Does Driving Fast Clean your Engine?

Bennett Oghifo

Driving fast does not necessarily clean your engine. While it’s true that driving at higher speeds can help burn off carbon deposits in the engine, it’s not a substitute for regular maintenance such as oil changes, filter replacements, and using high-quality fuel. In fact, excessive speeding can also lead to increased wear and tear on your engine, so it’s important to strike a balance and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for maintenance.

Another Opinion

Kinda. The best way to keep an engine clean is to 1. Use a high quality detergent gasoline most of the time, and 2. When it’s up to operating temperature, run it at higher RPM once in a while. It isnt just the engine you have to consider, but the cat as well. If it’s an older engine, i.e. pre-EFI, it’s generally more of an issue. With modern engines, a good bust of acceleration on the freeway on-ramp once in a while is all you really need to keep your engine happy. Any big V8 post 2007 or so may need those spirited on-ramp sessions a little more, since they usually have double overdrive and are running such a low rpm on the freeway. Smaller engines are generally run at a higher rpm, so you don’t need to do anything special. Just daily driving with good gas and they stay nice and clean. Consider how many Hondas and Toyotas reach 200000 miles running perfectly. Just stick with the good gas, those injectors really need the detergents. Once your injectors get fouled, you’re not getting optimal air/fuel ratios and it’s going to mess up your plugs and then your cat.

With regard to the fuel, the less the car is driven, the more important it is to buy the good stuff. If you’re on a long road trip where you’re using multiple tanks of gas at 75 mph, you can probably buy the cheap stuff and get by. Personally, I generally don’t do that. My 25 year old SUV has 155000 miles, and maybe that last 10 years it doesn’t get driven much, but it worships at the pump of Chevron and it runs perfectly. (I try to drive it once a week, but I’m gone a lot). The smog guy thought I was up to some shenanigans when he sniffed it last year. It’s emission levels are way at the bottom of the range, basically the same as when it was new. He was looking a it really close. It’s obvious that the engine has never been touched. I told him I just take care of it and don’t burn shitty gas. He agreed that good gas makes a big difference.