[mbates6o]

Does anyone know of a exhaust brake system that would possibly fit on our trucks. I would love to get one for towing my camper. This in my opinion is one of the downfalls of owning this truck. It should have been equipped with either a engine or exhaust brake system.
Thanks , Mike

 

[Dunrollin]

Mike, I have not heard of one but I agree diesels don't do much self braking. Wish someone would come up with one. My motorhome has it and I leave it activated most of the time. It is very simple, just a solenoid in the exhaust down pipe that closes whenever you slow down and it also automatically down shifts the transmission. It really shortens brake distance and saves on the brake material.

 

[navyR113]

Does anyone know of a exhaust brake system that would possibly fit on our trucks. I would love to get one for towing my camper. This in my opinion is one of the downfalls of owning this truck. It should have been equipped with either a engine or exhaust brake system.
Thanks , Mike

Green Diesel Engineering's F-150 PS engine tune has an exhaust brake option, and I can tell you from personal experience it works well.

"The engine braking feature is a useful add-on for customers that tow often or folks that drive down mountain grades. The feature is active when the following conditions are met: in gears 1-10, engine rpm above 2250 rpm, and foot off the accel pedal. While the engine braking is active the turbo vanes are closed more to create higher back pressure in the exhaust manifold. This makes it harder to push exhaust out and that force acts on the pistons to help slow the vehicle down. This helps to reduce the need for vehicle brakes and reduces wear on the brake hardware. The feature not active in normal driving conditions."

Ford F-150 Powerstroke Engine & Trans Tune - GDE

The GDE HOT Tune combo on the Ford F-150 Powerstroke diesel brings enhanced driving characteristics, performance and fuel economy together.

greendieselengineering.com

 

[mbates6o]

I wasn’t aware that the turbo on these trucks are variable pitch. If they are it would be very easy to do it. And obviously would work.
does anyone know? Do the turbos on our trucks have variable pitch????

 

[Dunrollin]

Yes.

From the Coffee Table book:

"Variable Geometry Turbocharger

The turbocharger increases the mass of charge air for the engine by supplying it under pressure to the intake system, which increases the power and torque output of the engine.

The turbine rides on a shaft that connects it to a compressor located in the intake air stream. The compressor is driven by the turbine and compresses the filtered air supplied via the intake duct.

Hot, expanding exhaust gases drive the turbine in the turbocharger. Under higher load conditions, the temperature of the exhaust gases increases. This means the rate of expansion of the exhaust gases also increases, causing the speed of the turbine and compressor to increase.

The hot compressed charge air is routed through an intercooler after leaving the turbocharger to improve volumetric efficiency by increasing air density. The compressed and cooled intake air is supplied to the intake manifold.

The variable geometry turbocharger is fitted with a VGT actuator module that controls the angle of metal vanes surrounding the turbocharger turbine. The metal vanes control the boost pressure in the intake tract by controlling the velocity of exhaust gases that may spin the turbine. The turbine’s speed affects boost pressure. The VGT actuator module is controlled by the PCM. The actuator contains a position sensor to provide feedback to the PCM/ECM.

The turbocharger uses ball bearings on the turbine/impeller shaft to decrease spool-up times."

 

[Dunrollin]

My simplistic mind says it would be simple to add a switch to the dash and reprogram a few lines in the pcm and you would have an engine brake.

From the above article: The VGT actuator module is controlled by the PCM. The actuator contains a position sensor to provide feedback to the PCM/ECM.

I am sure it isn't that simple but at least Green Diesel has figured it out. That is good news.

 

[mbates6o]

Good to know, thanks! I have sent an email to green Enginering to see if I can purchase just the engine brake tune separately. I’ll let everyone know if it possible and what it would cost.
Thanks again
Mike

 

[mbates6o]

Judging by their first response I’m not holding my breath. $ 1,400 for the tune with the engine brake option. And it is an option so it must be separate from the rest of the tune. The email responder didn’t even understand what I wanted!! I’m presuming at this point that the email person is not a technical person!

 

[mbates6o]

Well here’s their response
Hi Mike,

Unfortunately we don't have something like that available. Everything has to be emissions certified, so even if the file is just stock + engine braking means we need to go run it in a lab for verification.
A full set of tests runs about $10k-12k to complete, so for a one-off unique tune that cost would have to be added in.

Regards,
GDE
Scratching head !! 😵‍💫

 

[mbates6o]

Next I got this
Mike,

That is not easily accomplished. We have to perform emission test for EPA on any tune we release to the public. To do a one-off tune all stock with an engine brake still requires we run $15,000 round of emission tests at a cert lab. Your tune would be much more expensive than our packaged engine/trans tune combo that has already being validated to meet EPA requirements.

Thanks
GDE

 

[mbates6o]

Quite expensive for an engine brake!!! I guess it could change emissions slightly. But you’d be hard pressed to convince me that an engine brake could change what comes out other than slowing it down some. Seems like the exhaust brake is the way to go. Unless someone comes up with a forscan mod.

 

[navyR113]

I remember years ago asking- let's say a general motor manufacturer- why truck manufacturers were going away from manual transmissions. The main reason was lack of demand, but there was another not insignificant reason- development cost. Specifically, the cost of EPA powertrain certifications. Apparently, the EPA requires every possible vehicle powertrain configuration to be emissions certified through them, and any possible changes or variations of a vehicle's powertrain (be it engine, transmission, drive wheel configuration, etc) require an extremely costly EPA recertification. If that's true, then it's entirely possible and believable that the EPA would make GDE recertify their tune for any and all changes to it. And given the way diesel emissions are currently regulated (almost as if the EPA is trying to kill diesels and push everyone to "clean" battery electric vehicles), I'd say it's more than likely.

The good news is that GDE has an engine brake option- other tuners aren't even interested in trying to offer that. While it's not cheap (~$1000 if you don't keep the flash tool), it's cheaper than trying to create your own engine brake option.

 

[DieselSupercrew]

I can't find again but I remember watching a video where it was mentioned that ford did not put an engine break feature on because the turbo was to small and it would get overclocked. So I think it would take more than just a tune but also a larger turbo.

 

[mbates6o]

Certainly something to keep in mind. I haven’t been able to find an exhaust brake specifically for these trucks. The only option seems to be buy the tune with the engine brake option. Or purchase a universal exhaust brake and modify it to fit and work.

 

[navyR113]

I can't find again but I remember watching a video where it was mentioned that ford did not put an engine break feature on because the turbo was to small and it would get overclocked. So I think it would take more than just a tune but also a larger turbo.

That's funny, because GDE made it work with the stock OEM turbo. The only references I've ever heard made to an exhaust brake for these trucks came from another tuner, who stated that it was their opinion that using the OEM turbo for exhaust brake functionality could overspeed the stock turbo, so they were not interested in pursuing offering that as an option. As far as Ford's opinion, my guess would be they didn't think enough customers would want or need the option, so the executive decision was made at the lawyer/accountant level to omit it- which is odd, because GM put the option on the 2.8 & 3.0 Duramax engines. 🧐🤔

 

[GreenDiesel]

That's funny, because GDE made it work with the stock OEM turbo. The only references I've ever heard made to an exhaust brake for these trucks came from another tuner, who stated that it was their opinion that using the OEM turbo for exhaust brake functionality could overspeed the stock turbo, so they were not interested in pursuing offering that as an option. As far as Ford's opinion, my guess would be they didn't think enough customers would want or need the option, so the executive decision was made at the lawyer/accountant level to omit it- which is odd, because GM put the option on the 2.8 & 3.0 Duramax engines. 🧐🤔

Seems these 'other' tuners do not use instrumentation or development testing. GDE does instrument the turbo to measure rotational speed. During full throttle accelerations the turbo speed can reach 185,000 rpm with GDE tuning. During engine braking, there is no fuel in combustion chamber and much less pressure on turbine vanes, the rotational speed is about 75,000 rpm and nowhere near any burst limits. There are tunes on this application that claim 95hp or 120hp, those tunes must be overspeeding the turbo something fierce.

 

[STIAJW]

During full throttle accelerations the turbo speed can reach 185,000 rpm with GDE tuning.

Curious, what's the maximum turbo speed observed on a stock 3.0 diesel in the F-150?