Is it harmful to a 2 stroke engine to keep it on an idle rev?

Question

i wanna know becos 1 of my mates told me wen ur riding a dirtbike (2 stroke) it isnt good for the engine to be kept at a crusing speed/ idle rev for a long while in which ever gear?

i want to know do u always have to alter the revs

Answer 1

when an engine is new yes that is bad but after its broken in you can do what you want.

Answer 2

The only damage that will occur is the premix won't fully burn and leave behind carbon build up in the combustion chamber, foul spark plugs and load up the exhaust/silencer with oil.

Nothing serious, so don't worry about it.

A few high speed runs will burn off the carbon in the combustion chamber and clean up the spark plug.

When it's time to rebuild the top end, while the pipe is off - clean it out and repack the silencer.

Answer 3

no, varying the rpm is only necessary when breaking the motor in,so the cylinder walls don't take a "set" or polished wear pattern,a "rich" running popper will tend to foul the plugs at idle, but as long it doesn't ,it's fine (as far as cruising,how do you think they ran the baja or paris - dakar races before 4 strokes were reliable?)

Answer 4

answer above mine is best answer. (jim)

Answer 5

it's not good on the bike, but that doesn't mean you need to concentrate on never doing it... either way you'll have to do a rebuild sooner or later, i doubt it would have much more then a month (if that) worth of effect on it...

Answer 6

ha ha no its fine...but remember though, the lower the revs the less strain on the engine (damage) and thus less petrol you burn too.