Really bummed out

[GMAN]

Now I got a question, him and his dad both insist that the Jake is BAD for these trucks, saying it will quickly cause head gasket to blow?! They both say not to use it at all unless really needed. I never heard of such a thing myself.

I had a mechanic tell me once that using the jake was not good for the engine and could damage it. I believe he was talking about harming the valves. One of my trucks has over 900,000 miles on it and the jake is on most of the time when I have driven it. I am not sure about the drivers that I have had in the truck. Well over half those miles have been driven with the jake constantly on. The only engine work I have had performed on that truck is injector sleeves and 2 injectors. I do shut the jake off when I am going through a parking lot but on the interstate it is constantly on. It affords a little extra braking if I ever get into a tight situation and saves my brakes.

[matcat]

Yeah I never heard of such a thing either. But they inist that these motors are too 'powerful' to run the jake that much, but I think they are just beeing paranoid, 500hp motor isn't that powerful! Although I must say both trucks I have driven in the last few days do have much much more power then any freightliner or volvo I have ever driven before!

Ok PHOTO TIME! This is one is bosses truck:


And this blue one below is going to be mine. It is identical in every way to his dad's truck, the one I drove yesterday with the autoshift, except they replaced the autoshift in this one with an 18 speed, they are going to do the same on the other truck too.

[Orangetxguy]

Thanks!

Now I got a question, him and his dad both insist that the Jake is BAD for these trucks, saying it will quickly cause head gasket to blow?! They both say not to use it at all unless really needed. I never heard of such a thing myself.

The "jake" is a mechanical instrument, just like the "service brakes", so under the right conditions, it can cause damage to the engine. If you engage the jake at 1700 or more rpm's, then yes you can cause engine damage. It starts first with stretching out the head bolts, which in turn leads to blown head gaskets, then on up the line of damage from there.

If you are using the jake as it is intended, to assit the service brakes, and only use it at the lower rpm range (1250 to 1600 rpm's), no damage should be occuring.

That was how it was explained to me....many many years ago.

[Creek Jackson]

The "jake" is a mechanical instrument, just like the "service brakes", so under the right conditions, it can cause damage to the engine. If you engage the jake at 1700 or more rpm's, then yes you can cause engine damage. It starts first with stretching out the head bolts, which in turn leads to blown head gaskets, then on up the line of damage from there.

If you are using the jake as it is intended, to assit the service brakes, and only use it at the lower rpm range (1250 to 1600 rpm's), no damage should be occuring.

That was how it was explained to me....many many years ago.

Do you to tell me that those BBR's that come blasting down the off ramps, wound out with their jakes on might be damaging their engines? C'mon now gimme a break!

[Orangetxguy]

Do you to tell me that those BBR's that come blasting down the off ramps, wound out with their jakes on might be damaging their engines? C'mon now gimme a break!

Unmuffled exhaust does not always mean "wound out". Just loud.

[Creek Jackson]

Unmuffled exhaust does not always mean "wound out". Just loud.

Valid point.