I have a 2002 Ram 3500. Being that the truck hit the 5 year point back in July I had to take my truck in to the Maricopa County (Phoenix Az area) emissions test facility. They require you to rev the engine in park till the governor stops acceleration and then back down to idle 6 times while they sample your exhaust for soot. It made me quite nervous running on the governor. I have always been taught to never rely on an interlock in mechanical or electrical equipment. Does anybody have any insight into the laws on liability if the engine should suffer damage?

 

I would not be concerned at all about running the engine wide open,on the governor if you will.All construction equipment,many with the Cummins that you have run wide open all the time while working,lots of the time with no load on the engine and most diesel trucks are governed as well and are designed to run at their governed RPM without failure.
As far as liability in the unlikely event that your engine failed you probably would have no trouble proving that the engine was defective to Cummins for any warranty work but I don't think that anyone would process a case that tried to blame the emissions testing program for the failure.Ron G

 

I'm not saying it will be damaged, but if you're concerned about your emissions just don't stomp on it and don't run wide open.

 

This is the County required emissions test. There's not much option.

 

TonyB, what? If you are in the driver seat, you can do what I said.

 

I'm sure I'll get a notice some time so I'll be in the same spot your are. I have never taken my truck past 3000 rmp so I'm not too keen about some other joker making me do it. Is there some type of rev limiter that can be installed? When I had a mustang, I would put a 3000k chip in my MSD 6AL when I needed to trade my car for a truck for the day. That way, the guy I traded my car with for the day couldn't hot rod my car. I don't have any turners or chip modules on my truck so I don't know if any of them can limit the RPM's.

I’m not sure if they give you the option of revving it up yourself. They probably do because then they can say that YOU were responsible for engine damage because they never actually touched it and cause the damage.

 

Our CTDs have an rpm governor standard. It should limit top RPM to a safe level if stock, or to whatever rpm it's been modified to.

For the emissions test, you could put a block under the skinny pedal. At no load it would still max out the gov, but with less fuel so it might be gentler.

 

If you rev the engine to the governed RPM with no load it will make no difference where the accelerator is.Putting a block under it will have no effect on the amount of fuel it is using to turn the required RPM.
The governor and injection pump and now some electronics to complicate things are what meters the fuel on an engine that has not been modified.
To increase the fuel at the governed RPM you will need to increase the load on the engine,again,a function of the the governor.
If you are reving the engine with no load you have no control over the amount of fuel it takes to rev to a given RPM,the thing to avoid is reving it too fast and turbo lag becomes a factor and your emission particles will be high until the turbo catches up to provide the correct air/fuel mixture.
Did anyone read the first post I made here?
I swear I am wasting my time,why bother????Ron G

 

Gannetpeak1,

You could always do what my dad did when he had to bring his diesel in for emission testing the first time. "I don't drive my truck that way and I won't do it now." They had to get a supervisor out and he still refused "to mash the throttle". They passed him anyways.

DMH