I work out of a depot which is 100% MAN, 58 to 60 regs. Many of the trucks have faulty engine brakes, the gear box changes down and a engine brake symbol appears on the dash but there is no retardation. Is this a common problem?
Yes.
Yep, they’re rubbish.
I find them great when they’re working but mine sometimes comes up with engine brake failure and then works 10 seconds later. MAN electrics for you!
MAN electrics leave a lot to be desired. 
our 60 plate engine and exhaust brake very very poor, specced our 62 plate with a retarder the difference is amazing.The engine brake works by closing the exhaust valve and should have a clearance of .6mm its spring loaded and quite tricky to set up correctly Man recommend this should be set with every oil change.
All exhaust/engine brakes are a waste of space, retarders should be specced by law in my opinion. All this BS about health & safety yet a device which stops a HGV sooner is an optional extra.
no no no, you’ve got it all wrong, its brakes to slow gears to go, doncha know… 
…makes for easy training and test passes too… 
In practice the MAN exhauster is one of the best when its working, if used correctly with manual gear selection for maximum effort the brakes need not be used in normal driving except to bring the vehicle to a final halt, this at max 44t.
In comparison with Scania’s puny exhauster effort that makes a noise, and thats its whole contribution, the MAN exhaust brake is a gem.
MANs get some stick here, meself included, but if issued to a driver or combination of drivers who actually give a toss they are a perfectly serviceable lorry, they do not take kindly to abuse from the steering wheel operative contingent.
Silver_Surfer:
All exhaust/engine brakes are a waste of space, retarders should be specced by law in my opinion. All this BS about health & safety yet a device which stops a HGV sooner is an optional extra.
Yes the retarder on a Volvo is extremely good I find.
One thing i find extremely annoying about Scanias, and the latest Volvos (don’t know about previous models, can’t recall if they were the same), is that the brake lights are applied when the exhaust or retarder is operated, MAN’s don’t have this fitment, hopefully they won’t join the fad.
I think this is cobblers, brake lights should mean business not just slightly more than overrun slowing, they should not be on continually for up to several miles on a long downhill section whilst the exhauster/retarder is the sole means of keeping speed in check, a lorry slows far quicker on a hill that even a full Jacob Brake could manage but somehow cars behind don’t ram us up the arse because the brake lights didn’t illuminate.
Juddian:
One thing i find extremely annoying about Scanias, and the latest Volvos (don’t know about previous models, can’t recall if they were the same), is that the brake lights are applied when the exhaust or retarder is operated, MAN’s don’t have this fitment, hopefully they won’t join the fad.
With the Volvos the brake lights will only come on if the retarder is operated at it’s harshest setting or stage 3 but not if operated gently.
bald bloke:
Juddian:
One thing i find extremely annoying about Scanias, and the latest Volvos (don’t know about previous models, can’t recall if they were the same), is that the brake lights are applied when the exhaust or retarder is operated, MAN’s don’t have this fitment, hopefully they won’t join the fad.With the Volvos the brake lights will only come on if the retarder is operated at it’s harshest setting or stage 3 but not if operated gently.
Thanks for confirming that, last one i drove was probably a 10 plate when it was new, and wasn’t even aware of the brake lights coming on at the time, i thought it was solely Scania that did this.
Certianly the only retarder i’ve drive to compare favourably with a Jacob.
Juddian:
no no no, you’ve got it all wrong, its brakes to slow gears to go, doncha know…In practice the MAN exhauster is one of the best when its working, if used correctly with manual gear selection for maximum effort the brakes need not be used in normal driving except to bring the vehicle to a final halt, this at max 44t.
In comparison with Scania’s puny exhauster effort that makes a noise, and thats its whole contribution, the MAN exhaust brake is a gem.
MANs get some stick here, meself included, but if issued to a driver or combination of drivers who actually give a toss they are a perfectly serviceable lorry, they do not take kindly to abuse from the steering wheel operative contingent.
I entirely agree - the poorest in my experience were Mercs.
Juddian:
One thing i find extremely annoying about Scanias, and the latest Volvos (don’t know about previous models, can’t recall if they were the same), is that the brake lights are applied when the exhaust or retarder is operated, MAN’s don’t have this fitment, hopefully they won’t join the fad.I think this is cobblers, brake lights should mean business not just slightly more than overrun slowing, they should not be on continually for up to several miles on a long downhill section whilst the exhauster/retarder is the sole means of keeping speed in check, a lorry slows far quicker on a hill that even a full Jacob Brake could manage but somehow cars behind don’t ram us up the arse because the brake lights didn’t illuminate.
The Scania retarder is a vicious beast so you definetley need the brake lights to come on! I suppose you mean it would be nice if it differentiated between light use that didn’t show brake lights & balls deep power that does show the brake lights.
Silver_Surfer:
Juddian:
One thing i find extremely annoying about Scanias, and the latest Volvos (don’t know about previous models, can’t recall if they were the same), is that the brake lights are applied when the exhaust or retarder is operated, MAN’s don’t have this fitment, hopefully they won’t join the fad.I think this is cobblers, brake lights should mean business not just slightly more than overrun slowing, they should not be on continually for up to several miles on a long downhill section whilst the exhauster/retarder is the sole means of keeping speed in check, a lorry slows far quicker on a hill that even a full Jacob Brake could manage but somehow cars behind don’t ram us up the arse because the brake lights didn’t illuminate.
The Scania retarder is a vicious beast so you definetley need the brake lights to come on! I suppose you mean it would be nice if it differentiated between light use that didn’t show brake lights & balls deep power that does show the brake lights.
Never tried a Scania with retarder, my complaint was about Scanias waste of time and no effort exhaust brake operating the brake lights for no reason whatsoever, pure overkill.
The brake light thing i fnd annoying on lots of vehicles, especially the latest Mercedes cars with LED brake lights bright enough to melt your retinas, doesn’t matter if the drivers just resting his foot on the pedal or stopping at 1g, no difference, and with the flicker effct of the LED’s you can’t judge the rate of decleration either, so much for safety.
Oh sorry, I didn’t realise you meant the exhaust break does it on its own. Yes that is a bit silly.
My 540 TGX has got the retarder/exhaust brake combination and its blinking awesome. 6 stage, stages 5 & 6 operate the exhaust brake as well as long as the revs are up high enough. Combined with the 16 speed manual box it all makes for really nice, very controllable driving. The brake lights only illuminate if its slowing down at a quick enough rate to warrant them, not just whenever the retarder is applied.
Rusty Nail:
My 540 TGX has got the retarder/exhaust brake combination and its blinking awesome. 6 stage, stages 5 & 6 operate the exhaust brake as well as long as the revs are up high enough. Combined with the 16 speed manual box it all makes for really nice, very controllable driving. The brake lights only illuminate if its slowing down at a quick enough rate to warrant them, not just whenever the retarder is applied.
Rarely see a MAN of that HP in the UK, precious few chosen and individually specced up like yours, most are standard fleet fodder with either a narrow or wide cab @ 440 and the odd 480, though most 480’s i’ve seen have been east european regd, and with the narrow but high roofed cab.
Presumably you’ve got a gearbox in that and not the usual crap ZF auto steering wheel operatives issue (thats i’m blessed with… 
Is it the same engine remapped for the extra 100hp, or a different lump entirely? oh and what sort of fuel figures do you see at what weights please?
I like the idea of proper programmed brake light illumination as yours has (and as i’ve learned here in this thread Volvo do similarly), thats what i’m talking about, i doubt the standard exhaust braked fleet motor ever attains enough engine braking to fire the brake lights, but i’ll keep an eye in the mirror in the dark in case i reach the heady heights of actually lighting 'em up in the lower gears… 
It’s a genuine MAN option at 540. Same engine as the 480, the D26 I believe.
We previously had a TGA with the D26 480 lump which was brilliant so we opted for a bit more grunt when speccing the new one.
The truck is a recovery vehicle so the weight varies massively. It weighs 20 tonnes on its own and some days may be towing an empty 7.5 tonner and then the next day it may be towing 44 tonnes so I can’t give you an accurate fuel return figure. It has also only done 30,000 K’s so she’s still running in. Another factor to consider is the amount of pro work it does. The previous TGA returned a very rough average of 8.9mpg over 5 years and 250,000 k’s.
As for the spec, obviously we wanted the extra horses for when we grossing nearly 65t and this was also the reason for speccing the retarder option. It had to be a manual gearbox as well. Makes life so much easier when trying to manoeuvre and pull heavier weights. The result is a very easy truck to drive.
The thing might work properly once the Double-U-Zero model of the same truck comes out. 
Are you MAN enough to drive a W-0-MAN?