I did a search on here to try to answer this, didn't find much detail though. I found Kappa mentioning compression braking was hard on engine internals (at least in 1st and 2nd gear), but no explanation as to why. I was wondering why this is, exactly, if any knows.

 

more revs=more wear. if you compression brake all the time, you are making your engine rev unecessarily many thousands of times a day, and that adds up over time. that and it puts a lot more stress on the parts when you load the engine like that. its mostly cumulative. doing it sometimes isnt going to cause your car to die, but doing it regularly will take years off the life of your engine.

 

It seems like it can't be that bad. At least if you're decelerating you don't have the same load as you do when accelerating. Right?

 

Is compression braking the same as putting the trans into a lower gear to slow it down? I've heard from people that this is a better way to drive since it doesn't wear out the brakes. I too have wondered what the point would be since when you down shift you raise the revs.

 

Yes that is what it is. You'll hear road racers do it to slow down faster before a turn. Has saved my butt on the street before too.

 

compression braking saves gas..........asumming you have a manual, basically shuts the injectors off since fuel isnt required to keep the rpms up

 

i would rather wear out the 20 dollar brakes pads that take 30 minutes to change than the 200 dollar clutch that takes 4+ hours to change

 

Whats compression braking?

 

so true..........this is why i love d-series i can replace a clutch and be back on the road in less than 2 hours with no lift.

 

You have a manual?