Ducato Auto Engine Braking

[stevel]

We’ve got a 2022 Ducato with the comfortmatic system. It’s really good to use on most roads but I do not like long steep descents where I’m never sure whether to switch over to manual and try to keep in a low gear but then that involves a lot of braking, or to leave it in fully auto and let the engine take over. But then the rev counter goes crazy. Might seem a naive question but how do others use the comfortmatic system on these very long steep downhills? Cannot find any guidance, videos etc on this and the Ducato owners handbook doesn’t help either.

 

[ivorantony]

Flick it into manual and use the appropriate gear for the decent, obviously keeping the revs in check
And braking as necessary to keep the speed down,

 

[Kannon Fodda]

The hill descent mode will only work when in a low gear, and at low speeds (below I think 25mph). Exceed the speed and the mode will cut off. The idea is it tries to hold a low gear to enable engine braking as you move downhill so you aren't leaning so much on the brakes. But you do have to brake too on steep hills else momentum will still increase too much.

Yes the engine will rev high, especially if speeds increase. You would only use the descent mode on steep windy type roads where you want to be going slow, and keep slow, so you are both using the engine to brake (so no throttle to accelerate), but trying also to minimise how much you lean on the brakes themselves. Found it quite useful on some narrow mountainous roads around the Scottish Highlands and North / West of Ireland.

 

[stevel]

I think i’d use hill descent on shorter stretches but sometimes the downhill stretch might be as much as half a mile or more. This is when I’m never sure whether to leave it in auto or flick over to manual, I’ve done both but still don’t feel I know the right way of descending these very long stretches without sitting on the brakes.

 

[KUSKUS]

Can you use the UP button ?

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[Bill-H]

I've seen more than one rig at the bottom of an Alpine and Pyranese descent sitting at the roadside with overheated and smoking brakes because they weren't aware that you should be changing down through the gears rather than just using brakes. An expensive way to find out when your brake pads are glazed over and the discs fried

 

[Kannon Fodda]

View attachment 1017616 Can you use the UP button ?

Nope, that has a different purpose for going UP, not down. The Up button delays the auto gear change a little later from say 4th to 5th, or may drop the change a little earlier, 5th to 4th so the engine is revving just a bit more and perhaps helps you to maintain momentum when climbing a hill whilst heavily laden. As Motorhomes are inevitably heavily laden, I find I have the Up button on most of the time, noticeable even on lengthy motorway slight gradients when otherwise speed might slowly bleed away.

Completely different to use of engine braking when coming downhill.

 

[Googlebot]

If it helps, I think the manual Ducato is rubbish on long downhills. You either have to rev it to death or cook your brakes. Neither are desirable so you end up going very slowly and annoying people behind.

 

[Roby2008]

For the steep stuff both up and down, I always flipped into manual and made my own judgement on changes, it made for a much more pleasant drive....took my comformatic to 100,000km without incident....

 

[Beltie]

We’ve got a 2022 Ducato with the comfortmatic system. It’s really good to use on most roads but I do not like long steep descents where I’m never sure whether to switch over to manual and try to keep in a low gear but then that involves a lot of braking, or to leave it in fully auto and let the engine take over. But then the rev counter goes crazy. Might seem a naive question but how do others use the comfortmatic system on these very long steep downhills? Cannot find any guidance, videos etc on this and the Ducato owners handbook doesn’t help either.

Doesn't a 2022 Ducato have a full auto, and not a Conformatic?

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[Toxkid]

2022? Is it the comfortmatic, (Why can't I say that without resorting to a Wallace accent) or the ZF 9 speed automatic. The ZF box will hold the gear if going downhill and there are no inputs on the accelerator. This does send the revs upward especially if the hill is steep, a few dabs on the brakes will bring the speed down, and may result in the auto selecting a lower gear, but be prepared for the engine speed to rise. This is normal behaviour for this type of autobox, and stops you cooking the brakes on steep roads.

 

[Speve]

Here is the instructions from my manual.

 

[stevel]

2022? Is it the comfortmatic, (Why can't I say that without resorting to a Wallace accent) or the ZF 9 speed automatic. The ZF box will hold the gear if going downhill and there are no inputs on the accelerator. This does send the revs upward especially if the hill is steep, a few dabs on the brakes will bring the speed down, and may result in the auto selecting a lower gear, but be prepared for the engine speed to rise. This is normal behaviour for this type of autobox, and stops you cooking the brakes on steep roads

Yes it’s the comfortmatic. The more I read on this subject the more confused I get! I think (but somewhat less than 100% sure on this) to use engine braking at the start of the downhill stretch I should flip it over into manual and ideally select a similar gear to that that the auto selected to go up the steep stretch and then take foot off brake and let engine braking take it down the steep bit. Maybe dipping the brake every now and again to stay in that gear.