Exhaust Break Issues

[NickSullivan]

Hello, I'm having issues with my exhaust brake on my 2014 with 12,000 miles. Its been sporadically not working when I am towing. The truck down shifts but no exhaust brake comes on. Yesterday I had my camper and horse trailer on my truck at the dealership because I am having issues when loaded heavy with a vibration or harmonic when the torque converter locks up in 2nd or primarily 3rd gear. During the test drive with the tech in the truck the exhaust brake quite working and the tech starts playing with the EB button changing modes and turning it off and on. No change. It eventually started working again on its own. The discouraging part is that he stated his uncles 5500 is having the same issue and he can't figure it out. Any thoughts or past experience on this one? I sure would like to get some of these issues resolved on my truck.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Do you leave the exhaust brake on alll the time? I have read you are supposed to.

 

[NickSullivan]

As needed, meaning when towing or in traffic or hills.

 

[DHuffman]

Did they update your software? I have not had any issues with the exhaust brake, but it seems less effective after they installed the last update.

 

[NickSullivan]

They updated it a few months back. Nothing yesterday.

 

[Larry Willard]

I had a problem a few time last year, but since all the updates were done it has been flawless for a year now.
Larry

 

[HorseMan-AR]

Curious if they fixed your issue with 2nd and 3rd...your issue might be the same as mine. Just wondering what they did for that. Or did they say it's related to exhaust brake?

Hello, I'm having issues with my exhaust brake on my 2014 with 12,000 miles. Its been sporadically not working when I am towing. The truck down shifts but no exhaust brake comes on. Yesterday I had my camper and horse trailer on my truck at the dealership because I am having issues when loaded heavy with a vibration or harmonic when the torque converter locks up in 2nd or primarily 3rd gear. During the test drive with the tech in the truck the exhaust brake quite working and the tech starts playing with the EB button changing modes and turning it off and on. No change. It eventually started working again on its own. The discouraging part is that he stated his uncles 5500 is having the same issue and he can't figure it out. Any thoughts or past experience on this one? I sure would like to get some of these issues resolved on my truck.

 

[NickSullivan]

We got no where with a solution HorseMan-AR. We crawled all over the truck. They then looked up the issue with Ram and found a document that describes the problem and states DO NOT REPLACE ANY PARTS, engineering is working on a solution, April 2013. The service manager also has the same issue on her 3500 SRW Aisin. I would suggest you load up your truck and take it in and let the dealer hear what is going on. This is not the first time I have heard of this issue. I've been kind of sitting on it because I have seen complaints like this on the web and I had hoped that someone else would have figured it out so I didn't have to haul my camper and horse trailer in to the dealership. Now I will wait a week and then call the service manager to find out what we are going to do about both issues.

 

[slingshot383]

Get in the habit of everytime you start your truck, you turn on the exhaust brake. If you don't, the collar that slides to engages the exhaust brake gums up and stops working, leading to other issues down the road.

 

[Hoefler]

Are you running in Tow/Haul mode?? If not, start running T/H and the exhaust brake will perform completely different.

 

[EDankievitch]

The E break will turn off at rps lower that about 1100 rpm. THat said unless I'm in tow/ haul there is no rime or reason how it will work from day to day. One day it will hold my speed down the hill the next it will unlock and I'll be over 50 down the same hill.... In to haul it's much more dependable...

 

[NickSullivan]

I am in tow haul when hauling the camper or any trailer. We were in Tow Haul mode when the exhaust brake was on and failed. This has nothing to do with RPMs or not being in the right mode. It just would not come on when it was supposed to. The truck would down shift and rev but the EB would not come on.

I sure hope that if the EB was just gummed up the tech would have figured that out and cleaned it. I kind of doubt this is the issue however since we primarily only use this truck to haul or tow and it gets worked pretty hard most of the time. I think I'll pull the EB out today and see what it looks like just so I know.

 

[HorseMan-AR]

Thank you! Let me know what they say. Very curious on solution or what Ram is working on. I'm sure my vibration/shudder issue with 2nd and 3rd is the same as your problem.
I'll send a private message to chat, if OK.

Transengineer on here sent a good message yesterday that may be our problem. It's under the launch shudder thread on here. Mine shudders real bad when towing (at speed, not from stop), but it's only between 2nd and 3rd. Like the AISIN is confused. And I feel it as well as hear it. Trans engineer described the issue....very informative read.

We got no where with a solution HorseMan-AR. We crawled all over the truck. They then looked up the issue with Ram and found a document that describes the problem and states DO NOT REPLACE ANY PARTS, engineering is working on a solution, April 2013. The service manager also has the same issue on her 3500 SRW Aisin. I would suggest you load up your truck and take it in and let the dealer hear what is going on. This is not the first time I have heard of this issue. I've been kind of sitting on it because I have seen complaints like this on the web and I had hoped that someone else would have figured it out so I didn't have to haul my camper and horse trailer in to the dealership. Now I will wait a week and then call the service manager to find out what we are going to do about both issues.

 

[Ram4Sam]

Hello, I'm having issues with my exhaust brake on my 2014 with 12,000 miles. Its been sporadically not working when I am towing. The truck down shifts but no exhaust brake comes on. Yesterday I had my camper and horse trailer on my truck at the dealership because I am having issues when loaded heavy with a vibration or harmonic when the torque converter locks up in 2nd or primarily 3rd gear. During the test drive with the tech in the truck the exhaust brake quite working and the tech starts playing with the EB button changing modes and turning it off and on. No change. It eventually started working again on its own. The discouraging part is that he stated his uncles 5500 is having the same issue and he can't figure it out. Any thoughts or past experience on this one? I sure would like to get some of these issues resolved on my truck.

Nick, when your exhaust brake isn't working.....when you turned on the exhaust brake, did the indicator light in the pushbutton come on and is the indicator on the evic showing?

Sam

 

[Ram4Sam]

We got no where with a solution HorseMan-AR. We crawled all over the truck. They then looked up the issue with Ram and found a document that describes the problem and states DO NOT REPLACE ANY PARTS, engineering is working on a solution, April 2013. The service manager also has the same issue on her 3500 SRW Aisin. I would suggest you load up your truck and take it in and let the dealer hear what is going on. This is not the first time I have heard of this issue. I've been kind of sitting on it because I have seen complaints like this on the web and I had hoped that someone else would have figured it out so I didn't have to haul my camper and horse trailer in to the dealership. Now I will wait a week and then call the service manager to find out what we are going to do about both issues.

Trying not to sound too negative here........since new, my truck has had a problem with the center stack switches (tow/haul, x brake, seat) not working. Engineering has been working on this since last summer, complete with a video I made for them showing the condition. I just heard back from them, through the tech working on the problem.......they have no solution and can't supply the dealer with any info to resolve the problem. I wouldn't wait to anxiously for a fix from them for your problem..........

Sam

 

[NickSullivan]

Yes it is. We cycled the button and the EVIC showed the different modes. Also switch to the display with the turbo and exhaust brake indication and it showed that it was functioning. Kind of seems like the exhaust brake is sticking or failing.

 

[NickSullivan]

RAM4Sam, I hear ya. When I saw the date of April 2013 on the document I saw the writing on the wall and knew this probably was something I was going to have to live with. The exhaust brake issue however is not something I am going to let go. I will see this one through until its resolved.

 

[sag2]

If the converter is slipping they should be able to see it with the scan tool attached. Since it is only loaded (weight in bed or kingpin weight) I would say it is more likely a slight variation in drive line angle. You could prove it out by towing a heavy load with light tongue weight and see if it is still there.

 

[NickSullivan]

Looked at that too. When loaded and with 45 psi in my air bags the two piece drive shaft is straight. This concerned the tech so I increased the bags to 100 psi to lift the back of the truck and putting some angle on the second drive shaft. No change