I would like to know if there is a way to make the retarder (or whatever other names there may be) engage when I release the accelerator in my scania, my old volvo I had in my last job was lovely for it and the job I am doing now is Wales to Gloucester so there is a fair few hilly bits.
Rather than riding the break pedal down the heads of the valleys and the A40, it would make life so much easier if the retarder kicked in on its own!
(I’m expecting something along the lines of “retarders are for women” off some of you or “the ■■■■■■ is the guy driving the thing”)
Scraggy88:
I would like to know if there is a way to make the retarder (or whatever other names there may be) engage when I release the accelerator in my scania, my old volvo I had in my last job was lovely for it and the job I am doing now is Wales to Gloucester so there is a fair few hilly bits.
Rather than riding the break pedal down the heads of the valleys and the A40, it would make life so much easier if the retarder kicked in on its own!
(I’m expecting something along the lines of “retarders are for women” off some of you or “the ■■■■■■ is the guy driving the thing”)
Cheers folks!
I had one in my old daf was a button on the steering wheel, great job like ya say for hills and that, come on automatically when took foot of accelerator
Scraggy88:
I would like to know if there is a way to make the retarder (or whatever other names there may be) engage when I release the accelerator in my scania, my old volvo I had in my last job was lovely for it and the job I am doing now is Wales to Gloucester so there is a fair few hilly bits.
Rather than riding the break pedal down the heads of the valleys and the A40, it would make life so much easier if the retarder kicked in on its own!
(I’m expecting something along the lines of “retarders are for women” off some of you or “the ■■■■■■ is the guy driving the thing”)
Cheers folks!
Just pull it all the way back and engage the switch on the dash.
I may be mistaken but I think the volvos and mercedes are the only ones that have a fully automatic exhaust brake (when chosen by the driver). The rest all require some input eg pulling the right hand stalk down. On scanias there is a button at on the floor in the middle of the footwell. Very uncomfortable to use since it is a completely unnatural position for your leg and it often doesn’t work. There is also a rocker switch on the dashboard with a diagram that looks like a puff of smoke. That allows the exhaust brake to work whenever you press the brakes or turn this off (which is what I prefer unless reasonably heavy on a dry road). Most units seem to have this as the last switch nearest the window although Scania seem to wire their trucks randomly. 2 trucks of the same age in the same fleet can have a different layout on the dashboard
In my Merc if the cruise control is not on then the exhaust brake is! Annoyingly with the new Merc it sometimes also triggers the brake lights so I imagine it is like following Mavis to the garden centre!
the maoster:
In my Merc if the cruise control is not on then the exhaust brake is! Annoyingly with the new Merc it sometimes also triggers the brake lights so I imagine it is like following Mavis to the garden centre!
Brake lights being activated by the exhaust brake is common these days. Daf, Volvo, merc and scanias all do this
Yeah. . . There is no button on the floor. Forgot to mention that I drive a p series, 8 - legger and I don’t have the second stalk on the steering column. All I have is the switch to engage the exhaust break when I press the break pedal slightly. I’m guessing that the breaks themselves are not engaging and just the exhaust break as to not cause cooked brakes that I’m trying to avoid in the first place!
Similar to my scania, works on a light touch on the brakes, mine broke and Iddidn’t even notice except for a hissing noise, they are absolutely rubbish on the earlier scania (mine is 53 plate)
I guess it’s only an exhaust brake, not an engine(compression) brake or a retarder. You need to have the revs in the blue to make it effective. It will be quite noisy
Most of our P series rigids have only got the exhaust brake which is switched on by the switch on the dashboard - and it only works when you use the service brakes.
We’ve got one with a retarder with the foot button which is switched on on the steering wheel (between the cruise and the menu buttons).
I preferred the exhaust brake on the DAFs I’ve used (stalk on older ones or steering wheel button on newer ones) which stays on when you you aren’t pressing the accelerator or clutch, rather than having to ride the brakes pedal when you only want the exhaust brake.
Drift:
Similar to my scania, works on a light touch on the brakes, mine broke and Iddidn’t even notice except for a hissing noise, they are absolutely rubbish on the earlier scania (mine is 53 plate)
The early ones worked better, the newer ones that drive now are a waste of time, you’d be better off holding your hard hat out the window.
I only have an Exhaust brake on mine as it’s only a tiddler. But it works just fine if you use it right. Hit that button on the floor and keep the revs in the blue band. Slows 32t down a treat.
burnley-si:
my 04 retarder is fantastic, put the switch to auto pull the lever down to which ever setting you want job done
You can use the lever without the switch on, the retarder switch is used for dabbing the foot brake once and it then holds that speed, also if you are on a long motorway journey on cruise for hours on end you can press the button on top of the lever when it overruns to say 100 kph and it will hold it back and return to cruise automatically as it drops back to 90 kph, only really possible with a 16 litre in realality as operating the clutch to change gear cancels it
I used to have a small amount of resistance with the retarder but since its been replaced its useless, I can see the new unit over the engine.
Are there adjustments the garage can make?
I have the switch in the correct position. When it went I was going down the hill at Much Wenlock, much bleedin fun at the time loaded
