Quote:
Originally Posted by ShadeTreeMech
How does the EGR affect engine performance/economy? I don't know.
But if it works correctly it reduces NOx, otherwise known as smog, which is a bad thing to pump into the atmosphere for everyone to breathe.
I was born in LA county, California and in the late 70s smog was BAD (add as much emphasis as possible!!!) It resulted in me getting asthma as a baby. Mysteriously, being moved to Arkansas (very little smog due to lack of congestion) has put the asthma down as a footnote of my life, not something i have to deal with. And with cali's strict regulations, smog is nearly nonexistant now.
the design of the EGR is to reduce smog. So if I want to get an extra 1 mpg, i'll lighten up on the throttle or use some better oil but the only thing I'll ever do to an EGR system is repair it back to OEM specs.
Is 1 mpg really more important than taking the chance of poisoning our air with NOx? Wouldn't that be considered selfish if it was?
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Its a trade off. 1mpg can be many tons of CO2 over the life of the car. Our government for many years chose to look at NOx and HC instead of so the negative effect on FE and CO2/mile of emissions control devices was considered irrelevant. Now they're finally starting to look at the whole picture.