Engine braking practical

Carrerasax

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So using gears to slow down does the action of braking, after engine has done initial slowing, still give further assistance as you reduce Rev level while braking?
 
Always use engine for braking, in the van and in the car, also the landrover, its a must when pulling the trailer with 2.5 ton plus pushing you forward, but then its habit as i was taught to drive using the engine for braking, brakes were a luxury on old vehicles.:eek:
 
On modern vehicles the brakes are designed to stop the vehicle without engine breaking, certainly out vehicles anyway.
 
nabsim said:
On modern vehicles the brakes are designed to stop the vehicle without engine breaking, certainly out vehicles anyway.
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I go along with the above for general driving. (A long downhill descent might mean using the engine but that is not a regular event for most).
I still recall my Driving Instructors mantra 4 decades ago .... " Engines are for going, Brakes are for slowing".
 
Carrerasax said:
So using gears to slow down does the action of braking, after engine has done initial slowing, still give further assistance as you reduce Rev level while braking?
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If you're braking, surely the gas is off anyway, I read the road ahead, if within a few hundred yards I see brake lights I come off the gas anyway, no point in accelerating to a stop.
 
I`m ex HGV1 and use engine braking in both the car and the motorhome.

We love the Pyrenees and the Rhone Alpes and have driven thousands of miles in them without any problems with the brakes.
 
This became an issue as brakes overheated pads in Spain soon after we had bought it new.
I don’t brake hard or excessively as consider it a waste of energy but on mountains and long hills on major fast routes/traffic not always possible to avoid with all traffic reading.
Made me wonder whether brakes/pads are up to the job, particularly levels of weight constantly unlike vans that aren’t always loaded/full!!
 
I believe the new modern diesel engines (at least on cars) dont have the same engine braking as the older engines ?


I assume this is down to a lot more 3 cylinder diesel engines plus probably a lot less “friction” ( or resistance ?) in modern engines
 
I am certainly not anti engine braking and older/heavier vehicles could easily be in a mess without it. On my sprint shift if I hold back with the brakes the gearbox changes down and holds a low gear without me doing anything so the vehicle uses engine braking even though I don’t.

The only personal vehicles I have are automatic boxes of one kind or another so much more reliant on brakes having to do the job. I well remember fitting some fast road pads in a Saab thinking I would have brilliant braking only to narrowly avoid crashing over the Cat &Fiddle road. By the end of the run brakes were just reaching a working temperature and then stopped it as I had expected. As soon as I got back home I changed pads out for normal and car was once again safe.

Unless you are in an HGV or older vehicle I doubt you actually need engine braking as modern brakes are just so much better it’s hard to believe. Of course it does rely on keeping them working right and using right pads and disks for the application.

Do they still use Jake brakes on new wagons *****? That was exhaust brakes like the face dumpers had I think wasn’t it?
 
I understand that until fairly recently newer brake pads are not as effective as ones in the past as the asbestos content was removed, but the overall braking system on newer vehicles is lightyears away from the old stuff with much larger discs, calipers, pistons, etc.
I was a little surprised that my 4.6t van has drum brakes on the rear though!
 
I have always used the engine to slow down. I maybe do it too often as a few years ago my Mechanic told me I was starting to get 'pitting' on the discs on my car. His advice was to drive it like a boy racer for a while. :)
 
I can only recall one hill that worries me (don't get out much) and that is the long one down to Gale in the dales, I use the engine, 2nd all the way down, let it run up to 25-30 ish then bring it back down to 20, unless there is traffic behind in which case I pull over.

It starts here, some of you may have stayed at this junction, it used to be in the WC list.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d54.2574689!4d-2.215701
 
Snub braking (look it up on thr www) is the recognised technique and part of that is if the frequency/force /duration of braking applications needed to maintain control gets too high, then a heavier brake application to get the speed down so you can change to a lower gear is required asap. Then reasonable snub braking applications to keep speed under control but if not, then reduce speed and go down another gear. Biggest problem is keeping the boy-racer overinflated ego suppressed well enough that you can handle the thought that someone in a lighter vehicle might beat you to the bottom.
Listen to *****
 
Clunegapyears said:
Agree with above, break pads much cheaper than gear boxes. Kids these days are not taught engine breaking.
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It's fifty years since I passed my driving test. I was taught to use the engine and gearbox to slow down.
Done it ever since.
In the fifty years I've never had a gearbox fail, nor a clutch.
Brake pads...yes.
I've no intention of changing my driving skills now.
 
You have to pass a test??? WTF
 
***** said:
Just think what soft sand filled escape roads are for on mountain down hills. For idiots who come down using brakes,
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Or drunken fools!

In my youth (many many years ago) me and my mates were out on a spree and decided to see if these escape roads worked so merrily plough into one in my mates Triumph Herald.

It worked.

Oh we had such fun getting the thing back out!!!

Lesson learned though, never put yourself in a position where you might need to use the escape road. You'll be there for hours.
 
Earlier in this thread I noticed two separate points I'd take issue with.
1," Engines for going, brakes for slowing." Notice when you ease the pressure on the accelerator pedal, or feathering, the vehicle will slow. This is "Engine breaking" Your doing it, every time. When I was taught to drive, the mantra was,"Off the gas, let it roll." Engine breaking would occur unless pressure was kept on the accelerator
.2, "Engine Braking is not taught anymore". No one is taught to drive anymore. They're taught to "Pass the Test." Nothing more. That's why the standard of driving is so pathetic. When was anyone taught to drive with a fag in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Never, but you see it everyday.
 
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