Looking forward to our trip to New England this weekend. Last year we took our little Camry. We went up and down some very steep hills in town. The engine was screaming in 2nd gear with brakes on to slow down going down some steep hills. So, with an 8000# bus, well. . . that should be fun.

I remember reading some posts that the engine braking isn't so good with a 6.5. So, I was wondering if it were good, bad, or what. We are only talking about a few days, not a lifestyle.

Thoughts anyone?

I always considered the engine braking of my 6.2/6.5 to be better than my gas engine counterparts. They were also better than my current Cummins and that is why it has an engine brake. I wouldn't be concerned, your 6.5 will do just fine.:cool2:

The main thing here is to watch tranny temp. With the converter unlocked (like it is in most situations when you are downshifting to use the engine as a brake) you will see alot higher fluid temps due to the shearing affect happenning in the converter. Remember, a converter is not designed to run "backwards" efficiently, so you will get heat fast. If you have a tranny temp guage, no problem just keep an eye on it. If no temp guage I'd use it very little. 4L80's are expensive to replace!-:t

Good point on tranny temps, hadn't really considered that end. I read somewhere the crank didn't like the reversal of torque too much. Somewhere back deep in a thread not too long ago, or maybe I remembered it wrong. The amount of engine braking would be limited to maybe no more than 1/2 mile maybe +/-. No towing or anything to help "push" me down the hill.

Thanks for the tips!

my sugestion is that brake pads are far cheaper than transmissions unless your brakes can't stop you i would use them engine breaking only as a last resort