Pilot Pulse Benefits?? Only noise and emissions mitigation?

Ok, I guess there is also the combustion chamber "pre-warming" benefits during warmup, but aside from that, it seems like pilot injections serve no benefit other than noise and emissions reduction, correct?

If that's true, I'm just going to delete them from everywhere that isn't warmup related, and see what happens. Seems as if that should assist me in my goal to squeeze some more fuel economy from my Duramax.

You're right Thad, the main reasons for the pilot injection are for noise and emissions purposes, however you will find that there is an effect on power and torque too by virtue of the fact that you're injecting and hence burning more fuel than you would with no pilot. If you alter the main injection pulse to deliver the same total fuel mass then this becomes irrelevant. I'd suggest testing to see what the results are for you, however I don't think you'll see a significant effect on fuel consumption by not using pilot.

Thanks Andre!

I was somewhat confused after going through the Diesel Fundamentals course and coming to this conclusion, but then seeing the webinar on pilot pulse and seeing the massive changes in torque output due to pilot pulse timing. Ok, to be honest I still am somewhat confused on the topic. Lol

Currently I am trying to figure out my best testing strategy with HP Tuners to replicate some of the timing changes tests, and see if I can learn anything specific to my engine. I have located a loading dyno I can get some time on, so that is nice.