Diesel ... More Than I Ever Wanted To Know

Yesterday turned out to be a wealth of information.  More than I ever wanted to know!!  Lets see if I can get this right, or reasonably right.

Here's your diesel engine, burning fuel and putting out DPM (diesel particulate matter) through the muffler.  That's that black smoke you see occasionally on the highway.  Someone (the government) decided there was too much smoke in the air and told the auto industry it had to be fixed.

THEY came up with the idea of putting on an EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve so some of the exhaust would go BACK into the engine to be re-burned.  Since it really could not burn all of it, the excess smoky soot went into the oil.  Engines became less efficient with less power.  Soot in the oil messed up lubrication and engines blew up.  Hmmm let's add even MORE crap to fix it so less soot goes back into the engine.  They then added a DPF (diesel particulate filter) to catch all the extra smoke and soot produced.

Trouble is, that very fine filter doesn't work all that great and can get completely blocked, killing the engine.  The solution to that problem was regeneration mode ... heat up that filter to 1100 degrees and burn up all the soot.  If my engine has that mode, it doesn't tell me.  So far that hasn't worked very well either.  It never burns up all the soot, which eventually will require replacement of the DPF filter costing in the neighborhood of $8,000.  All that soot in the oil still results in engine failure, which the EPA does not care about.

Are you bored yet?  Enter SCR (selective catalyst reduction) and DEF (diesel exhaust fluid).  I'm sure you've heard of the DEF product we now have to put in our rigs.  Here's how THAT works.  DEF is mostly ammonia, sent to the SCR muffler looking part that turns Nitrous Oxide (the bad stuff) into water and nitrogen.  And THAT my friends is what needs to be replaced on MY rig, the SCR muffler.  I still don't know why.

I arrived at 7:00 am to find no one in the shop, but the doors open.  I wandered around checking out the parts shop.  You can skip that part, it wasn't all that interesting.  What I DID find was the "driver's lounge".  WOW!!  Huge recliners just for my pleasure.  I played musical chairs and sat in every one.

They had a great coffee machine that made a cappuccino in record time.  Look at the foam on that, would ya??  The straw sticks straight up.  I tried to forget the part about it being 102 outside.

There were lots of snacks that matched the current temperature, by then 107.  I've never seen so many varieties from hot to SCORCHING.  I passed since most (even the candy bars) were $1.15 and up.

At 10:15 they finally came and told me I had the dreaded BAD part number and it had to be replaced.  Apparently the little clamp they needed to remove to view the part number was harder to locate than they thought, it taking 2-1/2 hours before they found it.  

At 10:30 I drove off, confident they will order the part from Las Vegas.  Yes, that little muffler-type piece will cost them (not me) $4,000.  I've no idea WHY it has to be replaced, but EPA demands it.  They will call me in a week and I will come BACK to lounge in the lounge.  Next time I'll bring lunch.