I started doing this even before I knew it had a name. As u know engine braking is using a lower gear to slow down a car without using brakes alot. What I want to know is if it has adverse effects on the car, gears, engine

As long as it's done sensibly - i.e not going flat out in 5th, then suddenly shifting into 2nd, and expecting the engine to cope.

The engine will over come the rev limiter, and over rev, this could lead to valve "bounce".
This could result in valve-to-piston contact, not good.

Another reason I don't like automatics, no engine braking, so in the event of brake failure, your parking brake won't stop you, if you're going fast enough! If you're lucky, you might go through a stiff hedge / bush, to slow you down enough.

On the other hand, if you're unlucky, there might be a massive crash barrier waiting to say hi to your car. . .

of course you can have engine braking in automatics, just like you can drive them like manuals, but there still is a slight lag during the upshifts,

Nighttrain:

of course you can have engine braking in automatics, just like you can drive them like manuals, but there still is a slight lag during the upshifts,

If you're doing say 80 mph in 4th in an auto, and you down shift to 2nd, the control unit will NOT make the change, till the car's speed is slow enough not to damage the transmission.

So by then, you'd have crashed!

im still trying to think of how it is possible to do the enigine braking with auto

atilla:

I'm still trying to think of how it is possible to do the enigine braking with auto

Technically, you can't.

Torque converters allow way too much slip.

engine braking is fine, just as long as u do it correctly,

dont jump from gear 5 to gear 1 all in the name of engine braking, u have to go down the gear "tree" accordignly, 5 4 3 2 1, then all will be fine, or even 5 3 1, this works as well,

if u watch car racing a lot, u'll notice that besides their normal brakes they use this engine braking a lot, but then again, be careful, it really hurts ur gearbox, trust me, i know,


although i havent tried this, most auto gearboxes have "D, 3, 2, 1" or "D, 3, S, L" or something like that, maybe u can try downshifting to s, L or whatever,

but then again, coming to think of it properly, it wont work, u need a clutch to really execute engine braking properly. but since auto gears don't have, then u can't,

Thanks guys. I do it a lot wen taking turns on the order of say gear 4 to 2 or 3 so I was just a bit worried that I wasn't overdoing it. Do u tink I am?

Lord_Reed:

Thanks guys. I do it a lot when taking turns on the order of say gear 4 to 2 or 3 so I was just a bit worried that I wasn't overdoing it. Do u think I am?

As long as engine rpm aren't too high, you're car'll be fine.

You don't say what transmission you've got though. . .

Thanks Siena. It's a 5-Speed Manual transmission.