Abstract The operation of Diesel engines on gaseous fuels, commonly known as dual fuel engines, uses Diesel fuel as the pilot fuel and gaseous fuel (methane and sometimes propane in the present work) as the main fuel. The gaseous fuel was inducted in the intake manifold to mix with the intake air. The investigation was conducted on a high speed indirect injection (Ricardo-E6) dual fuel engine and was concerned with the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on the dual fuel engine combustion and emissions, in particular, the effects of intake air temperature and diluent admissions (N2 and CO2) on combustion and emissions. The use of diluents to displace oxygen (O2) in the intake air resulted in a reduction in the O2 supplied to the engine, increased the inlet charge thermal capacity (thermal effect) and, potentially, CO2 and N2 participated in the combustion process (chemical effect). In a separate series of tests, the temperature of the engine inlet charge was raised gradually in order to simulate the effect of mixing hot EGR with the engine inlet gaseous fuel air mixture. It was found that the admission of diluents resulted in reductions in the exhaust oxides of nitrogen (NOX). Higher inlet charge temperature increases the exhaust NOX but reduces the unburned hydrocarbon emissions. Finally, when carbon dioxide was added to the inlet gaseous fuel air charge, large reductions in NOX were observed.