Hi! I find it quite adaquate for conservative driving. I just (today) had SARA in for her service work and asked the SM to check the wear on the brakes while they were rotating the tires. 25,000 miles and still have over 80% left on the most worn pads and the rotors look almost new. I always have downshifted as my SOP to slow my vehicles down before I apply the brakes. I'm not sure how downshifting (aka "engine braking") could hurt an engine as long as one doesn't pop the clutch or high-rev them. That is one of the reasons I buy my vehicles as manuals...operator control. I'm sure a manual has more "engine braking" capabilities than an automatic could ever dream of offering. To each his / her own. As long as you enjoy your Jeep, that's all that counts! Take care... Mike

 

I do not Understand why anyone does what you are doing. I only downshift a manual if going down a long hill to keep from riding the brakes and heating them up. Otherwise I use the brakes for what they are made for, Stopping, and I use the clutch for shifting.

Having 80% of your brakes is great but I would rather replace a set of brakes and rotors over a Clutch any day.


On the engine wear topic I can definitely see where it could cause more wear. Think of the connecting rods and how the bearing will ride on the crankshaft when its pushing the crankshaft, accelerating. Now when engine breaking the crankshaft is pulling the connecting rods around applying pressure to the opposite side of the bearing. In a perfect world this should not cause a problem. However if there is a slight imperfection in the bearing I believe this will accelerate a failure.

 

Sounds like a pissweak engine if it can't handle engine braking, hows it going to handle burnouts? :P
I engine brake because my earlier 4x4's and vans all had "average" braking systems, and also I know if the crap hits the fan and I want to accelerate I can straight away rather than having to downshift of find a gear from angel coasting.
Petrols are usually only good for 200,000km before a rebuild anyway.
I've even chirped the tires plenty of times on downshift on 150,000km engines and 6 years later they're still going fine.
Mind you I'm taliing real engines, V8's, straight 6's and big 4cyls not disposable ecoboxes.

 

Hi! Just as an example...I still drive my '97 F-150...still has original engine, original clutch, original tranny...everything in the drivetrain is original and working just fine...no clutch slippage, no unusual oil consumption (perhaps just a wisker under the "full" indicator) when changing the oil. I occationally tow a 4500 # construction site trailer with it as well. The Chevy pickup before it has the same history (same usage, etc). each one had (or has now) just under 200,000 miles on them! Do you think they owe me anything? As far as I can tell, conservative driving and attention to preventative maintenance schedules are the reasons for this. Take care... Mike

 

Anecdotal evidence does not prove a thing. There are always exception to everything. My Jk is has an 11/30/06 build date. However my hardtop does not leak and has never leaked. By your logic that means none will leak. Everyone's that does leak was do to poor maintenance.

As far as downshifting I still don't understand. In all my years of driving I have never been coming to a stop and had to gun it and get back up to speed in that big a hurry that I couldn't downshift. I don't know how people drive where you are from, but here its just not a concern.

This leads me to my point. I am not going to argue whether it should hurt the engine or not. The point is the way I see it, it won't cause a problem if you don't do it. Except for possibly an extra set of brake pads and that's a whole $30. However you could be damaging your engine and cause more wear on the clutch by doing it. However insignificant is may be you cannot tell me it doesn't cause wear.

Finally, on one side you have maybe a $30 set of brake pads. On the other side you have the possibility of premature clutch wear or internal engine damage. Unless I am missing something this is pretty obvious where the smart money is.

 

Where do you get these $30 brake pads? Not from a Jeep Dealer
Accelerating causes wear too and should be minimised if you are going for the 500,000km longitivity award, engine braking on steep offroad decents wears your engine too, not doing so can wreck your whole car and get you killed. Offroading also wears your suspension and can cause long term chassis damage.

If the motor can't handle it, it gets turffed for a motor that can

 

I too am annoyed at the lack of engine braking. I have owned nothing but manuals in my life (with the exception of my 65 mustang) and they have all done well up here in the mountains. But this Jeep... not so well.

 

Boy, big rigs must go through engines every 5 miles then. As all they use to hold speed going down hills is their engine.

Especially since there is no reason a properly running engine would be damaged. The only side effect of engine braking is the engine runs lean, as it will run more rpm with the throttle at idle. But if properly tuned, this is not an issue.

 

Okay, no problem. I'm a 60 year old dementia patient so I'll go back to my drueling and laughing at absolutely nothing. You win, I and probably 8 trucks are wrong. I've only been driving for 45 years so being a "newbie" at it I'll conseed. Take care... Mike

 

I agree.......... and I also started this thread SooOOO PLEASE if you own a JK with a slushbox (AKA automatic) please keep your comments to yourself, or, start another thread about automatics and lack of engine braking.