Pushing Too Hard

Well, I did a run to the countryside recently only to reach a very steep incline. I was in third and I thought the engine power would be enough. Apparently though, I didn't have enough NM of torque. Naturally I switched down a gear, and blam before I knew it to get up the hill I'd redlined it, with a nasty smell of burning reaching the interior.

Quickly I switched down again, let the revs go low and then gradually put on the power. The ozone-y/burnt quality of the smell was disconcerting so immediately when we came to a stop I checked the running temperature, the oil, water and everything else was checked later.

Apparently, I'd just hit the redline and perhaps gone beyond it. Remember, doing this for extended periods in your car can damage it. In my case, it was a split second and then a changedown, after which I let the engine fully cool before giving it a full inspection including valves, belt and cylinders, all of which were fine.

My advice therefore in the future is, if in doubt at the gradient and with little traffic around, stop then head up in first. Unless of course you're driving a big diesel or a supercar, both of which just might have enough torque to carry you up just about anything.