Forum Discussion
ShinerBock
Mar 17, 2016Explorer
It performed very well both up hill and down hill.
I remember when the Ram video you came out last month I sent a email to them saying they need to do the down hill portion again since the they had the exhaust brake in full mode and not in auto mode. You can clearly see they had it in full mode since the icon was yellow and not green. I never got a response back from them which was kind of a disappointment especially when they should know better being a truck site.
For those that don't have Ram's, they have two exhaust brake modes, full(yellow icon) and auto(green icon). Now I know what you you are thinking that full mode show slow you down the most. It does, but only when you are downshifting yourself so in situations like the down hill Ike test where they don't shift manually then auto mode would work better.
In auto mode, the truck will remember what speed you let off the accelerator pedal or what speed the cruise control is set to and will vary the exhaust brake and even downshift to keep you at that speed. If you let of the accelerator pedal at 60 mph, then the truck will do whatever it takes to keep you at or near 60 mph. If you start to go too fast that the exhaust brake in 6th gear is not strong enough to slow you down then it will drop down a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow you down to the desired speed just like the Chevy did in the video. The higher the rpm and lower then gear you are in then the better the exhaust brake works. As stated in the owners manual, the auto mode is meant to keep you at a certain speed.
In full mode like they had in the Ram video the truck will not downshift to keep you at a certain speed like auto mode will. All it does is activate the exhaust brake when you let off the accelerator (if the rpms are high enough and the torque converter is locked) and you will remain in 6th gear at 60 mph which is the gear that the exhaust brake is the weakest. Full mode is mainly for aiding you in slowing down since the transmission will automatically downshift as you come to a stop making the exhaust brake even stronger with each downshift. It is also good for those who like to manually downshift to a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow them down to the desired speed. It is NOT best for keeping speed (cruise control or not) going down a mountain like TFL did down the Ike.
I remember when the Ram video you came out last month I sent a email to them saying they need to do the down hill portion again since the they had the exhaust brake in full mode and not in auto mode. You can clearly see they had it in full mode since the icon was yellow and not green. I never got a response back from them which was kind of a disappointment especially when they should know better being a truck site.
For those that don't have Ram's, they have two exhaust brake modes, full(yellow icon) and auto(green icon). Now I know what you you are thinking that full mode show slow you down the most. It does, but only when you are downshifting yourself so in situations like the down hill Ike test where they don't shift manually then auto mode would work better.
In auto mode, the truck will remember what speed you let off the accelerator pedal or what speed the cruise control is set to and will vary the exhaust brake and even downshift to keep you at that speed. If you let of the accelerator pedal at 60 mph, then the truck will do whatever it takes to keep you at or near 60 mph. If you start to go too fast that the exhaust brake in 6th gear is not strong enough to slow you down then it will drop down a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow you down to the desired speed just like the Chevy did in the video. The higher the rpm and lower then gear you are in then the better the exhaust brake works. As stated in the owners manual, the auto mode is meant to keep you at a certain speed.
In full mode like they had in the Ram video the truck will not downshift to keep you at a certain speed like auto mode will. All it does is activate the exhaust brake when you let off the accelerator (if the rpms are high enough and the torque converter is locked) and you will remain in 6th gear at 60 mph which is the gear that the exhaust brake is the weakest. Full mode is mainly for aiding you in slowing down since the transmission will automatically downshift as you come to a stop making the exhaust brake even stronger with each downshift. It is also good for those who like to manually downshift to a gear that the exhaust brake is strong enough to slow them down to the desired speed. It is NOT best for keeping speed (cruise control or not) going down a mountain like TFL did down the Ike.
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