Leave engine brake on?

I heard doing this harms the engine and your fuel economy? Any truth to it?

 

News to me. My Jakes are on pretty much all the time.

 

May hurt your wallet if you jake in a no jake zone. Most communities have ordinances against engine brakes due to the noise created. Never ever heard of damage to engine caused by them. Have heard of drivers that refuse to drive without them.

 

I always leave myne on, if in a no jake place i put on low and keep rpms low, if i loaded if empty turn em off but i drive down a lot of mnts.

 

I don't think they care about me running them in a company truck with Stock Exhaust.

 

I had a mechanic tell me once that leaving the engine brake on would damage the engine. I have kept mine on for many years and have never had a problem. I like the extra stopping power offered by leaving the engine brake on and it saves my brake pads.

 

i used to leave on but with my dd15 its impossible to shift smooth due to the jakes having no delay and hydraulic clutch having no room to touch lightly to disengage on shifts if u double clutch i suppose it wouldnt matter .i see dd15s lighting brake lights on upshifts often that means jakes engage between shifts very hard on transmission and clutch imo

 

Well think about it.....if every time you go to coast the engine actively slows you down, that's going to effect your mpg. Your motor used more fuel to get up to speed and braking (engine or service) is bad for mpg. Now sometimes you need to slow down, but slowing down every time you take your foot off may be un necessary in some cases and slow you more then you need, thus wasting fuel.

Now as far as damage, it isnt great for the drive train but likly wont damage it. If your not a good shifter it can make shifting harder, and missing shift and grinding is bad for your truck. But lets think of what happens. Your cruising and the engine is pushing the wheels. Your jake comes on and instantly the wheels are pulling the engine. Doing that back and forth more then you need to cant be great for the drivetrain. Not to mention, have you ever seen trucks accelerate from a stop with the jake on? Even if they dont miss gears, everytime they relce the throttle to shift the jake kicks in ans lows them down while there trying to speed up. It lugs the engine more as they get in the next gear because they loose to much speed. (Unless they don't relce the throttle all the way) Now there are also new trucks that dont jake until they feel like it....and those are a whole different story.

 

Bullhaulers sure have loud jakes.Think they leave em on so they can feel big and bad,lol.

 

Using the engine brake won't hurt your fuel mileage.

Arguments could be make about stress on the drive train, tranny and even engine I guess if used improperly.