KATOOM

I was wondering if anyone has experienced trouble with their exhaust brake? And what did you do about it? This isnt a survey, just need some mechanical input.

PapaSmurf

I have one on my truck, had it since the truck was new.
I use it everyday and have not had any trouble with it. Mine is Jabacbs (spelling??)
What is yours doing or not doing??
See Ya
Chris

Homestead

55,000 km (33,000 miles) on mine. Used and abused everyday and not one problem.

The few times I have heard of problems with exhaust brakes is from not using them. They tend to soot up and stick if you don't use them. Mine gets used daily whether I'm empty, loaded, in traffic, where ever.


Jeff

Dr. Evil

Is there anything maintenance wise that can be done???

Ive heard that you can lubricate with hi-temp heat riser lube....but have yet to do it myself.

Dieseldude4x4

Mine has been working flawlessly for over 120000 miles now.

chuck3

No problems yet.

KATOOM

Well my problem started when I was coming off the mountain with a load when the PAC brake started to stick closed. It would not want to open when I applied throttle for a few seconds then it would open, causing a jerking motion of the truck since I was on the pedal. Then when I got to town the PAC would work better. It seamed the more of a load or higher the RPM's the more it would stick shut. So I called PAC and we concluded it was the housing butterfly that moved causing it to stick when it got hot and expanded. They were nice enough to send me a new one right away. I installed and everything worked great for a week or so then instantly it started all over again. Same senerio. I called PAC again and they said the chances of this happening was like being struck by lightning. So they wanted me to check the selinoid (spelling?) and I did. I took it apart and cleaned to a perfection. But that made no difference. PAC is sending parts to try to solve the mystery but now I am jumpy on the reliability of a exhaust brake. If it wasnt for a warranty I would be shelling out mega bucks trying to fix this. Anyways thanks for the replies.

Ruralmedic

No problems with my Jacobs, but it's only been on for 6 months, but I use it all the time. It's principle of operation is vacuum on, spring off. If the PAC brake uses the same, is there possibly a problem with the release spring mechanism?

KATOOM

I also use it ALL the time, so no carbon problem here. And the PAC isnt vac on/spring off, its vac on/vac off.

DPG

I've got the PacBrake, and I have had no troubles so far. I've had it for 18 months and 30K miles and it has worked perfectly. I do use it virtually every day, which I was told is the way to keep it happy.

DeWain

BPD239

My problems started when I purchased mine. I bought a BD brake and when I opened the box it appeared like the kit wasn't for my truck. I began to look through the kit and saw that I was missing the instructions for my truck and a $0.75 plastic "t" for the vacuum pump. I called BD and found that there customer service reps go through the "how to deflect customer service issues back on the customer". The person I talked to refused to accept that I hadn't received the instructions or the t because the part number on the side of the box was for my truck.

After about 25 minutes on the telephone I got them to agree to give me the size for the t.....since I purchased it from western auto, and to fax me the supplement for the instructions. Once I began to install the brake I found that the latest and greatest electronic box for the brake, that was supposed to make the installation better than the fuel pedal micro switch was crap.

I wired the brake turned on the truck, I heard the brake open fully....that was the last move it made. I then did some research and found that a $7.00 pig tail from Cummins on pin 20 could do everything BD was trying to do with there 5 cent box. I wired it to pin 20 of the ecm and it worked great for about 6 months.

After that it began to stick closed for a moment after turning it off. I remember that the instructions had a cleaning procedure for the soleniod and sent BD an E--mail requesting the procedure since the fax I received had disappeared in the last six months. I received a short response about 2 weeks after my message that said "try to remove the hoses and spray cleaner or WD40 into the fittings on the soleniod"

I know that the instructions didn't say to pull the hoses and spray WD40 into the soleniod.....

I would say that the brake while working, is great. It holds the truck at low rpm (a benefit that Jannetty Racing said was a plus of the brake) and has made towing a 8000lb boat much nicer. I just hate dealing with companies who's customer service motto is the customer is alway wrong.