When it comes to making power and doing it efficiently with your truck, there are really only two things your engine needs, air and fuel. Fuel upgrades come in the form of performance tuners, larger injectors and modified injection pumps, but since an internal combustion engine is nothing more than a self-propelled air pump, the easier air can be pushed in and out of it, the more efficient and better that engine can be at making power, especially if you’ve already made fueling changes. To do this common upgrades have always been cold air intakes, larger straight flow exhaust systems, complex turbochargers and intercoolers with more efficient cores. But one of the least expensive and easiest to install options that are often overlooked when it comes to changing the way incoming air is fed to your engine is the addition of a Water/Methanol Injection system.
AEM Power of Hawthorne, Calif., has been engineering and building water injection system for both gas and diesel applications for a few years now and has just recently released the all new HD Diesel specific kits that can not only improve horsepower and torque, but reduce Exhaust Gas Temperatures and emissions particulates while increasing your fuel mileage. With two new options to choose from, AEM Water/Methanol Injection can meet the demands of just about any diesel application from a stock truck used for towing on the weekends to a full competition drag race or sled pull truck. Before we get into particulars about each system and which is best for you, maybe a little insight as to how water injection actually works.
How It Works
Since your diesel only needs air and fuel fed into the combustion chamber, how and when they enter the cylinders will control what kind of atomization and performance you’ll get in return. In our sixth grade chemistry class we learned about air and water molecules and how cooler air means denser air. Denser air means more oxygen in a smaller place, and in a small space like a combustion chamber, more air is going to make for a bigger ‘explosion’ which results in more power. So in order to get denser air into our cylinder heads and combustion chambers, we bolt on cold air intakes and more efficient intercoolers and turbochargers for our application. Cooler air charge going into the engine makes for a denser air charge, so more fuel can be burned. Water Injection system work under much the same pretense, except they drop that charge air temperature chemically by injecting water or methanol at a high pressure into the air stream just before the intake manifold where the water atomizes into the air before it enters the combustion chamber. Dropping the air inlet temperatures with water effectively lowers Exhaust Gas Temperatures, which can be very beneficial while towing, allowing you to use more of the power you already have. The denser air charge also helps create that more efficient burn we talked about which equates to lower emissions and fewer particulates being expelled through the exhaust system. Lastly, by using a mild mixture of water and methanol, you’re effectively adding a fuel into the cylinders which can generate even more power and torque.
New And Improved
After spending hundreds of hours engineering and testing their new systems, the folks at AEM Power have released new diesel specific system that are not only more effective than previous versions, but are easier to install and more user-friendly. For the average diesel owner, that has done basic upgrades to their daily driver looking to improve its towing or street characteristics, its new Boost Dependent kit makes for a straight forward installation that can give them all the benefits of water injection without the headache and hassle of installing and setting up like other kits on the market. The newly redesigned controller is the brains of the system and uses an in-board MAP sensor (up to 40-psi boost) to relay your trucks boost pressure to the injection pump to control water output. The controller has just two control knobs to set the boost pressure your water injection starts and a second to set what pressure max injection should be reached. All new fluid maps have been programmed into the controller as well to maximize water injection efficiency through a more linear delivery throughout the boost range.
Go With The Flow
Their other option is for the higher performance and higher boost applications that would like to set their water injection flow strategies to match the demands of their engines. This HD system is the perfect option for engines running higher than 40-psi boost pressures as it features a multiple input design that can be programmed to accept a 0-5V signal from an external MAP sensor. The HD system can also use Injector Duty Cycle, frequency based mass airflow (MAF), or a 0-5V MAF signal to control your water injection tables.
Both kits use come with a 5-gallon fluid reservoir, which has a newly designed conductive style low fluid level sensor to warn drivers when their water is about to run out. AEM Power has also redesigned their billet machined water injection nozzles to maximize fluid atomization and better match the flow delivery required in a diesel application, each kit comes with three nozzles to choose from depending on your engine’s needs. Their high flow recirculation style 200-psi pump uses robust integral fittings for quiet operation. An easy color coded wiring harness with positive clip connection and an easy to follow diagram makes the wiring process much simpler.
AEM Power has been an industry leader in Water/Methanol Injection systems and with these newly improved diesel specific kits it’s a sure win-win situation for all of us. Better engine efficiency, more power, cooler EGT’s and lower emissions. On that note, it’s also worth mentioning that AEM Power offers the only 50 State legal Water/Methanol Injection kits for diesels, so for those of you with 2008+ DPF equipped trucks or those of you in California, a CARB certified system is also available.