Skip to content

Rev Limiter

Your rev limiter is the RPM where the ECU cuts combustion. It is a setting — separate from the hidden mechanical limit of the weakest part.

Demo build: this panel is locked

The rev-limiter card is available in the full game. See Demo vs Full Version.

What it is

Engone has two different RPM numbers:

  1. Your rev limiter — the RPM where the ECU cuts combustion. You set it (0–20000). It starts at the engine base's default (I4 7500, V8 6200, V12 8500 RPM). It is allowed to be above what the parts can survive.
  2. The mechanical limit — the ceiling of the weakest part (crank, rods, pistons, the head's valvetrain). It is hidden: you find it by pushing. Beyond it the engine takes valve float (VE collapses, the head is damaged) and over-speed damage (piston speed; crank and pistons suffer). Raising your limiter can never make over-rev damage go away.

Controls:

  • LIMIT RPM — the RPM where the cut starts.
  • SOFT BAND — 0 means a hard cut; up to 1500 RPM. The cut ramps in across the band, so the engine feathers up to the limit.
  • CUT TYPE — FUEL switches the injectors off (clean and quiet); SPARK keeps fuel flowing, unburnt, which is harsher and bangs (see Exhaust Pops & Afterfire).
  • DFCO DELAY — see DFCO.

Hard cut cuts everything the instant the limit is crossed and resumes when RPM drops by max(100, 3 % of the limit). Soft cut skips a growing share of firing events per RPM inside the band.

Why it matters

The limiter protects the engine in normal use. Components have real RPM ceilings, and exceeding them breaks the engine — a limit set above the mechanical limit will destroy it. Upgrading the safe RPM means upgrading whichever part is currently the weakest link.

How to tune it

Set the limit just under the RPM you have tested the build to. Make sure the injectors aren't also maxing out below your intended limit, or you'll hit a fuel-driven lean-out first.

Watch out

Changing LIMIT RPM re-scales every table's RPM axis — the axis maximum follows the limiter. The tables are resampled (interpolated), so lowering and then raising the limiter does not restore your original cells exactly.

Watch out

A lean-out near the top of the rev range can look like an injector or fuelling problem. Check whether you're simply at your rev limit, or at valve float, before chasing a phantom fuel issue.

In the game

IGNITION page → right column → REV LIMITER card. Type a value and press Enter. The RPM readout turns amber while the limiter is cutting and red when you overshoot by more than 5 %; it never changes colour at the mechanical limit. The SETUP page shows Rev Limiter: n RPM — your own setting.