>it is the compression of the cylinders in the engine draining momentum from the wheels
Does it really? After all, while it will take energy when cylinder goes up and air is compressed, immediately after that the compressed air will be instead pushing cylinder down, returning that energy to crankshaft. There will be loss from compressed air heat migrating into cylinder walls, but it doesn't seem to be large enough to be responsible for majority of engine braking. It would also mean that diesel engines should engine brake much stronger due to higher compression ratio, but this isn't the case.
It seems to me that engine braking is just various friction losses from all parts of the engine, without single main source.
Does it really? After all, while it will take energy when cylinder goes up and air is compressed, immediately after that the compressed air will be instead pushing cylinder down, returning that energy to crankshaft. There will be loss from compressed air heat migrating into cylinder walls, but it doesn't seem to be large enough to be responsible for majority of engine braking. It would also mean that diesel engines should engine brake much stronger due to higher compression ratio, but this isn't the case.
It seems to me that engine braking is just various friction losses from all parts of the engine, without single main source.