How DEF Works In A Diesel Engine

This video covers exhaust from both gasoline engines and Diesel. It's at a "regular" person's level (no fancy chemistry terms). Mostly a Professor's talking head/hand waving, but now you know what that DEF thing is for.

Important notes:

• DEF is mostly water and urea (Yes, that urea)
• The Professor teaches at the University of Nottingham, England, so he has an accent for most of us.
• Don't laugh at the Professor's hair! He's had it that way most of his life.
• If you are "into" chemistry and science, the Professor's series, Periodic Videos, is not to be missed.

Fantastic video! And hey, that Professor got the Volkswagen pronounced correctly!

And people wonder why we have stereotypes ... He is the quintessential professor.

Gonna have to check this out when I have the chance

Very cool post Errol. Thanks.

All this new Science is great at what it does under Ideal conditions, But here's the "Trucking Truth" as I experienced it in North Dakota when it's -35 Below. More than once I was doing my Sleeper Birth in the middle of the night with the Engine running on High Idle so it wouldn't do it's 5 minute shut down thing (thank you California), as the APU couldn't keep up with the cold. The Catalytic converter system would decide it was time for a REGEN,, and start flashing Regen on the dash. Fine if your awake and spot it but if your sleeping and miss the Warning it shuts the engine of after the 5 minutes.

If your lucky you wake up and do a restart, push the Regen button and all is fine, worse case you sleep thru it and the engine has turned into an Icecube and won't start or it starts and the computer has already put it in Limp Mode, trip to the dealer and Big $$$.

One of our other Drivers put his truck in high Idle, locked it up to spend one of the coldest nights of the year in a motel only to come out in the morning to an Icecube Truck. Took 2 or 3 days before some one could tow the truck into a warm garage to thaw and work on several problems with the Emissions/fuel system. All in all it took him a week to get back from Williston to Chicago in a new Feightliner with only 50k on it and then had to fight with the company to pay for his motel bill.

Before these new Emission systems, one could leave the truck idle for a couple days and not freeze up. I can see why some companies are doing these Kit trucks (Sliders ?) with new frames and cabs and garanteed rebuilt older engines to get around this problem.

Remember 2 things, the Goverment's here to help us, and don't run out of DEF

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Turbo Dan recommends:

Don't run out of DEF

Did you catch the Professor's recommendation?

What's DEF? But while I'm waiting, I'm gonna check out the professor.

What's DEF? But while I'm waiting, I'm gonna check out the professor.

Diesel exhaust fluid, horse and pig pee lol.