I started posting about our emissions delete in the EGR Cooler leaking thread. However, that didn't seem like the place to write about it. My hubby and I bought an Ecodiesel to replace my Subaru that just couldn't handle driving into 40-60mph gusts on a daily basis - and I don't blame it. We wanted something that would get the same kind of fuel economy but be powerful enough to not to drop fuel economy driving into the wind we have here. Before we bought this truck we wanted to do an emission delete because the goal is to have Pops (what I call my truck) around for a very longtime.
Three days after purchasing out 2015 Ecodiesel 4X4 we noticed a coolant leak. Took it to the dealer and was told that the radiator, water pump, and EGR tank were leaking and all needed to be replaced. After three weeks of back and forth with the dealer, we had the water pump and radiator replaced and get away with a new O-ring instead of replacing the EGR cooler (mainly because there was a wait for the part until Feb). Just an aside, we drove 800 miles on this repair and never noticed any other evidence of leaking. So we believe that our EGR was fixed with simply the O-ring being swapped, but who can say for sure.
Christmas Eve, Hubby and I spent about 8-9 hours doing a full emission delete. We got the optimization tune from GDE and pipes from FlowPro and a CFT stage 2 EGR delete kit. One thing we did have trouble with was a leaking coolant hose. When we cut the clamp and plugged it, as per the delete kit instructions, we didn't notice the crimp clamp had left a hole that didn't get plugged. So we had to cut the pipe and plug it again. Now there are no more coolant leaks. We also left our engine cover off to help it better cool out. Since then we have driven the truck over 800 miles in some mountainous and wintry conditions, and we couldn’t be happier with the improvement! Not only does the engine breathe like an Olympic athlete, the tuning by GDE is outstanding!
The first test was driving home over I-70 in Colorado (Grand Junction to Denver) and then I-25 back up to WY. If you don’t know the road, that stretch is canyons, mountain passes, step climbs followed by steep downgrades and lots of really fun curves. We were able to get 29.8 mpg to Denver. The truck purred up the hills at full speed and then held itself back coming back down. Before the delete we had some weird lurching and bumping when the truck would down shift, and all the jostling and lurching is gone now. It’s one of the smoothest rides I’ve ever felt! Then once we got into traffic in Denver and headed north (which is 130 miles of slow elevation climbing), our fuel economy dropped and we rolled to our house at 28.5 mpg for the overall trip. For comparison, we got 26.2 mpg going down to CO. This was on slower roads and the “downhill” part of the trip.
Then I took the truck up north on I-25 and drove 360 miles round trip with about 100 miles in 4-wheel high due to snow, ice, and 65+ mph cross wind, and with the average outside temperature at about 12f. On this trip, again the engine and truck ran like a dream. It did a better job getting into and out of 4 wheel drive, and handling the crazy conditions. For this trip I got 25.8 mpg which is still better than when I ran that stretch on clear roads at 70 mph the week before the emissions delete where the truck got 24.5mpg.
Lastly, I have also noticed that I gain economy driving around town. The truck gets through the lower gears much quicker and coasts at a happier RPM. Overall the truck runs at in a much happier RPM range and the engine at lower temperatures.
Just as a side note about our driving, we drive for fuel economy and never go above 70mph if we can help it. We also tend to “putter” around town to maintain fuel economy. We are also on winterized diesel, so hopefully things will be even better once it warms up.
To wrap up this long-winded report, I want to say that we are extremely happy with the delete and the tuning from Green Diesel Engineering. The truck’s performance is outstanding. However, there are a few simple issues we need to resolve:
1. We have noticed exhaust in the cab when we idle the truck. Usually on the initial morning start up. We believe that we simply need to tighten the clamp on the down pipe as it might not have been completely sealed until it ran a bit longer. We have also though about adding an additional seal. Will report back if it turns out to be something else.
2. We have a lot of sensors zip-tied beneath the truck and in the engine compartment since we didn’t have time to trace them all back and figure out how to remove them. We are going to look into this later. It’s not a big deal, but we don’t want to get one snagged somewhere and have it come ripping of the truck.
Hopefully someone will find this information useful. We plan to keep tinkering with the truck and to enjoy it for many years to come.
Three days after purchasing out 2015 Ecodiesel 4X4 we noticed a coolant leak. Took it to the dealer and was told that the radiator, water pump, and EGR tank were leaking and all needed to be replaced. After three weeks of back and forth with the dealer, we had the water pump and radiator replaced and get away with a new O-ring instead of replacing the EGR cooler (mainly because there was a wait for the part until Feb). Just an aside, we drove 800 miles on this repair and never noticed any other evidence of leaking. So we believe that our EGR was fixed with simply the O-ring being swapped, but who can say for sure.
Christmas Eve, Hubby and I spent about 8-9 hours doing a full emission delete. We got the optimization tune from GDE and pipes from FlowPro and a CFT stage 2 EGR delete kit. One thing we did have trouble with was a leaking coolant hose. When we cut the clamp and plugged it, as per the delete kit instructions, we didn't notice the crimp clamp had left a hole that didn't get plugged. So we had to cut the pipe and plug it again. Now there are no more coolant leaks. We also left our engine cover off to help it better cool out. Since then we have driven the truck over 800 miles in some mountainous and wintry conditions, and we couldn’t be happier with the improvement! Not only does the engine breathe like an Olympic athlete, the tuning by GDE is outstanding!
The first test was driving home over I-70 in Colorado (Grand Junction to Denver) and then I-25 back up to WY. If you don’t know the road, that stretch is canyons, mountain passes, step climbs followed by steep downgrades and lots of really fun curves. We were able to get 29.8 mpg to Denver. The truck purred up the hills at full speed and then held itself back coming back down. Before the delete we had some weird lurching and bumping when the truck would down shift, and all the jostling and lurching is gone now. It’s one of the smoothest rides I’ve ever felt! Then once we got into traffic in Denver and headed north (which is 130 miles of slow elevation climbing), our fuel economy dropped and we rolled to our house at 28.5 mpg for the overall trip. For comparison, we got 26.2 mpg going down to CO. This was on slower roads and the “downhill” part of the trip.
Then I took the truck up north on I-25 and drove 360 miles round trip with about 100 miles in 4-wheel high due to snow, ice, and 65+ mph cross wind, and with the average outside temperature at about 12f. On this trip, again the engine and truck ran like a dream. It did a better job getting into and out of 4 wheel drive, and handling the crazy conditions. For this trip I got 25.8 mpg which is still better than when I ran that stretch on clear roads at 70 mph the week before the emissions delete where the truck got 24.5mpg.
Lastly, I have also noticed that I gain economy driving around town. The truck gets through the lower gears much quicker and coasts at a happier RPM. Overall the truck runs at in a much happier RPM range and the engine at lower temperatures.
Just as a side note about our driving, we drive for fuel economy and never go above 70mph if we can help it. We also tend to “putter” around town to maintain fuel economy. We are also on winterized diesel, so hopefully things will be even better once it warms up.
To wrap up this long-winded report, I want to say that we are extremely happy with the delete and the tuning from Green Diesel Engineering. The truck’s performance is outstanding. However, there are a few simple issues we need to resolve:
1. We have noticed exhaust in the cab when we idle the truck. Usually on the initial morning start up. We believe that we simply need to tighten the clamp on the down pipe as it might not have been completely sealed until it ran a bit longer. We have also though about adding an additional seal. Will report back if it turns out to be something else.
2. We have a lot of sensors zip-tied beneath the truck and in the engine compartment since we didn’t have time to trace them all back and figure out how to remove them. We are going to look into this later. It’s not a big deal, but we don’t want to get one snagged somewhere and have it come ripping of the truck.
Hopefully someone will find this information useful. We plan to keep tinkering with the truck and to enjoy it for many years to come.
