Exhaust Brake malfunction
"If it can go wrong, it will"....Murphy
99 Dodge 2500 diesel with a Pac Brake. EGT, Boost and Tran Temp gages.
Love the Pac-Brake. But, after engaging it for a long 6+% downgrade, came time to start back up the hill, turned it "OFF" but it remained engaged. Symptoms were - same noise level, no turbo pressure, high EGT and no power. EGTs went up into the 1000, 1100 range as I tried to get some power out of it. Had to coast off onto the shoulder at idle. Tried to cycle the switch a couple of times, and it finally "released" after a minute or so. Normal operation afterward ( I didn't engage it again).
I didn't have any really steep downgrades remaining, so the service brakes were adequate. Used second gear a couple of times to help keep the speed down.
Called Pac Brake folks and they think it is a bad solenoid which operates the vacuum system of the brake. Taking it to a dealer on Monday for troubleshooting. Should be a fairly easy "fix". We'll see....
Just wanted to let you all know what the symptom was if you encounter the same type of failure.
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