money on it. A bit of an urban motoring myth I think.

I guess there was a element of truth in that with old dynamo charging systems like you see on older tractors. These were inefficient charging setups and engine at idle would not be really charging the battery. This resulted in the habit of revving the engine before turning off.

Joe Doe · 18-06-2014 2:10am

like the idea of this i.e. giving it a few blasts

- me olde sports coupe doesn't get over 3,000 revs (ever) simply because it doesn't need to. Will cruise 120kms in 5th gear with just the faint whiff of petroleum, and can even drop into neutral 1km from upcoming roundabouts as the low profile allows it to float in without need for throttle.

...but alas the battery ain't superb, even have a 5w/12v solar panel hooked in for sunny day top-ups. So can foresee maybe getting up to 4k revs in 3rd one of these days for sake of battery lifespan (within legal allowable speed limits and good driving variants of course).

Will not get one of those 'sound effect mufflers' the young uns stick on their exhaust however which sounds akin to a dragon wheezing.

Cookie_Monster · 18-06-2014 5:40am

I've a loan of a legacy GT at the moment.
You leave the car running and simply blip the alarm / immobiliser and walk away. It decides when to turn itself off...
Presumably to allow the turbo to cool and no high revving or anything but it's hard to get used to!

felimd · 18-06-2014 8:26am

blindside88 wrote: »

Is it a Mazda rx8 by any chance? A guy working with me had some work done on his recently Nd was told that it needed to be revd at around 3500 for a number of seconds before turning it off. Can't remember the reason, something to do with the rotary engine. Also I know a number of guys with turbo timers in their cars that keep the engine running for a little while after they take the key out and lock it. I doubt he does it for the craic if he does it everytime

This is done to avoid flooding on a cold shutdown, there's no need if the car is at operating temperature as it has the drawback of also clearing the last squirt of oil the OMP puts in on shutdown to aid lubrication on the next startup.

Bray Header · 18-06-2014 8:30am

In the old days of carburetors, it was advised to rev it a few times after parking; this would leave enough fuel in there for a nice clean start the following day.

In today's era there's no need for it, unless you're just enjoying the sound, which is totally reasonable.

Arthur Beesley · 18-06-2014 8:36am

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

no, the drive is flat - he has a young lady friend maybe he does it to impress her lol -god, im beginning to sound like an old fart 'young lady friend' lol :-)

Is she hot?

L-M · 18-06-2014 8:55am

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I DO NOT BEELIEEVE IT!!!! :pac:

*Don't

No Pants · 18-06-2014 9:17am

My car doesn't get used often during the week and when it does, it's frequently for short enough journeys. This weekend it'll see motorway speeds (my version) for maybe 01:20, then a spin to Donegal.

I think a long run now and again does the engine good, allows it to warm up properly and burn off anything that's been left behind in the short runs.

celica00 · 18-06-2014 1:30pm

my first guess would have been, that the battery is after dying and he does it to have better chances to start it again next time.
But since it's a good looked after car, I guess the others are right and he just loves the sounds?

joujoujou · 18-06-2014 1:38pm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

[...] he has a young lady friend [...]

Alright then. He's just quite unusual way to let her know - "Baby, I'm home! Bring me a beer!"

JohnBoy26 · 18-06-2014 2:05pm

Limerick man wrote: »

*Don't

Pedantic much :rolleyes:

What is the point to sitting on drive revving motor?

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