Installed the EGR blocker plate and finger mod today. All went well until I dropped my 12mm socket down in that dark hole behind the blocker plate exhaust flange!!!!! Son of a @#$%......... Now for my personnel observations: Drove 65 miles, engine seems not as loud , especially on decell . Seat of the pants performance no change. Gas mileage no change. Got 18 round trip. Temperature guage on DIC seemed to fluctuate a little from 185 to 195 for no reason. All on level ground outside temp 43. Trans iced out at 125. No codes. Still evaluating more info to come.........p.s never did recover my socket!!.....Rick

You will notice a small decrease in the overall engine operating temps with the blocker plate. You might see a small <1 MPG increase, but don't hold your breath. Partial throttle response will be different, but I have never been able to put my finger on what exactly is different. Keep an eye on your oil and let us know if it stays cleaner longer. A couple people have told me that it stays cleaner, but I haven't noticed anything significant.

Fingers did you notice any difference in the grade braking or tow/haul? Just wondering about pressures being different with the egr loop closed. But then I don't know much about it. Maybe that's the partial throttle response change is slightly different pressure in the intake?

Not in grade braking per se. Again, I never did put my finger on what the changes are. Just seemed to change the character of the engine. Not good or bad as far as I can tell. Just different. I have no other way to quantify it other than seat of the pants. I had hoped to compare boost vs backpressure with and without the plate/stick, but I am slow getting to it. Maybe after the weather warms up.

hears a ??? for all of you.

does any one have any pics of the egr plate intalation? i am getting ready to start this project and dont want to screw it up. thanks

Brutis-
What have you done to the exhaust?

Doug12000.........Nothing exhaust is still stock. I've heard that disconnecting the egr will plug the cat in due time. Don't know if this is true on not, guess we'll find out. Still getting about 18 mpg on 65 hp tune (hand cal'd). The engine definetly runs a little quieter especially when going down a grade. Also, I don't feel like there is as much compression hold back as before the egr was platted. I know this sounds crazy but my trans temp seems to be a little higher too. Example, outside temp is 32 and its running at 150. Before it was just barely above 100. Positives so far; quieter engine, cleaner engine oil (I hope). Neg.; still evaluating,................Rick

Sooooooooooo, what is gained by doing the EGR mod?:rolleyes:

Brutis-
It was my understanding that an EGR plate was needed after removal of the muffler and kat due to the reduced back pressure. You mentioned a disconnected EGR will "plug the cat."

Just curious for my own edification....

The only two I am sure of are reduced engine temps and less soot in the intake.

One disadvantage is longer warmup times.

Brutis-
It was my understanding that an EGR plate was needed after removal of the muffler and kat due to the reduced back pressure. You mentioned a disconnected EGR will "plug the cat."

Just curious for my own edification....
No, you don't need the plate. The Stick is what corrects the MAF signal to make the ECM happy when you go to a free flowing exhaust.

Plating the EGR is not going to plug the CAT. Where did that come from??

Sooooooooooo, what is gained by doing the EGR mod?:rolleyes:

An internally cleaner, soot free motor.

An internally cleaner, soot free motor.Now dats what I wanted to know.:D

Doug12000..........I had read on this forum that some ford powerstroke owners had disconnected their egrs and had experianced plugged cats. I went back and looked, could'nt find it. Maybe someone remembers reading this. Chime in. Again, I dont know this to be true. I am having the temp changes on trans and engine, more to the bad then good. I know it don't make sense but its there.........RickJury still out, am going to decide next week either to leave it in or take it out.....more info to come.

Thanks Brutis.

After doing some reading on another site, I figured out where I'd gone wrong. The blocker plate prevents the EGR from occuring at all. Which means no dirty air flowing back into the engine. BUT you miss out on the heating effect which is supposed to aid combustion... So I think you might be on to something about the plugged cats. With incomplete or inefficient combustion the catalytic converter is forced to do more work. I'd imagine fuel economy would decrease over the long run.

Thanks Brutis.

After doing some reading on another site, I figured out where I'd gone wrong. The blocker plate prevents the EGR from occuring at all. Which means no dirty air flowing back into the engine. BUT you miss out on the heating effect which is supposed to aid combustion... So I think you might be on to something about the plugged cats. With incomplete or inefficient combustion the catalytic converter is forced to do more work. I'd imagine fuel economy would decrease over the long run.
It cant do a whole lot of anything when its sitting on the garage floor, hint, hint.

Fortunately Okie-lahoma doesn't check emissions (unlike Cali) and I'm not too worried. I see a 4" Magnaflow turbo back in my future...

I do however like to know exactly what I am doing to my +40k investment. I don't want to do a mod just to say I installed a (insert cool sounding part name here) and have no idea wtf I am talking about...

The Ford 6.0L has had the easy EGR disconnect (1 wire) for a while. The rednecks (loggers ) here in B.C. did it right off the lot. I know of 3 cases pesonally (2x2004, 1x2005). One 2004 split his cat this winter (stock), one 2005 blew a chunk out and it rattled (has predator programmer), one 2004 pulled his off after his buddy's split and there is approx. 4" of light shining through the honeycomb cat material ( saw it my self). These are low mileage, one driver trucks that did this mod on the recommendation of a local performance shop (10,500 to 27,000kms). These guys just fuel and drive (additives? why?) unlike me (use Standyne every tank since 1992 or Power Service if I run out away from home) (saw the difference in pump and injector wear on old rotary Bosch systems after disassembly). The Duramax is a totally different beast, but I noticed after a short period of disconnect, that there was always a bit of soot out of the exhaust on highway runs (easy to see on my white paint). When stock, the paint stays clean (unlike my 2003 Dodge, a cat free HPCR system, also white, always left a soot stain). I chose to leave my EGR connected because, I did not want to confuse the techs while they were trying to fix GM's programming glitches in my LLY, I don't work my truck hard enough to make the cat work (takes heat to burn the deposites of the cat), I noticed a loss in mileage and driveability with it disconnected, I like quicker cab heat in the winter, I have had plenty of oil samples tested on my newer equipment (EGR equipped) because the oil was going black and in the old days that meant some thing wasn't right, results were always very good (lab acutually told me to relax the new oil is meant to keep this soot in suspension and no harm is being done but keep on top of the oil change intervals), and I hate making changes without knowing the specifics (still don't know what is changing when the computor starts to sence a backpressure change or flow change, something does change, I have felt it and measured it, mileage). This was all before my riding buddy's had problems with their Ford cats (by the way, those things are falling apart, but that's a whole other thread). To each his own. I haven't seen or heard of a cat plugging on a Duramax yet. Like I said before they are a totally different beast (maybe GM runs them hotter). If it wasn't for the variable orfice turbo on the LLY, I would be in a much greater hurry to plug the EGR and remove the cat just for the performance gain, but in the total picture the gains are not that much from what I have seen and read.

Went on a 100 mi. trip today and when I started up the grade to come home the engine temp was running about 185 and went to almost 210 in no time flat. I had gone up the grade a little over 1/2 mile before it reached this temp. It did'nt get any higher but I sure did'nt like it. The temp outside was 48. Trans temp was a hair over 150, this was higher then it use to run before the egr mod. I decided right then that the egr mod had to go. Will be removing it tomorrow after work.........................Rick

What was wrong? 185 is below normal and 210 normal operating under load. I don't follow what you think is wrong.

After you have it all off, please report back what your temps are again.

Also, if you return the stick to me I will refund your money.

Fingers............Been reading back through the 64 pages of the first egr post to see if anyone else had these problems. Found one simular; posted by BigWill 21, pg44
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12715&page=1&pp=10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have had my EGR unplugged for maybe a month now...I have noticed soom irregularities(Sp.) since i unplugged it...


-At first it did puff a bit more smoke and seemed to spool up a bit quicker but Mieage did go down at first...


-Secondly, since the day I unplugged it an put more than 10 mi. on it the Transmission Temp went up 10-15* and the Engine Temp went up 5* , before my truck continuously ran at Tranny 155-160 and engine temp at 190-195 AT ALL TIMES after warmup, unless towing more than say 8000lb. in traffic...


I KNOW THESE #'s ARE CORRECT, ever since I removed my Cat. I have kept a strict record of temps. to compare durring towing and un-loaded City/Highway driving.. And to have a correlation for when the Edge is installed under the same situation, outside temps. and all





SO, DOES ANYOEN HAVE ANY IDEA WHY??? I can understand teh Engine Temp. becuase maybe my EGR wasn't full closed, going to reconnect it and run it for a fe days..., but not the tranny, it shouldn't have been effected I wouldn't think...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than the temp issues I don't have any complaints, just trying to give some feedback on my experience..............Rick

I think you will find that after you remove the plate your engine temps will be higher over all. Not much, but higher. I can think of no relation between the tranny temps and the plate.

I am not discounting your observations Rick. They are different from what I have experienced myself and from what I have heard from others. If nothing else, I want to know what is going on jsut for the sake of knowing.

Went on a 100 mi. trip today and when I started up the grade to come home the engine temp was running about 185 and went to almost 210 in no time flat. I had gone up the grade a little over 1/2 mile before it reached this temp. It did'nt get any higher but I sure did'nt like it. The temp outside was 48. Trans temp was a hair over 150, this was higher then it use to run before the egr mod. I decided right then that the egr mod had to go. Will be removing it tomorrow after work.........................RickHmmmn, Sounds like my "bone" stock LLY, with no mods except the four inch cat-back MBRP cool duals . . . and that is the only mod on my truck.
My engine and transmission temperatures has always fluctuated the same amount. I see no difference at all before or after the dual exhaust install. My next mod will be to drill a four inch hole through the honeycomb in the cat with a four inch hole saw. Hopeful it will maintain enough back pressure to satisfy the computer, and he don't rat me out by setting a bunch of tell tale codes. :eek:

I can't seem to get an answer if unplugging the EGR gets the same results of using the blocker plate and finger kit?

Can anyone give some feed back from just unplugging EGR vs. Blocker plate.

My New LLY is on its way to stealer and I really don't want the EGR operational any longer than driving it home.

Mods are awaiting in the shop.:ro)

I can't seem to get an answer if unplugging the EGR gets the same results of using the blocker plate and finger kit?

Can anyone give some feed back from just unplugging EGR vs. Blocker plate.

My New LLY is on its way to stealer and I really don't want the EGR operational any longer than driving it home.

Mods are awaiting in the shop.:ro)

IIRC the two worries that everyone seemed to have when just doing the unplug mod were:

1) Not knowing if the EGR was fully closed (although it probably was)

2) The EGR stepper motor getting all clogged up from soot

The california boys also hated the SES light from pulling the plug, It masked when they had a real problem.

Removed my EGR mod last night after work, went on a short test run, temp. on the tranny and motor returned to normal (or at least the way it was before the mod). Oh well, ..............Rick

and what is "normal"?

Return the stick and I'll refund your money.

Should have been more clear............NORMAL for me!! At least what I was used to seeing when driving my duramax. I think I described my experience as accurately as I could in the previous posts. I don't regret trying this mod not even for a moment. Fingers, I'm going to hang on to the stick, may need it if I change to larger exhaust or remove cat ect. Thats the nicest piece of engineering I've ever seen and I thank you for that............Rick

I am not being critical. I just want as much info as possible so I can understand what is going on.

So now what are your engine and tranny temps?

Engine temp right at 185........tranny temp just off of the 100 mark, outside temp 42. Most noteable is the fluctuations are gone. I do realize that they were well with-in the normal range even with the mod installed which included both the stick and blocker plate, hope this info helps. I actually wish you were her to have seen it. Gets me mad cause nobody else seemed to have this problem..........Rick

Guess I need to take a road trip...... :)

Stick orders have dropped to zero. Wonder why? :)

Does the Stick allow the EGR to operate normaly if there is no Plate?

Could I leave the stick on all year to let the kitty stay dead, and leave the plate out in the winter for quicker warm up? Its -30C here today

Stick works fine without the plate. I am using components rated down to -40C, so you shouldn't have any problems.

Posted this info on another thread - forgot about this thread.

Installed both the Stick and Blockler Plate yesterday. Engine is definitely quieter. Seems to run smoother. Will be checking MPG's and report same. No change in engine / trans temps compared to prior to install.


Installed the EGR blocker plate and finger mod today. All went well until I dropped my 12mm socket down in that dark hole behind the blocker plate exhaust flange!!!!! Son of a @#$%......... ......p.s never did recover my socket!!.....Rick

BTW - I did the same friggin thing!!

installed stick and plate sat. went on 150 mile trip saw. no changes in engine temp, trans temp or egt. did notice more free wheel going down hill. installed 4 inch / cat delet exhaust last nite. will see how she does.

I have the plate installed, do I need the stick???

I have the plate installed, do I need the stick???
I see you are in California. So you probably are getting the SES light. The Stick will cure that. As far as "need", that has been debated a lot. Noone knows what, if anything, the ECM is doing to compensate for the blocked EGR.

Bought truck in Washington. No lights, I can feel the difference in throttle response. If no lights I dont need the stick??? Is that correct?

I installed the plate and the stick this past weekend and have a few observations:

Takes a lot longer to reach normal operating temp of 210

Seems to run better and mileage seems improved although I have not figured it, but I installed the combo package, jumped in and made a run of about 70 miles round trip. Used less fuel according to the gauge than it usually takes me and that was with idling while at the car wash and flogging it a bit to enter the hwy.
Hwy speeds 'round these parts are 75 posted, 80 accepted. I ran it about 78 on the speedo, but I have no correction for the larger tires, so this may be a few MPH faster than 78.

Seems to gripe less in cold weather running when its not fully up to temp. Seems to just wanna go, whereas before it would rattle like my buddies Dodge if I gunned it up when it wasn't warm enough.

It may not be scientific, but its what I have noticed.

Chisuzu: I bet with 315s and 4:10s you are close to what I am at with 285s and 3:73..
WHP told me I was going 84 with cruise set at 78. Just so you know. Where are you in WY? I'm in wheatland..

Mountain View. Between Evanston and Green River off 80.
I've been meaning to put the GPS in the truck to check the speedo. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow night. Heading up Green River way. Should give me enough hwy time to get an accurate read.

Try this site to check tire size, gear ratios, etc....

http://www.4lo.com/4LoCalc.htm

Used the Predator I got yesterday to check the DTC's. Happy to report that with the blocker plate installed I don't have any DTC codes. Finger Stick must be doing it's job :)