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Old 06-12-2013, 08:45 AM   #1
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Exhaust and Brake Controller connector

Ok so I have discovered a few things on our Berks. First is that for some unkown reason the factory decided to wrap the tailpipe (pipe after the muffler) with exhaust wrap, which serves no performance benefit at all and likely little to no benefit for the emission control system even though there is a sensor after the muffler. What it does do is hold water and road debris and rot out the tail pipe completely. Mine was literally hanging by a thread. If you have it on yours take it off, hopefully you still have a tail pipe left. I had to replace mine completely but I did put a chrome tip on it so it looks much better now. I will likely take the wrap off on the short piece just before the muffler as well as it hangs at the same level as the tailpipe. I also had to replace the wrap on the top exhaust section from the turbo. (Downpipe) Mine had also deteriorated and was causing corrosion issues, even though there were signs of corrosion on this pipe too, this pipe should be re-wrapped as it serves 2 functions. 1.It helps keep the bedroom cooler by holding the heat in the pipe and 2. the more heat in the pipe the faster the air moves in the pipe which aids performace and aids in better emissions.
On the brake controller side, the connector under the dash (steering wheel) is a Frieghtliner connector and you have to find either the matching connector to fit into it from your brake controller or cut it off and hardwire it. I already had a $200 brake controller I used in my Ford F150 and didn't feel like spending more money on another controller and/or finding a connector. So I thought I would make it so that I can interchange my one controller between my truck and Berk. So I cut the Frieghtliner connector off and sourced a Ford connector from an approriate year F150 and spliced it into where the Frieghtliner connector was. And voila, am now able to switch it back and forth, and the Ford connector is much easier to source than the Frieghtliner stuff at least where I live.

Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing the same.....
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Old 06-12-2013, 10:52 AM   #2
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James,
I called Freightliner about changing out the exhaust tip because I wanted to go with a chrome tip also. I asked them if I could put a round tip on or if the tip had the square end for a specific reason and they told me that it is to keep the heat up when it goes into re-cycle (I think) mode to burn off any build up. I would double check to see if it ok to run with the round tip.
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Old 06-12-2013, 11:59 AM   #3
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Thanks for the info Tom. That's interesting. From what I know of diesels is that the "recycle mode" takes place in the intake system primarily using heaters. I suppose the increased pressure from the dustbuster exhaust tip could aid in causing an increase of heat but I think it would be marginal and that the performace loss by bottlenecking the exhaust would be more detrimental. The intake heater system should be capable of attaining the required heat for the recycle mode on it's own, especially in the climates that we operate our coaches (summer months and or always warm geographical locations). But I suppose technically speaking they could be right in so much that it "aids" in raising the temp. I have never noticed any other Cummins 340's with the same tip (on othe makes of coaches) which is odd too. Well I am not going back to it now so I'll keep you posted, but I will take the gamble that everything will be just fine.

....just looking online and noticed some of the newer berks don't have the same tip, they have a chrome one. Anyone here with a newer Berk can confirm or comment?
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Old 06-12-2013, 12:31 PM   #4
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The heat wrap may be there to protect other things when it goes in regen mode. I heard of very hot temps during regen, can't remember specifics, but in excess of 1200 degrees.
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Old 06-12-2013, 12:37 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by speedmerchant View Post
. From what I know of diesels is that the "recycle mode" takes place in the intake system primarily using heaters.
nope, takes place in the exhaust, intake grid heater is electric and only heats the aircharge during starting , nothing else...

I wrapped my downpipe off the turbo to keep the heat out of the engine bay,
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Old 06-12-2013, 12:49 PM   #6
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choochooman- Thanks, Regen- couldn't think of the term at the time.

James- Yes, they do have a round chrome tail pipe but the newer Berks have the DEF engine and that may be why they can have a different tail piece. I would love to swap out the current POS (piece of sh---) tail pipe for a nice chrome one but don't really want to take the chance of having something not function correctly in the engine.
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Old 06-12-2013, 01:58 PM   #7
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Regen mode, ah ok. I am going to stick with my conversion still. I have about 900 miles on it since I did the switch and no issues so far but not sure how often it goes into regeneration. The chrome tip is actually a piece of chrome exhaust pipe from a dump truck exhaust diverter box that I cut off and angled so it's a high quality piece of pipe that hopefully will be ok with any real high temp regen. I know the section of downpipe I re wrapped there was hardly anything left of the factory wrap and same for the piece that wrapped the tail pipe.

Thanks for the input guys!
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Old 06-12-2013, 02:03 PM   #8
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Typically there are only two reasons to wrap exhaust, heat or noise. If it wrapped for heat, well, hopefully that does not turn out too bad...but that brings me to my second point:

The point of the oversize square exhaust tip is to allow some mixing of ambient air with the exhaust as it exits the tailpipe to cut down on the burn risk to anything around it (or anyone.) Ford uses a vented exhaust tip with vents cut in at the (dual) tip. Chevy uses a long baffle tip with the vent further up. There is no way to effectively do that with the short pipe length on these coaches.
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:24 PM   #9
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The wrap is for heat produced during regeneration mode, where injection pulse and timing are altered to clean soot deposits from the particulate filter (collector) previously referred to as muffler. Choochooman74 is correct, temps are in the 1200+ temp range (note the exhaust temp warning in the warning light array over the steering column to let you know not to be over flammables when on). The particulate filter is why you notice hardly any black smoke from later Diesels. Since soot deposit amounts vary with driving habits, I would be worried about an unwrapped exhaust after the filter. Definitely keep an eye on it.
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Old 06-12-2013, 03:43 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by NV245 View Post
The wrap is for heat produced during regeneration mode, where injection pulse and timing are altered to clean soot deposits from the particulate filter (collector) previously referred to as muffler. Choochooman74 is correct, temps are in the 1200+ temp range (note the exhaust temp warning in the warning light array over the steering column to let you know not to be over flammables when on). The particulate filter is why you notice hardly any black smoke from later Diesels. Since soot deposit amounts vary with driving habits, I would be worried about an unwrapped exhaust after the filter. Definitely keep an eye on it.

Thanks and noted as with jeeplj8's comment. I'll keep an eye on it for sure. I have a somewhat experienced background in dealing with engine heat design issues (albiet not diesel engines) and will keep all posted on any issues if any. I would suspect though that with the tail pipe running in a location with lots of flowing ambient air around it (especially since the regen mode will only be running while travelling at speed) that things should be ok. While 1200 degrees sounds hot to the inexperienced I would suspect that under full load for any sustained durations that the temp in that area would likely hit in the 800-1000 degree range fairly frequently anyway.
I am thinking to, that the old pipe was esseentially a riddled full of holes pipe with essentially no wrap on it before I replaced it and things were fine for at least 4000 miles. Time will tell. I'll keep you all posted.........
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Old 06-14-2013, 03:52 PM   #11
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Exhaust

I have a 2008 360QS and the exhaust ens with a Down Facing Opening. Attached is a 2008 Freightliner Manual, section 2 and page 2-4 talks to this configuration.
Good Luck
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Old 08-19-2013, 10:05 AM   #12
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Just an update to this thread as I know many other have wanted to switch over to a similar exhaust tip but have been heistant.........I have done about 7000 miles since I posted this thread regarding switching over to a full round chrome exhaust outlet. As seen above there was some talk with regards to ill effects of having this vs the stock dustbuster tip when regen mode activates. Whether I have gone through a regen as of yet or not I am not 100% sure but can say that no issues with heat or DPF trouble etc. thus far. Will prob put on a couple thousand more miles before the end of the season and will post again then.
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