I keep hearing about how a redline a day keeps the carbon away but is this true? I can see how it might be healthy to try and blast away carbon build up and let the engine stretch it's legs. But is this just applicable to those with stick shifts? It's pretty hard to redline a Monte without speeding.

 

From a stop red line 1st and or 2nd (keep in drive or 3rd and let it shift when it needs to) and shouldn't be speeding that bad. Red line 3rd is a different story.

 

A engine free of carbon from banging it off the limiter everyday isn't going to do you any good when it pukes a rod out of the bottom of the block.

Seriously though, that's basically just beating on the car. The higher the rpm, the higher the stresses, the more chance that something can go wrong if the car isn't running 100% (ie fuel pump dying, bad fuel injector, etc)- that goes for the trans too. Everything will last longer if you keep the engine speeds to a minimum- even if you never 'clean the carbon out'.

It's a bit hard to be super worried about keeping the inside of the engine clean when the PCV valve is dumping sludgy oil mist bad into the intake, and EGR is pumping sooty exhaust gases back in there too. Don't get me wrong- keeping the engine cleaned out inside isn't a bad thing, but there are products that you can put in it to help clean it out without banging it off the limiter everyday.