One thing is for sure that the Cummins engine is and has always been one of the most reliable engine platforms for trucks, ranging from light to heavy-duty.
According to recent studies, it seemed approximately 75% of all the pickup owners of Ram 2500/3500 chose the Cummins Turbo Diesel Engine.
Following this, a variant of 1000 lb-ft of torque made an appearance in 2019. It looked like the engine platform was helping the buyers in keeping more focused. It was in regards to the reputation and reliability of the engine but not much on the interiors. Interiors were less competitive when compared with other diesel trucks.
It’s a common saying among the enthusiasts that around the Cummins EGR Coolers, Ram trucks fall apart. It may sound like a total deal-breaker, but the Cummins engine has built a reputation. That reputation has been the reason for a lot of people choosing the Cummins engine when looking for a diesel engine pickup.
History
In 2008, when people were using the outdated 5.9L engine in their Ram truck since the 80s, Cummins engine arrived. It became a go-to option for such people who wanted to choose an engine for their Ram truck. They welcomed the 6.7L variant and bid goodbyes to the old one.
But soon, the emissions control mandates became stricter, and Cummins had to add an EGR system even though its 6.7L engine seemed a lot more superior to the 5.9L one. It meant only one thing. The EGR cooler failure will exist in the Cummins engine, the way it happened in the Duramax and PowerStroke variants.
Even though there haven’t been many reported cases of EGR cooler failure of the Cummins Engine the way it was for the Power Stroke Engine of 6.0L, there still existed. And it could lead to severe damage to the engine.
In case of an EGR cooler failure, the engine coolant usually enter the cylinders, causing smoke/white steam to come out of the exhaust. The majority of the time, it’s perceived as the failure in the cylinder head or the head gasket. It’s because the same thing can occur in the absence of an EGR system.
The concept of the EGR cooler system was so new and foreign to the owners of the Cummins that it seemed impossible to resolve it. Many times, this failure would get misdiagnosed. And even changing the head gasket did not solve the issue. This failure turned out to be a costly one for the vehicle owners and the working professionals on the engine.
And inevitably, the word got out of the factory. Everybody got to know about the EGR cooler’s problems and how it failed. Hearing that the failure was causing too much damage to the engine, the end-users and the repair facilities started to look for a more suitable replacement.
About the EGR Cooler Failure
An EGR cooler utilizes a tube along with a heat exchanger of fin-style. The internals of it looks the same as that of a radiator.
The problem starts to occur when the internals of the EGR cooler begins to heat up and cool down. It causes expansion and contraction inside the metal. It puts serious stress when the expansion and contraction persist over a long period. It happens because they don’t have the required flexibility. That ultimately leads to cracks occurring in the heat exchanger.
Once this internal failure process kicks in, the engine coolant gets released into the exhaust/cylinder system. It causes all sorts of damages to the engine, including the failure of the cylinder head gasket. It is a common type of failure that happens among the factory EGR coolers. And it seems like the OEM has never been interested in resolving this issue.
It comes from the fact that there are rumors of OEs making more profit and margin from selling replacement parts that are unreliable than they do from selling an actual truck. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when they don’t show any interest in solving the problem when they can always make more money from selling you the replacement parts. And these replacement parts are unreliable that will make you go to them for more, even more.
It’s not like there aren’t any other options available in the market. There are several aftermarket options that you can go for, but most of these options have a similar design as that of the factory unit. It means that there aren’t any improvements in them and makes them vulnerable to failure. But don’t worry, as there is an option available that doesn’t avoid the problem but solves it by utilizing new ways of tackling the heat exchangers. That aftermarket option is H-Core.
H-Core: The Solution to EGR Cooler Failure
Developed and Patented by Bullet Proof Diesel out of Mesa, AZ is a heat exchanger technology that solves the problem at hand. They call this technology H-Core. In fact, all of the Bullet Proof EGR Coolers have manufacturing plants in Mesa. They also offer upgraded EGR coolers for every variant of Cummins engine.
What is H-Core, you ask. Well, it’s a tech that brings the reliability factor to the EGR coolers. It works by replacing the traditional rigid and straight tubes with newer twisted tubing sets. There is a significance of using twisted tubes. By twisting them, they become flexible and can move smoothly. It reduces the stress from seams and bulkheads. The tubes start to work like a spring mechanism where they expand and contract, thus taking away undue stress falling on heat exchanger assembly.
It allows for the tubing to be stacked closely together. That leads to more tubing and EGR gas that is a lot cooler. It’s hard to achieve that when you are using traditional tubes that are straight. All this comes as incredible news to the owners of Cummins engines as they won’t have to do the installation of a factory EGR cooler in case of cooler failure. Also, now there’s even a better option of upgrading proactively to a BulletProof EGR cooler.
At last, the Cummins engine has proven its reliability. It has shown that it can be a long-lasting engine platform that one can trust. There is very little room for improvement if we keep the factory EGR cooler aside as an exception. If you are also looking for an upgraded option, then you can check out the upgraded BulletProof EGR Coolers lineup at bulletproofdiesel.com.
