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Always on exhaust brake?

Midwesterner

Midwesterner

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I have been noticing what seems to be the exhaust brake whenever I am slowing down from over 20mph, even when my switch and dash say it is off. Has anyone else noticed this, or am I imagining things? It seems to shut off under 20 mph, as the full exhaust brake does.
 
It's not showing that it is. To somewhat test, I coasted down a long low hill, from 35. Between 35 and 25 I was decelerating noticeably (1mph every 2-3 seconds), once I got under 25 it began accelerating at a similar rate-all while showing nothing on the gauge
 
Midwesterner said:
It's not showing that it is. To somewhat test, I coasted down a long low hill, from 35. Between 35 and 25 I was decelerating noticeably (1mph every 2-3 seconds), once I got under 25 it began accelerating at a similar rate-all while showing nothing on the gauge
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Thats grade braking in the trans most likely
 
H3LZSN1P3R said:
Thats grade braking in the trans most likely
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My thoughts as well. My truck pretty aggressively grade brakes, especially when im unloaded.

OP can you hear the exhaust brake engaging?
 
What makes you think it’s engaging if you can’t hear it?
 
Midwesterner said:
I can't hear it engaging distinctly. What is grade braking?
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If you cant hear it I doubt thats what is causing you to slow.

Grade braking is basically the trans using its gears + engine speed to slow the truck naturally. These trucks are very purpose built to tow so lower gears will work to slow the truck when descending naturally. When I am driving around unloaded I usually have to accelerate a bit to maintain speed when going down grades.
 
My 3500 has been doing this exact same thing and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Thanks for the explanation.
 
tchur1 said:
If you cant hear it I doubt thats what is causing you to slow.

Grade braking is basically the trans using its gears + engine speed to slow the truck naturally. These trucks are very purpose built to tow so lower gears will work to slow the truck when descending naturally. When I am driving around unloaded I usually have to accelerate a bit to maintain speed when going down grades.
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That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.
 
Agree with the others, it is the trans doing its thing. The last thing you want is for the truck to free coast down a incline. With the weight of these things, you would be going Mach 1 pretty quickly without the truck using the trans to keep things in check.

The exhaust brake is a whole other process that is user selected to help maintain speed (auto mode) or aggressively slow the truck (full mode) in all incline/decelerating scenarios.
 
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