Maintain emission control equipment the CEM way, for longer, trouble-free engine life!

We continually hear of modern low emission, heavy duty truck engines having to be rebuilt at only 600,000km or less, and many stories of long periods out of service. One of the biggest issues in maintaining reliability is keeping the emission control equipment working properly.

Normally, this just means keeping everything clean and working freely. However, that’s easier said than done. Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valves can load up with soot, as can turbos, diesel particulate filters (DPF), Ad Blue injectors and sensors in the exhaust. EGR issues can also lead to severe and constricting inlet system deposits.

The high temperature and high pressure created in common rail systems can degrade diesel, leading to fouling deposits that interfere with injector response and spray patterns. This can cause over-fuelling or poor combustion, which results in an increase of soot load on EGR’s and DPF’s. EGR valves malfunction further increasing soot related problems, which can increase the frequency of DPF auto-regeneration cycles.

Oil soot levels also become elevated, and as the problem advances piston ring deposits build, oil consumption & blow by increase, and engine service life is shortened…often dramatically!

Emission control equipment maintenance achieves optimum service life

To achieve the optimum service life and reliability from these low emission diesels (as with all diesels), the focus should be on prevention. With over 30 years in maintenance problem solving, Brisbane-based Cost Effective Maintenance has developed tailor-made solutions that correct most of these emission control problems, before a rebuild becomes necessary. Similar principles apply to these low emission diesels as has for older technology ones…

1. Reduce the amount of soot at its root cause…Combustion. FTC Decarbonizer, added to the diesel, acts to catalyse the combustion process, achieving a more complete fuel burn, with less soot to foul turbos, EGR’s and DPF’s.
2. Optimize injector function and reduce in-system degradation of the diesel. CRD Fuel Enhancer firstly cleans up and keeps clean the high precision fuel system, particularly pumps and injectors. In addition, it increases fuel lubricity to reduce the frictional heat generated by pumps and injectors that result in fuel break down. The lubricity boost also ensures that injector response (which can be several times per firing cycle) is immediate, accurate, and prevents over-fuelling.
3. Clean coked up turbos, and keep them working efficiently with no drop off in boost pressure. FTC Decarbonizer also catalyses the combustion of carbon, lowering the burn off temperature to around 300 deg C, and actively cleans up turbos.
4. Maintain EGR cleanliness. The use of FTC Decarbonizer and/or CRD Fuel Enhancer achieves this.
5. Maintain DPF cleanliness. FTC Decarbonizer will burn off soot downstream in the exhaust to DPFs, and eliminate the need for manual DPF cleaning. It will also clean up Ad Blue injector tips.
6. Maintain low oil soot levels. FTC Decarbonizer use will result in less soot production, and with cleaner piston top ring grooves, improved sealing against soot migration into the oil. Should oil soot levels become too high, as frequently happens in many low emission diesels, the engine needs to be flushed. Use Flushing Oil Concentrate, which is also capable of freeing severely blocked piston rings.
7. Prevent air intake system deposits. Use of either FTC Decarbonizer &/or CRD Fuel Enhancer is recommended to maintain clean intake systems. Where intake manifolds are heavily carboned, removal and manual cleaning is recommended, rather than use of solvents.

Cummins, Cat, Detroit, Volvo or other diesel engines…if they’re giving you grief, Brid Walker of Cost Effective Maintenance invites you to “Bring your problems to us! In most cases, we’ll have a low cost solution for your needs.”

Recommended products to maintain emission control equipment…