Exhaust gas gas is undesirable, noxious, or toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide (CO) from incomplete combustion, hydrocarbons (properly indicated as CH, but typically shown simply as "HC" on emissions-test slips) from unburnt fuel, nitrogen oxides (NO) from excessive combustion temperatures, and particulate matter (mostly soot). Exhaust gas temperature (EGT) is important to the functioning of the catalytic converter of an internal combustion engine. It may be measured by an exhaust gas temperature gauge. EGT is also a measure of engine health in gas-turbine engines (see below). During the first two minutes after starting the engine of a car that has not
Exhaust gas recirculation the increase in particulate emissions that corresponds to an increase in EGR. Particulate matter (mainly carbon) that is not burned in the power stroke is wasted energy. Stricter regulations on particulate matter (PM) call for further emission controls to be introduced to compensate for the PM emission increases caused by EGR. The most common is a diesel particulate filter in the exhaust system which cleans the exhaust but causes a constant minor reduction in fuel efficiency due to the back pressure created. The nitrogen dioxide component of NOx emissions is the primary oxidizer of the soot caught in the diesel