Dirty Diesels Cleaned Dirt Cheap

Hi all, well what a week, Ray just brought down a helicopter (of all thing) to Brisbane from Darwin and is now waiting for a load to Adelaide. From there it's on to WA with a load for the north west. That diesel just keeps on trucking eh?

I would like you to take a look at a page I've added about the use of ULSD Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. It is very informative and interesting, I have asked the author Mike Antich for more articles for you to read, review and perhaps make comments to us or the author. After all, this is exactly what this blog is about, bringing you information.

One of the most important issues facing diesel owners, especially commercial owners, is that of 'Carbon Emissions'. This topic is going to be around for a very long time as we are all well aware. Pressure by governments to reduce our carbon footprint, there are certainly some trade offs for industry, and private enterprise to look at ways we can reduce the emissions. I would really like some feedback on this, so I look forward to your comments.

Here is some more interesting stuff for you:

We hear from a lot of people who are excited about the new diesel engines that will soon be available in passenger cars and SUV’s. But they’re curious about the preventive maintenance requirements. People may not know that diesel engines have long been used extensively in Europe and Asia. In fact, in some markets, there’re nearly as many diesel powered passenger cars as there are gasoline.


You may ask, why has it taken so long getting in Australia, North America and other places? There are a bunch of reasons like fuel tax policies and such, but the biggest hurtle was that North American diesel fuel had a high sulfur content – too high for the latest generation of highly refined diesel engines. Recent government mandates to remove sulfur now opens North America up to the engines the rest of the world’s been enjoying for a long time.

Why are diesels so popular worldwide? Well, for starters, diesels get up to 30% better fuel economy than gas engines. And they last a lot longer. And modern diesel engines are refined, quiet and powerful – and there’s none of that black smoke we used to see.

Some people may think that diesels create more pollution. But, you need to rethink diesels. Environmental pollution standards for diesel cars and light trucks are scheduled to be as strict as they are for gasoline vehicles. A modern diesel engine is as clean as a gas engine.

You may also have heard a lot in the news about bio-diesel. The exciting thing about diesels is that they’re not limited to fossil fuels. They can run on fuel made from vegetable oil. There are refineries that make diesel fuel from cellulosic waste like woodchips from lumber mills. There’s even this cool new process where a special strain of algae is used to convert carbon dioxide, water and sunshine into bio-diesel. That’s still a ways off, but you can see that diesel can become a sustainable source of fuel.

And, there are not a lot of trade off’s with diesel in terms of performance. A modern passenger car diesel is very smooth, quiet and quick. Most folks wouldn’t notice any difference. For those who tow trailers and haul heavy loads, diesels will be an improvement.

Now diesel engines are heavy duty, so they cost more than gas engines. But they get better fuel economy – so the break-even point is largely dependent on the difference between gas and diesel prices at the pump and how many miles you drive. And diesels have a higher resale value.

Now, let’s get back to diesel maintenance. You have to keep in mind that most of the new diesels are just coming in, or will be over the next couple of years, so we don’t have the maintenance schedules to make direct comparisons yet.

But going off what we already have in North America, we can expect fluid drain intervals to be similar to gasoline engines. Diesels do require very clean fuel, air and oil, so their filters are much higher capacity than gasoline filters and cost more. The engine air filter needs to be changed more frequently as well.

Repair costs are similar. As with gasoline engines, proper maintenance is the key to long engine life and to avoiding repairs. So pretty much what we have come to expect with gas vehicles; coolant system service, transmission service, power brakes, power steering, differential, filters, fuel system, and so on. And the payoff for you, if you’re the kind that likes to keep your vehicles for a long time, is that a properly maintained diesel engine can last for hundreds of thousands of miles.

I'm trying to find a similar article from Australia, so keep tuned and I'll be back soon.
 
Cheers from Richard J & Ray

How's your diesel performing?

Hello again from sunny Perth West Australia. Well my trucking buddy is up around Darwin and has been away for quite some time, as you do when you drive trucks around Australia. How many of you out there know about our 'Road Trains' ?
This is my buddys truck with only two trailers, although he can pull three in some parts of the country.

So imagine the work involved with looking after these rigs eh? There a literally thousand of rigs all round Australia at any one time. Up in the north west of our state, there are some rigs in the mining sector pulling 4 or more trailers of product, usually iron ore. No freight trains up there, so everything goes in by road.

Keeping these guys on the road is a major task and our diesel fitters are at it full time, I certainly don't envy them thier jobs. How would you fancy having to pay for the tires on this guys rig??

My buddy Ray has been driving trucks around Australia for many years and has travelled over 7,000,000 klms. I must say that's a hell of a lot of time at the wheel eh? Well of course he knows a thing or two about diesel motors and very soon I will bring you a story on some of the things Ray does to keep them road trains going, by keeping the diesel on top of its game.

Here is an article I found for you for this week. Please review and I would love to hear your comments:

Making Diesel Fuel - Designer Diesel Fuel

Which Additives Are Right For You?

By Ray T. Bohacz

.Diesel fuel is a commodity we spend a lot of money on, know little about, and hardly ever see. Yet it is the lifeblood of our passion. If we are what we eat, then a diesel engine is the fuel it consumes. Just as we can fill our bodies with junk food, the same holds true for the fuel tanks in our vehicles. For a healthy, running compression- ignition engine, you need to know a little about the fuel you're buying.

Understanding Fuel

The diesel fuel you purchase at the pump is a commercial-grade product that's often traded on the commodity market, much in the same manner that base gasoline, precious metals, and grains are. The federal government imposes minimum acceptable standards for all motor fuels used on public highways, but these requirements are only bare minimums. Diesel has not yet gained the popularity of gasoline as a motor fuel, so the oil companies and retailers traditionally haven't looked at it as a competitive market, but rather as a consumable that will sell itself. Unlike gasoline brands that are advertised to include additives that will clean fuel injectors and carbon deposits, nothing is ever mentioned about diesel fuel.

A Lesson In Gasoline

To begin to understand diesel fuel quality, gasoline needs to be referenced. Gasoline is wholesaled as a base product that's not always refined by the company whose name is on the pump you're buying it from. The base fuel must meet a federal requirement called the lowest acceptable concentration (LAC) standard for fuel-injector cleanliness and minimizing deposit formation. Some expensive gasoline brands advertise their fuels as having more additives that will function above the LAC level. Thus, discount fuel has the federally mandated LAC level while others may have enhanced chemical properties. Gasoline is made into brand-specific products (Chevron, Exxon, Shell, and so on) at the distribution depot as the additives are mixed into the tanker truck as it's filled with base product.

Diesel Fuel Basics

Diesel fuel that's purchased at the pump can be considered very similar to unbranded gasoline when examined for additives that will improve its performance. In other words, there really is no upscale or designer diesel fuel that you can buy. That means the task to make the fuel into what you want it to be for your engine is completely up to you.

Diesel fuel is a complex mixture of hydrocarbon molecules derived from crude oil by distillation. It's normally blended from several refinery streams with procedures that are often used to increase the production rate. As much as 20 percent of diesel fuel can consist of relatively heavy paraffinic hydrocarbons, which have limited solubility in the fuel. When cooled sufficiently, these particles tend to come out of the solution as wax. This is often referred to as fuel gelling that takes place in cold weather.

In addition, water can't be completely eliminated from diesel fuel. It can get into the fuel at various stages as it progresses through the distribution network from an oil refinery to your vehicle's fuel tank. Microbes may also grow in diesel fuel if it stays stagnant for a long period of time and is not treated.

When discussing diesel fuel, many technical terms are often used, but as a consumer, you don't need to understand all of them. The important ones are cetane, combustion improvers, detergent, lubricity, injector cleanliness, and cold-filter plugging point.

Cetane

Diesel fuel's cetane number, which will usually be between 40 and 45, indicates the readiness of a diesel fuel to ignite spontaneously under temperature and pressure conditions in the engine's combustion chambers. The higher the cetane number, the shorter the delay between the fuel's injection and ignition.

Cetane improvers (ignition improvers) are used to increase the cetane number of diesel fuel by reducing the delay between injection and ignition when the fuel is sprayed into the combustion chambers. Diesel's cetane number is the most widely accepted measure of ignition quality and is determined by using a special cetane test engine. The cetane number of a fuel is determined by comparing its ignition delay, under standard operating conditions, with those of blends of two reference fuels (cetane and heptamethylnonane) having cetane numbers of 100 and 15.

Several types of chemicals-alkyl nitrates, ether nitrates, nitroso compounds, and certain peroxides-have been identified as effective cetane improvers. Studies by the petroleum industry have proved that engines care little if the improved cetane rating came from the refined fuel or an end-user-supplied additive.

The cold-filter plugging test... read full captionThe cold-filter plugging test confirms the effect of additives on the fuel's ability to stay liquid.Why Cetane Is Important

Your diesel engine's combustion sound is affected by the fuel's cetane rating. Low ignition-quality fuel is directly responsible for higher combustion noise levels. The rapid burning of the larger amount of fuel injected before ignition results in higher cylinder peak pressure, producing the characteristic diesel engine knock. The noise tends to be most evident during cold starting or cool running, as when accelerating after a period of idling or light-load operation. Cetane is not the only criterion of fuel-related combustion noise, however, as other characteristics such as volatility and composition can have a direct influence on the combustion event and the noise generated.

Most engines experience an increase in ignition delay of about 2 degrees crank angle when the cetane number is reduced from 53 to 41. In one test, direct-injection diesel engines were found to have a larger difference in the levels of ignition delay. Older indirect-injection diesels had similar, if relatively short, ignition delay periods when the fuel's cetane level was reduced.

Cold-Filter Plugging Point (CFPP)

This fuel criterion was eventually adopted in the USA from Europe as a further examination of the fuel's ability to make the engine stop running. It's the last in a series of tests for temperature that identify the cloud point (first visible wax), the wax appearance point, and the pour point (first sign of gelling).

The CFPP was developed from vehicles operated during a winter field trial. Fuels of different origins and base qualities were tested to observe how treatment with a pour depressant affected the test vehicles's low-temperature performance. The original field trials proved that operation down to a lower temperature was possible when a fuel was treated with an additive. Cold-engine start failures were caused by fuel starvation that was a result of wax accumulation on the fuel filters.

Lubricity

Lubricity is the ability of a liquid to reduce friction. Diesel fuel lubricity is extremely important to the life of components such as the injection pump and injector nozzles. Fuel with poor lubricating properties will cause expensive and premature failure of the mentioned components and can be thought of as running an engine with little or no oil in the crankcase. Ultra low sulfur diesel has required fuel suppliers to begin adding lubricity-enhancing chemicals to diesel before it gets to the pump.

Detergents

The need for detergents in diesel fuel is of growing importance in controlling the formation of fuel deposits where they can have a detrimental effect on combustion. Gummy deposits in the fuel-injection system can cause injector needles to stick, resulting in misfires, power loss, and increased smoke and combustion noise. Lacquer and carbon deposits on injector tips can affect the spray pattern and the amount of fuel injected, causing reduced power and increased smoke. Starting may also become more difficult because of nozzle coking and deposit formations.

Diesel Fuel Additives

Until the '70s, there was little or no use of additives in diesel fuel. The product manufactured at most refineries was generally a blend of straight-run atmospheric distillate components, and apart from the sulfur content, the desired specifications could be met without the need for user-supplied additives. Cold-weather performance was a concern, but the early diesel engine operators blended diesel with kerosene to eliminate gelling. Today's modern, electrically controlled diesel engines can't use the same methods. In the U.S., where the enormous market has necessitated a high level of downstream conversion to yield more gasoline, diesel fuel quality has suffered. More low-cetane diesel fuel is being diverted for vehicle consumption because it can no longer be absorbed by the shrinking market for domestic heating oil. For this reason, the diesel owner may need to use additives with the fuel if proper engine performance and long life are expected.

FPPF (Diesel Power) recognized the need to educate the enthusiast and worked closely with Power Service Products to bring this technical primer to you. FPPF is a true diesel additive formulator with its own research, testing, manufacturing, bottling, and distribution network. Though there are many other additive brands on the market, we chose to work with Power Service Products because the company is involved in every step of the process and doesn't simply have someone else's product-good or bad-bottled for them. Power Service's sophisticated laboratory allows the company's chemists to develop more consistent, better-performing fuel for your diesel engine.

How To Treat Your Diesel

Treating diesel fuel is very easy, and the additives should be poured into the vehicle's tank in the proper amount just before pumping the fuel. If the additive is purchased in bulk, a measuring container or some arrangement should be made so that the proper amount is used. Most additives aren't harmful to the engine if used excessively, but they become very uneconomical.

For best results, every tank of diesel fuel should be treated. If your vehicle has accumulated mileage without the benefit of treatment, then a more concentrated dose should be employed for the first few fill-ups.

During winter months in cold climates, make sure you use an additive that also eliminates gelling; that's not required the rest of the year. At the very least, you want an additive that'll displace moisture, improve cetane, and states that it cleans injectors and removes carbon deposits.

A trained ear can tell a diesel engine that's suffering from many miles of untreated fuel. The exhaust note won't be smooth, the idle quality will be poor, the combustion noise will be harsh, and the exhaust smoke level will be higher than normal. It's sad to see an enthusiast who has invested a large sum of money in speed parts but ignores the performance and reliability that can be gained from a few ounces of Fuel Power. When it comes to diesel, very little returns more performance for the dollar than spiking the fuel.

In the next few weeks I will be promoting what I believe to be the most effective fuel additive on the market.

Dont forget to Comment.
Regards,
Richard J
& Ray when he's here!



 

Do you own a Diesel?

This is my first post about specifically looking after your diesel motor, whether it be in a vehicle, boat, or machinery. There are literally millions of diesel motors out there of varying sizes and uses and this blog aims to assist you with keeping your diesel going longer than you expect it to. I will be looking at and providing many articles sourced from the web to aid in this topic.
Firstly a little about me and why I am creating this blog. I have been involved with diesel driven equipment for over 45 years and know many people who are also involved in the transport industry, far too many to mention here. So I will pick out some individuals, who I think can contribute to this blog.
So why, you may ask am I doing this, well obviously to help people understand their diesel equipment in such a way as to prolong the life and enhance the performance of thier diesel. During my blog postings I will try to source and provide you with the very best products available on the market today, to make your diesel more efficient and outperform all others.

Here is an article for you about Bio Diesel:

Biodiesel can extend the life of your engine whether it is in your diesel equipped auto, truck, tractor, bus or highway rig. Biodiesel can increase the longevity of your engine by up to 100 %. Costs are reduced – whether it be for maintenance or vehicle replacement. The engine last longer , breaks down less frequently resulting in longer vehicle life spans , greater reliability and overall less vehicle costs – again be it diesel equipped auto , car, truck ,tractor or highway rig.


How can this be so? The improved lubrication properties of biodiesel over regular vehicle diesel fuel results in increased parts longevity by up to 100 %. As a result commercial vehicles may be used for decades as well as travel millions of miles. Increased engine longevity translates into reduced maintenance costs, longer life spans and overall increases in reliability.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel derived from vegetable oils, animal fats and cooking oils that are processed so that it can be added to diesel fuel as an additive. You cannot just mash up these fats and mix them with your diesel fuel. It is not as if any old Alvero character can make biodiesel in his garage at home. If the biodiesel is not prepared properly in a qualified industrial process – the contaminants of water, glycerols and other trace elements can well clog up your fuel injectors or even an expensive injection pump. Properly done biodiesel is a safe and beneficial fuel additive – now being routinely recommended and touted by major vehicle and diesel engine manufacturers.

Prepared properly in a commercial setting. and bought commercially you can be assured that not only will the biodiesel will be safe for your engine to use – but will even give the benefits of much greater engine life , enhanced reliability and lower maintenance costs overall.

Biodiesel is added to the regular diesel fuel. The percentage added depends on the climate the vehicles or autos will be used in. In warmer climates – such as tropical or Florida type climates – a percentage mixture of up to 20 % can be used. A 20 % biodiesel percentage in a truck driven up North to Edmonton Canada in the cold of winter will thicken up in the cold Alberta winter weather.

In such a cold winter temperature a biodiesel mixture ratio of 5 % would probably be used. To increase the blends of biodiesel used commercial vehicles such as trucks and busses can have fuel heaters installed – either inline fuel heaters of fuel tank heaters.

Why go to all this trouble for biodiesel ? First of all biodiesel is a renewable resource – crops such as soybean oil or canola can be used instead of scarcer and more expensive petroleum oil based products. Using biodiesel doe mean that we use less regular diesel, however the percentages of biodiesel use are relatively small. For example most diesel manufacturers recommend only 5 biodiesel (B5 mixed wit 95 % regular diesel. Of course again in colder climates such as Edmonton Alberta the percentages may be eve less. Biodiesel is also good for reducing emissions and pollution levels of sulphur, carbon monoxide as well as overall tailpipe smog pollutants.

However as with most good things in life there are disadvantages to the use of biodiesel as a vehicle fuel additive. First biodiesel has slightly less energy than regular diesel fuel, so that the larger the percentage content of the Biodisel in the fuel – the less power the engine will have to deliver. Fortunately at the low percentages of biodiesel being used as a fuel additive this is not a major issue.

In addition biodiesel spoils with time. If the biodiesel is too be stored for a long period of time – then additional additives must be added.

As a result of its benefits to reducing petroleum oil use and increasing engine life and reliability biodiesel has a bright and emerging future in our transportation and automotive industries.

The use of biodiesel – an alternative renewable fuel, is fast on its way up.

Ok, I hope you got something out of this first post and I really would like some help and comments from anyone who can give somthing to this blog.