Is engine braking bad for your car?
 

Hey guys I just have a quick question.

When you approach a red traffic light, is it a good idea to downshift and engage the engine brake to slow down the car? Or will this have negative effects on the car in the long run?

Thanks

I want to know this too...

First off, theres no "engaging" of an engine brake, because there is no actual engine brake. "Engine braking" is the term applied to the act of downshifting, and letting the motors revolutions paired with a higher gear do the natural slowing down for you. As far as it being bad for the engine, no. Excessive engine braking can be harder on your clutch though.

This thread had me confused, I was frantically looking for the "engine brake" in my Integra. :chuckles:
j/k

I agree with honda_pilot, there's no negative effect on the engine while "engine braking".

i always "engine brake" and dont have any problems with it. its easier on your brakes too

Let's say that you were driving down a steep hill. You should engine brake the car, or you could just be a noob and ride your brakes.

The only worry about using the engine to brake (which slows the car down due to compression), is that you don't downshift to a too low of a gear. For example, say your going 50mph in 5th gear, you downshift to 4th, but you really go into 2nd (or maybe you want to go to 2nd), the rev's will jump up to about 7000 rpm. This is basically doing the same damage as if you were to accelerate to 7000 rpm, which the damage is nothing, unless you do this 10 times a day. So using the engine to slow you down, will do the exact same damage as if you were accelerating at that same rpm, and with honda's being high revving, your not doing any damage, as long as you are reasonable with your downshifts.

i use "engine braking" constintley, it saves brakes UNBELIEVABLY well. just get ur downshifting points right. when u down shift from any gear the rpms should stay under 3500. at least for me when i downshift i keep it between 3000 and 3500. after a while it gets real easy and easy to tell when to downshift. thing that took me the longest was letting the clutch out REAL slow. if you drop it the engine will just rev WAY up and give you a HALTING feeling and hit your face on steering wheel lol. just let the clutch out slowly and keep rpms between 3000 and 3500 and NO harm will be done.

Downshifting (if not done properly) will eat your synchros. Especially 1st gear. Honda trannys seem very susceptible to this.

Also, don't listen to this guy:
Let the clutch out REAL slow?!?! He's braking with his clutch. Stupid. The clutch and the brakes are very similar in concept and operation. The difference is that one of them is easily accessible and cheap/easy to replace, the other is expensive/hard to replace and you have to take apart your whole ****ing drivetrain to do it. Which would you rather replace more often?
:rolleyes: