Diesel emissions cheating has been a subject under scrutiny by regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency, as large engine suppliers like Cummins and automakers like Volkswagen have come under fire to using sophisticated software to hide the fact that its engines pollute more than what's intended.
Pickup trucks are a common vehicle that are equipped with diesel engines, and many automakers who produce them comply with the rules set by the EPA when it comes to tailpipe emissions.
However, for every law-abiding diesel pickup owner, there are outlaws who seek the forbidden fruits that come from the diesel tuning underground. Desperate owners install tuners themselves, or hire the help of tuning shops that manipulate their truck's computers and install parts designed to negate the factory-installed emissions control for increased performance and capability for towing and hauling.
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As per a report by Caleb Jacobs for The Drive, diesel pickup truck owners are willing to look to sketchy corners of the internet to find the final ingredient that finishes their diesel powered, coal-rolling sundae — the software.
Simply put, specialized tuning software is required to effectively make use of physical parts that are designed to go around the emissions control parts installed at the factory, such as plates to block exhaust gas recirculation and straight pipes that remove diesel particulate filters.
Without a proper tune using tuning software, the installation of said parts would cause their trucks to not run correctly. But as the EPA cracks down on tuning shops offering these kind of services, many owners who cannot find a local shop are taking the DIY route and effectively installing the vehicular equivalent of a computer virus onto the computers of their trucks.
According to Jacobs' report, there are many corners of the internet, including sites based out of countries like China and Russia where sketchy, unknown and harmful files are being sold to unwitting owners.
Kory Willis, a longtime tuning specialist with diesel tuning company PPEI said that he encounters many trucks showing issues because of said files and that some companies on the internet are taking advantage of these owners.
"The files either get hacked, which we see every day, or people will buy them from someone in Canada," Willis told The Drive. "Interestingly enough, you can order from three or four companies in Canada thinking you're getting different tune files. When you open them up, they're all the same."
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Another place where these files end up are on online communities like diesel truck owner Facebook groups. Here, desperate owners in search of "weight loss" or "diet plans" - code words for emissions defeating modifications - are met with enterprising individuals willing to sell tuning files in the comments section.
Unfortunately for the owners, many times, the files end up being the same kind of junk that doesn't work on their truck, but luckily for people like Willis, it sends them to shops like his.
"They'll send the file out and a lot of times, they don't work, which is great for us because it keeps us diagnosing them," Willis said. "But when it doesn't work, you're basically s--- out of luck."
As the motoring world evolves past the realm of internal combustion engines and adapts new technologies like hybrid-gas engines, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric power, there will still be some who rebel against what they feel is becoming the norm. The world of diesel pickup truck tuning exposes that some of those people are willing to look to anyone, but the professionals for their own crusades.
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