Old emissions vs new

[JimT]

Well, you seem to have the right attitude. Hopefully you will read up, ask questions, endure the occasional brow beating for the things your doing wrong and forge ahead better in the end. Many of us have, and many more just want to argue every little thing, learn nothing and repeat garbage until they get kicked out. We're all here to find help for ourselves and give help back when we can. Don't be afraid to ask questions, but at the same time try to search out the answers first, either on forum, or through Quickserve (the free account you can set up with cummins to access any and all service and troubleshooting info about your engine) and get yourself an Inline 6 adapter and Insite 7.x.x software on an old laptop.

Going back to your original question, no, you can't just mix and match different engines and different aftertreatment systems. Technically it might be possible, but getting all the software to work together so that everything functions PROPERLY would be a monumental undertaking, if it can even be achieved.

As someone else also mentioned, the REAL problem is with the engine. Not the design specifically, but the (lack of proper) maintenance. Couple that with bad specs and restrictive/destructive parameters chosen by fleets who plan on dumping the trucks once the warranty expires. They don't care about how they have shortened the useful life of the engine by half or more, all they care about is how much money can they save by doing the least amount of work before they pawn it off on someone else. Finally, add in lazy and uneducated (as it relates to the care and operation of said equipment) drivers who beat the truck up just so they can make enough cents each week to pay their own bills. Now add the final layer of "service points", dealers and shops that have learned how to seize the opportunity to increase their own profits.

All that and more adds up to the sad state of repeated component failures and most shops being booked up for weeks in advance. Slap that band-aid on and kick it down the road, NEXT!

My grandfather used to tell me "that switch, there's only so many times you can turn it on and off before it breaks". And while he was mainly just trying to get young me to stop playing with the damn light switch, he had a profound point. Everything has it's limit. So, for a DPF that is constantly filling up with soot because of poor engine and sensor maintenance and bad driving and idling habits, it's only going to support so many regen cycles before it reaches it's limit. Same idea applies to all components. Sure, the newer engines and aftertreatent systems have benefited from iterative design improvements, but they are still just as neglected and abused as ever and will have their own problems in time.