Diesels burn oil. In fact Cummins Engine Co. used to advertise its diesels as 'oil engines'. These days there is alot of info out there on biodiesel, but not much good info on what else can be used as fuel in diesel engines. Alot of owners of diesel powered machines have asked me what else can be used as a fuel source for lower cost without resulting in extra time and money in repairs, sacrificing reliability, or causing any degradation in performance. So lets talk about some diesel fuel alternatives for a minute here.
The mission of MachineWhisperer is to act as a resource for the exchange of knowledge in maintenance, diagnosis, repair and upgrade of most common machines.
In direct opposition to a 'throw-away' society: through knowledge, empowering people to interact with machines in a new way to reduce resource use and abuse.
Together, lets find the path of least environmental, economic, and social damage while allowing machines to assist us in living better for longer.
Showing posts with label fuel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fuel. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2014
Friday, June 6, 2014
An 80's 4x4 adventure- not like that tho... Part 1
Another
adventure begins. A long-time friend and client called me up to
check out his old work truck and give him a diagnosis and likely cost
of repair to get it running again. He said it should be no big deal,
should be quick and easy he said. I believed him... Little did I know...
Friday, April 4, 2014
What does 2 minutes cost? Pt 2
Welcome back for part 2 of Warm-ups:
Tuesday we got started on the importance of warm-ups, today we'll conclude that thought and hopefully convince you to waste some fuel to save some engine.
Engine parts need to warm up slowly and evenly and turbochargers are another important piece of equipment that should have this rule implemented every start. A turbo on a small VW diesel can spin at over 160,000 RPM, larger turbos somewhat slower. Tolerances are VERY tight and a slight warp or wobble can be supremely catastrophic- explosive or fiery mess like. A fast heated turbo can suffer from rapid over heating and siezing of the exhaust end of the shaft as it heats and expands while the bearings/bushings are still cold. Shaft and bearings must warm-up together to keep fitment correct. Most commonly though, the turbo shaft heats first, swells,and proceeds to gall and grind the bearings or even seize up solid if not allowed to heat up slowly and evenly.
Tuesday we got started on the importance of warm-ups, today we'll conclude that thought and hopefully convince you to waste some fuel to save some engine.
Engine parts need to warm up slowly and evenly and turbochargers are another important piece of equipment that should have this rule implemented every start. A turbo on a small VW diesel can spin at over 160,000 RPM, larger turbos somewhat slower. Tolerances are VERY tight and a slight warp or wobble can be supremely catastrophic- explosive or fiery mess like. A fast heated turbo can suffer from rapid over heating and siezing of the exhaust end of the shaft as it heats and expands while the bearings/bushings are still cold. Shaft and bearings must warm-up together to keep fitment correct. Most commonly though, the turbo shaft heats first, swells,and proceeds to gall and grind the bearings or even seize up solid if not allowed to heat up slowly and evenly.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
I,C,P,E or Suck, Squish, Bang, Blow... an engine operates HOW?
A friend asked me the other day to diagnose the misfire on his little car and recommend how to fix it when we got onto a sidetracked into a discussion about how the engine actually functions and makes power. I have answered this question so many times over the years for so many people that I figured I should just get it down in writing. So here goes- Caution though, there be Physics ahead!
This explanation needs to be fairly basic to accomplish the goal of assisting folk with no real physics background to get the ideas here. I will not bore anyone with the math behind it, just the concepts and functional ideas.
This explanation needs to be fairly basic to accomplish the goal of assisting folk with no real physics background to get the ideas here. I will not bore anyone with the math behind it, just the concepts and functional ideas.
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