00 60 series engine brake weak

Might need to be adjusted,could have a leaking or bypassing selinoid,or could have bad ground

 

First things first, have the overhead run on it to make certain all adjustments are correct. If that is ok, before its put back together have the jake spools rebuilt. The part where not all cylinders are hitting sounds like electrical at the jake head itself, more than likely one of the spool wires came off, the tech should watch for this on disassembly.
I run a 97 12.7 and they are triggered electrically and function off engine oil hydraulic. I am not much on dealers either, you might look around a bit. I am very lucky, here in my little town an old high school buddy ran the Detroit shop in Missoula,Mt for years starting out as a mechanic. He moved back and now runs his own shop, unless it is a dire emergency nobody I mean nobody but Larry or me touches my engine. Ask around some, there may be someone enroute on your way home or one of the lanes you frequent that really has it together. Larry rebuilt my spools and ran the overhead at the same time and it really made a difference, this stuff comes on so gradual that it is hard to know sometimes.
J-J

 

i have a 12.7 430/470,2003, and the jakes were intermittent at best(working 50% of time) and weak for sure.turned out to be a wiring harness.we then had overhead run and jakes adjusted during that which is part of it i know.wow.lots of difference.mpg's up as well now but still rather poor.i am going to learn more regarding getting my ecm"flashed".

 

The only time mine is progressive is when it is on cruise control then it will come on 2 cyl at a time as the speed increases over the set amount. Off cruise of course all 6 at once come on. To bad about finding a good shop these engines are not that tough to work on, I just prefer to let Larry do mine, experience and all that, and sometimes I just need to get away from it for a day. Sometimes to get it done right you got to do it yourself thats for certain. Something I just thought of, when I get mine back from Larry after he runs the overhead the intake has 3 different marks on it for each cylinder. I asked him about that one time and he said that he marks them out so he does not lose track which ones have been done as the engine has to be rotated through the process, makes sense.
J-J

 

How much 'braking force' should I expect from the compression brake on the S60? Mine doesn't feel like it's braking as hard as I think it should or could.

As a point of reference, loaded to 75K gross descending a 6% grade in 9th (10 speed) starting at 50mph with brake fully on, I reach 55mph and have to stab brake back down to 50mph every 15 seconds. Normal, or weak in your opinion?

 

That sounds about normal, I had mine rebuilt as I said before and that helped, I also run a bigger Borg Warner turbo now, 171702 S400, it is for the 500 to 550hp and that helps build boost on the lower end, in turn better jakes. Every little thing adds up to something better in the overall view. I have done some other things too that make things more interesting that Detroit says NO to. Do not expect the older S60 jakes to be like the newer Cummins, I ran with a buddy that has one of those and it is just a different animal, big jakes! Oh well, I kick his butt on fuel economy and power...

 

Definitely want to hear more about your turbo / exhaust and 'no-no' mods. The owner is a big gearhead, so I could probably sell him on those.

 

I would also like to learn a bit more. I'm running a 96 430/470 S60. Is there a way to get it up to 500 without throwing a lot of money. I'm happy with the way it runs now but a bit of extra oomph would be nice. Sorry for the hi-jack.