Passing Red Line in RPMS when running WOT

So I have two explorers, a 2014 and a 2015, both limited models. The other day I decided to punch it as part of my style of engine break-in and see how smooth it shifts in the upper ends of the power band, and this is when I noticed it goes all the way to 6800 RPMs, way past the red mark indicated on the RPM display of 6500.

When I saw this I went home and jumped in the GFs 2014 and took it for a ride and it did the exact same thing. I am surprised Ford Programmed the car this way as all of their other automatics shift at the peak RPM point, which should be 6500rpm for the EX.

Anyone else notice this issue?

I have no idea what you said or what you are asking. What issue are you talking about?

DjfunkmasterG said:

So I have two explorers, a 2014 and a 2015, both limited models. The other day I decided to punch it as part of my style of engine break-in and see how smooth it shifts in the upper ends of the power band, and this is when I noticed it goes all the way to 6800 RPMs, way past the red mark indicated on the RPM display of 6500.

When I saw this I went home and jumped in the GFs 2014 and took it for a ride and it did the exact same thing. I am surprised Ford Programmed the car this way as all of their other automatics shift at the peak RPM point, which should be 6500rpm for the EX.

Anyone else notice this issue?

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Speedo red-lines are manufacturer recommendations. There not trans tuned shift points.

Halwg said:

I have no idea what you said or what you are asking. What issue are you talking about?

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When I floored it the other day I noticed that before the transmission shifted the digital RPM LED display show the needle going past the redline marking (6500 Rpm). On the RPM gauge display the Redline begins at 6500.

Anyway, what i noticed is the transmission did not shift to the next gear until the needle was closer to 68-6900, which is 300 rpm over the factory red line mark on the RPM gauge.

The vehicles are supposed to make peak HP at 6500 rpm, but fuel cut off should also be set at around 66-6700, in this vehicle and the 14 it is not, in both vehicles they both exceeded the redline marking on the RPM display.

I've always known it was best to shift after peak HP.

A quick internet search agrees with me. Check out Myth 2:
http://www.lainefamily.com/hp.htm

A few hundred over redline isn't a big deal. I've held a few cars at the rev limiter. Or if no limiter... To the point where its starving out

DjfunkmasterG said:

When I floored it the other day I noticed that before the transmission shifted the digital RPM LED display show the needle going past the redline marking (6500 Rpm). On the RPM gauge display the Redline begins at 6500.

Anyway, what i noticed is the transmission did not shift to the next gear until the needle was closer to 68-6900, which is 300 rpm over the factory red line mark on the RPM gauge.

The vehicles are supposed to make peak HP at 6500 rpm, but fuel cut off should also be set at around 66-6700, in this vehicle and the 14 it is not, in both vehicles they both exceeded the redline marking on the RPM display.

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Whats the advantage of taking your engine to the redline?

It's a factory tach... How accurate do you think it is?

If redline was properly set it would be the maximum speed the engine could spin for a prolonged period of time. Notice I said properly set and prolonged period, not forever.

In practice, redline is seldom properly set by a vehicle manufacturer. First, the redline on the tach is most often set at the shift point used by the manufacturer with an automatic transmission with the drive train fully warmed up. If its a manual transmision in a performance oriented vehicle, it may be set for the recomended shift point to obtain maximum acceleration. Second, the tach in your factory gauge cluster is seldom highly accurate nor does it respond all that fast to RPM change. Aftermarket tachs meant for racing are much faster and highly accurate.

The true redline of a factory engine is generally a couple hundred RPM above that indicated redline on the tach to build in a little saftey margine. The rev limiter on a modern engine may be yet a couple hundred more RPM higher depending on the saftey (durability) margine the manufacturer deems appropriate, or not.

In summary, the factory tachometer (and its redline) are like many things in a new vehicle. Just there for decoration. If you really want to know where your shift points are occuring use a scan tool. Plug it in to the OBD II port and you will get much more accurate RPM readings. You may still be shifting before or after the indicated RPM redline with all of those manufacturer concerns.

Very complex modern vehicles even alter there wide open throttle shift points based on how warm the engine and incoming air are along with a dozen other parameters. Expensive vehicles will even actually change the indicated redline on the tach with the chosen shift point. Clearly, the actual redline did not change. It just looks better to the customer to shift at redline when they are requesting maximum acceleration from the vehicle.

snoranger said:

It's a factory tach... How accurate do you think it is?

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This!!

The dummy electric gauges are usually +\- 5%.

You also have no issue with the RPM's. The rev limiter will not let you exceed the recommended max point unless you have put a tune in your Ex.

CajunFordEx said:

This!!

The dummy electric gauges are usually +\- 5%.

You also have no issue with the RPM's. The rev limiter will not let you exceed the recommended max point unless you have put a tune in your Ex.

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I just got it, so I haven't tuned it yet. I was just shocked that when I put the throttle to the floor I noticed the transmission did not shift to the next gear until the tach was at 68-6900 RPM, but as I noted the redline mark is 6500.

While I know some of you consider the electrical LED gauges to be just short of Lie-O Meters, when I had my Mustangs in the past 2013-2014s and a Taurus, I plugged my tuners into them and found all read out to be accurate.

I don't have a tuner yet for the EX but when I get it I am going to log the data and take a look, but this is just my EX my gf's 2014 same equipment does the exact same thing.

Bobmbx said:

Whats the advantage of taking your engine to the redline?

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There was no advantage... I just floored it to help break the car in. I don't play the drive it soft game and I believe the car should be driven like it would be normally.

When I goto work I have to gun it on the on ramp to match traffic speed so I am not doing anything differently than I have done to any other vehicle I have owned.

I wouldn't expect that digital tach to be very accurate. Its been said in this forum numerous times that those gauges are just meant for a quick glance and are not 100% accurate.

That being said, its pretty common for manufacturers to set the actual redline somewhere around 200-500 rpms above the top horsepower peak. It varies due to a vehicles torque peak and all sorts of different factors. Also, its going to be easier to display 6500 as the redline on that tach then to try and squeeze it somewhere between 6500-7000, making it harder for a person to get a number off a glance.

You have a unique way of breaking in your vehicles. While I don't think the Explorer has a specific break-in procedure, I typically take it somewhat easy for the first 1000 miles or so. I'll do some abrupt starts but try to keep the RPM's at a reasonable number. I don't use cruise control and I will vary my speeds on the highway so I'm not at a constant speed for very long. But, to each their own I guess.

orangesoda123 said:

I wouldn't expect that digital tach to be very accurate. Its been said in this forum numerous times that those gauges are just meant for a quick glance and are not 100% accurate.

That being said, its pretty common for manufacturers to set the actual redline somewhere around 200-500 rpms above the top horsepower peak. It varies due to a vehicles torque peak and all sorts of different factors. Also, its going to be easier to display 6500 as the redline on that tach then to try and squeeze it somewhere between 6500-7000, making it harder for a person to get a number off a glance.

You have a unique way of breaking in your vehicles. While I don't think the Explorer has a specific break-in procedure, I typically take it somewhat easy for the first 1000 miles or so. I'll do some abrupt starts but try to keep the RPM's at a reasonable number. I don't use cruise control and I will vary my speeds on the highway so I'm not at a constant speed for very long. But, to each their own I guess.

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I think when I saw that happen for the 1st time, I was a bit shocked as I had never witnessed a vehicle shift past the red line in an automatic set-up.

I am concerned but not extremely concerns as the vehicle is under warranty.

In terms of how I break in my cars I do that so the engine is used to hard acceleration and the hope is that all those new components seat properly for my style of driving.

Like you I never use Cruise until I have gotten to around 2000 miles on the clock, and I do vary my speeds with a mix of city driving and highway driving.

I am at 225 miles on the clock right now on the 2015 and 489 on the 2014.

When I made the post it was out of curiosity to see if this was normal behavior for the vehicle or isolated, but having two of the exact same models only 1 MY apart makes believe this is what it is supposed to be.

if a problem does rear its head I will discuss with the dealer but I thought I would get an consensus on my finding.