Can a (urea tank- type) scrubber be added to an old ('99) Ford F250 to improve emission levels?
I think you are talking about a diesel emission system. My understanding from covering the dirty diesel emission scandal back when is that such systems cost thousands of dollars in new cars. I would imagine adding one to a vehicle not designed for it initially would cost even more.
If the truck doesn’t have a selective catalyst reduction system, the answer would be no.
Tester
Does your truck have a diesel engine?
If it does not, then the answer is…no.
If it does have a diesel engine, only you can decide whether it is worth spending a lot of money to modify a vehicle that is more than 2 decades old.
There is a lot more to it to get such a system to work properly.
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Someone volunteering to reduce emissions from their own vehicle is almost unheard of! I’m glad to know that someone cares enough to do this without a mandate. You could probably pull the parts from a junk yard, have them added to your exhaust system, and put together some custom electronics to control it.
But look at things in perspective. Off road diesel engines don’t require this. Off road gasoline engines don’t even require catalytic converters. There are cars on the road with failed catalytic converters. The use of a catalytic converter eliminates almost 90% of the smog producing emissions. California has decided to ban off road gasoline engines all together, rather than put catalytic converters on them. If this goes through, it would undoubtedly result in people importing equipment from neighboring states. There is a company that makes a catalytic converter for use on air cooled engines, but it seems that companies that are going “green” are not promoting this solution at all.
So if you want to protect the environment, you could make a much bigger difference and spend less money just by promoting the use of existing technologies for reducing smog producing emissions from off road engines. Think about how much off road gasoline a lawn care company uses in a month. Now imagine if their emissions were reduced significantly, because as it is now a gallon of off road gasoline is like 10 gallons of on road gasoline in terms of smog producing emissions.
NO
Do not do this
This is literally tampering with your vehicle’s emissions system
Either pay for a proper repair so that your car passes legitimately . . .
Or retire the truck
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And another bad idea from the Snowman .
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Ahem . . .
Tampering
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You must be from some place like California. You’re telling him he isn’t allowed to improve the emissions system on his truck. There is no law that requires a 1999 diesel vehicle to have emissions that comply with current regulations. I guess it’s fairly obvious that emissions laws in such places aren’t about emissions but some people, or certain industries, making money. You’re fine with him retiring the truck and buying a newer one, but not improving the older truck even though there is no requirement for him to do so. What a scam.
Per the EPA…
Section 203(a)(3)(A) prohibits tampering with emissions controls, including those controls that are in the engine (e.g., fuel injection, exhaust gas recirculation), and those controls that are in the exhaust (e.g., filters and catalysts). Section 203(a)(3)(B) prohibits aftermarket defeat devices
This is not @db4690s opinion, it is federal law.
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His exhaust doesn’t have any of those things on it. You guys are a perfect example of ruining the environment under the name of being “green”. I’m actually surprised you guys would openly oppose someone trying to add emissions controls to their vehicle to make it better.
It isn’t a matter of any of us being against it. It is a federal crime to tamper with it. Adding later model emission controls IS tampering.
This isn’t as simple as adding a catalytic convertor to gas engine that doesn’t have one. Adding DPF to a diesel takes significant engineering far beyond the backyard tinkerer. The likelyhood of higher emissions rather than lower is pretty high.
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They don’t have DPF’s.
They have DOC’s.
Tester
Sorry, I meant the urea injection systems.
To address an earlier Wonderful90s comment… off road vehicle have had to meet stringent emission standards, too, for nearly 20, years. Some suppliers of machines, like airplane tugs, were considering switching from diesels to gas engines because the emission controls were so expensive, it was cheaper to plan to replace the gas engines 2 to 3 times in the life of the tug than to install an emission legal diesel.
Localities around the country are banning gas lawn tools for professional landscapers forcing them to switch to battery units. That includes riding lawnmowers. So no stone unturned…
Why is a Jethro Tull song wandering around in my head while I type this? I dunno…
And what song is that ?
It isn’t Aqualung… 
Nothing Is Easy.
Tester
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Not the one I was hearing but Excellent Choice!
Thick As A Brick!
Tester
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