Emissions Controls and Your engine
Hint: It's not all good. Understand how EPA emission controls harm your engine and what you can do to protect it.
How do emission controls destroy engine life and efficiency?
Emission controls required by the EPA to reduce emissions have had some positive effects on air quality. However, there are heavy downsides to your engine that you should be aware of.
EGR
EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Re-circulation. It includes an EGR valve at the intake from the exhaust system to reintroduce exhaust gases into the combustion cycle to cool combustion in order to produce less NOx (Nitric Oxides) as per the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) laws.
These exhaust gases carry soot and other contaminants from incomplete combustion. They coat and begin to plug the intake manifold where they are introduced. Along with cooler combustion, significantly reducing engine efficiency. This can result in loss of gas mileage and power over time.
In addition, these contaminants wash down or blow by the piston rings and end up in the oil, causing increased engine wear as well as an increase in TANs (acids in oil that harm the engine) and fuel contamination (increased engine wear).
The Insane Diesel bypass filter system catches these extra contaminants, restoring and adding significantly to engine life, while reducing the acids and damage to engine and oil. It is your best protection against the damaging effects of emissions controls. The Insane Diesel bypass filter system pays for itself over and over, saving $1000s over the life of your vehicle.
DPF
DPF stands for Diesel Particulate Filter. In order to reduce the soot (incomplete or partially burned fuel) coming out the tailpipe, the DPF is a fine filter introduced into the exhaust system to catch soot particles bigger than 1 Micron. It then attempts to burn off the soot by introducing fuel into the exhaust system to raise its temperature to over 1100 degrees via a Regeneration burn mode. Also known as Re-gen.
While the DPF does reduce the amount of black smoke or soot coming out the tailpipe, it comes at great cost to the engine and owner. The fuel used to heat the DPF is energy wasted and does not go towards horsepower, torque, or moving the vehicle. This results in a huge drop in gas mileage! That cost is passed on to the owner.
In addition, the DPF is often easily plugged by the soot if Re-gen cannot complete its heat-cycle due to operator driving habits (stop-and-go city driving, for example). This can result in a plugged exhaust and back-pressure, harming the efficiency of the engine and perhaps even causing the engine computer to put the engine in “limp mode” until the DPF can be professionally removed and cleaned or replaced. Both options are very expensive and result in down time as well while the repair is made.
SCR
The SCR system (Selective Catalytic Reduction) is also to reduce the NOx (Nitric Oxides) produced by engine combustion and the DPF. It utilizes Exhaust Fluid injected into the SCR converter. This results in an extra cost but generally doesn’t affect engine efficiency unless the DPF fails and passes soot on into the SCR, plugging it.
Note: If the exhaust fluid is allowed to run too low in its reservoir, or crystalizes in the injector/line (due to cold/age) to plug its flow, the engine computer again then puts the engine into limp mode.
Since the ammonia or ammonia-like chemicals used in exhaust fluid can pass out the tailpipe, avoid breathing near exhaust fumes even if the black soot is not present. California has discovered the fumes are actually killing plants along the freeway. That can't be good for humans, even if the goal of reduced NOx in emissions has been met. Trail other diesels with caution.
