engine brake or not?

For those of you who have a manual transmission...

Do you engine brake, or kick it into neutral and apply the brake pedal?

I normally do the latter because I thought I was wearing the engine or transmission down. Figured it was just cheaper and easier to change out brake pads & shoes.

 

nah, dont put it in neutral, one foot on clutch, one foot on brake, works every time



jokes aside i downshift, especially coming off the highway, and usually only break from 20mph to zero, ill start coasting at the top of the ramp too.

 

How about you go away.

 

I always engine brake.

I love the 5MT coming down mountain passes. Leave it in 4th or even 3rd (depending on grade) and never have to touch the brakes.

 

As a former trucker, I ALWAYS downshift while slowing. Not only does this prevent potential brake overheat issues while towing downhill, but it keeps the truck under my control at all times. If things go squirelly on you while you're coasting with the tranny in Neutral and you need to hit the go pedal to make a quick maneuver, you might just be SOL trying to find the right gear. And no, it doesn't hurt the engine or tranny so long as you're downshifting properly and not trying to go into too low of a gear at too high of a speed.

 

I never thought about the overheating aspect of things. Man the things you learn on this forum

 

I coast in neutral just to save gas

 

Neutral uses the same amount of gas as idle...while using the engine to brake doesn't use any gas because of the back pressure I believe.

So engine braking uses less gas in actuality.

 

Why the hell didn't I just get an auto.

 

This makes sense to me too... but why does Torque show higher MPGs coasting in neutral than engine braking? Is it just how it measures that skews the numbers or is coasting actually more efficient?

 

Want to trade?

 

Manual, always down shit, automatic on steep grades I downshift also

 

I usually downshift through every gear and go into neutral after 2nd b/c 1st it is kind of hard to get into at any speed above 5mph for me. also b/c 1st gen brakes are fairly weak imo


advantages:
use less brakes and they won't over heat, especially down hills.

disadvantages:
use more gas

doesn't harm engine or tranny any. they're just doing what they're made to. only way it could hurt is if you had overdue oil in them i would think

 

Will I have problems if my RPM goes to 4,000+ every time I engine brake?

 

No

 

as someone who grew up driving small cars on mountain roads, I always downshift on grades, even with automatics.

 

Thanks.

Another question. Is it absolutely a must not to have even the slightest forward jolt when engine braking?

 

Try rev matching. It takes practice.

 

Yes, I've actually been rev matching. It's still kind of a hit and miss even though I've been doing it for so long. The jolt I sometimes feel is really minimal, I'm just wondering if it will ruin the transmission.