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Ugly fix
I am considering installing Ugly Fix. Wondering about experience with this good and bad? Any thoughts?
Thanks for your advice
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1 Reply
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Ugly fix but we knew what you meant.
Before you spend any money first try to determine if the default for the EGR is with it on all the time, or if it has been set up in DDEC so it is not going to function above a certan altitude. If you have a reader, or Silverleaf or a nearby Detroit dealer or a visit to Jeff scheduled you can find that out.
My coach was set with the EGR to function at any altitude which defeats the Ugly Fix. I had to have the altitude reset to a low point (11,000?) so the Ugly fix works. The way the Ugly Fix works is it replaces the existing altitude sensor and tells DDEC the coach is at a high altitude so the EGR will not function at all.
If you go to the Detroit dealer they can check you coach to see how it is set up. The purpose for disabling the EGR above a certain altitude is to provide you with all the needed power usually lost at altitude and that is a legal modification and is just a simple programming step. The Ugly Fix is not legal.
As far as installing the Ugly Fix, it is a simple matter to unplug the existing altitude sensor and replace it with the Ugly Fix. About 10 minutes worth of effort.
From personal experience here is what happens when the EGR is disabled. The valve that controls the flow of exhaust gas back into the intake manifold doesn’t open. Under non-EGR working conditions your coach has a maximum boost of around 29 to 30 PSI, but when the EGR functions that boost goes up to about 50 PSI along with greater fuel flow to compensate for the lost power when exhaust gas is pushed into the intake. Since the EGR is disabled max boost is now about 30 PSI. Since some exhaust gases will pass the EGR valve if you plug the line going into the intake manifold all exhaust gases will be kept out of the engine.
Initially you will see a couple of things. First the mileage will jump up a little. Mine increased initially by .2 MPG. But the second thing that was unexpected was my oil was staying clean. The oil retained a clean gold color as long as 2500 miles after a change. It did get darker from the minute the engine was first run, but it was over 2500 miles of use before the dark or black color was on the dip stick.
About 10,000 miles after the Ugly Fix install the mileage had increased to between 6.4 and 6.5 from the initial 5.9 MPG. I cannot explain why other than to surmise the build of of sooting from pushing exhaust back through the engine was getting cleaned up and as it did the engine was doing better. There has been some discussion on the diesel forums about the impact of the EGR on Series 60 engines and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest if the EGR is allowed to function as designed the #6 cylinder exhibits problems as a result earlier than the other cylinders. That likely does not apply to those of us who are doing limited driving compared to commercial operators, but it also is something that we should all be aware of.
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