HELP! Failed diesel emissions test - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#16 01-24-2003, 12:39 AM

Two oilfield diesel rigs were having their tanks cleaned in Houston last week (Monday a week ago) when the trucks exploded. 2 workers were killed and other workers nearby heard the idling diesel engines on both trucks start to race just before the explosions. The preliminary thought is the tanks contained a combustible fluid that enriched the surrounding air, while the tanks were being cleaned, and this contributed to diesel engines accelerating. I'm not familiar with the injection rack controls on these trucks but they did not seem to have speed limiting automatic air shutoffs enabled. I've never seen an MB sedan with automatic air shutoffs. I would not recommend introducing methane into the intake air unless your looking to verify a hypothesis. Two similar accidents had been previously reported according to the news article.

Fredmburgess · #17 01-24-2003, 10:10 AM

Don't overlook the earlier post about biodiesel. If you run even a blend of biodiesel, or even 20% used, filtered cooking oil, you'll get an immediate reduction in particulates. My 300D used to smoke pretty well under heavy load. I can't see any smoke in daylight under same conditions now. That's on 20% blend of used cooking oil /or/ 100% heated used cooking oil.

Really quick and easy fix? Pour a few gallons of NEW cooking oil right into your diesel tank to get a 20% blend. No filtering hassles and no problems with cold starts (it's been 5 degrees here and no problems at 20%).

Try it. It's cleaner, the engine will run quieter, and no work is required.

..on the subject of diesel particulate, I agree that it is less toxic than typical gas engine exhaust, but it isn't harmless. Less is better - within reason - especially when we can grow the cleaner fuel right here.

Gotta go hug a tree..!

rwthomas1 · #18 01-24-2003, 10:33 AM

Would that be corn oil, canola oil, or peanut oil?

RT

Fredmburgess · #19 01-24-2003, 05:24 PM

Any one will do. Really. Mine's running on soybean oil at the moment (I find the original containers in the dumpster next to the waste oil drum...!) When I built the first one (Golf diesel) I ran a few gallons of new canola oil during setup. The great thing is when you spill it, it just washes off with soap and water - no lovely diesel smell (although I sometimes like that too...). To each his own...Remember to eat lots of fried foods...I need the fuel!

F

Palangi · #20 01-24-2003, 08:57 PM

Beware of transformer oil from before about 1970. May contain PCB's and other nasty stuff.

oilslick · #21 01-25-2003, 11:01 AM

I need to check out this biodiesel stuff. My in-laws own two seafood restaraunts and it's all fried food too! I could operate all of my diesels pretty cheap. What kind of fuel mileage increase, if any, could I expect?

#22 01-25-2003, 02:07 PM

Running my Dodge on B100, I had about a 10% reduction in fuel mileage. I would expect a similar drop running SVO. Still, if you get the oil for free, the mileage drop would be moot.

engatwork · #23 01-25-2003, 03:42 PM

http://biodiesel.infopop.net/2/OpenTopic

http://forums.biodieselnow.com/

oilslick - these are a couple of the biodiesel/wvo forums I have joined that seem to be pretty good. Your fuel cost should be pretty doggone cheap after you figure this stuff out. You may want to put all your family members in 'em. Oh yea, don't forget to pay your tax on it

.

mikemover · #24 01-25-2003, 10:08 PM

My advice: Move to Georgia...there's lots of trees to hug here, and there's no ridiculous emissions test (light-sensing or otherwise) on diesel engines, at least for now!

Just kidding--except about the ridiculous emissions tests!

Mike

#25 01-26-2003, 12:26 AM

An now for something completly different. I've read over 100 papers going back to before WWI where veg. oils were used in diesels. I ran 100% cottonseed oil, esterified cottonseed oil and heated beef tallow (yes, right off the side of a steak) in IDI diesel engines for my thesis and my research found the following. The tri-glyceride molecule of veg-oils reduces max. cylinder pressure and requires 10-15% higher rack settings to produce similar power. So expect higher fuel consumption, but if the oils free who cares. The oils caused a cone shaped soot deposit to develop on the injector pintle within 25 hours of operation. This is typical of the results reported in several papers. Eventually this reduced spray angle, contributed to larger droplet diameter and reduced combustion efficiency. So, expect to inspect the injectors more frequently if you use 100% veg. oil. My tests did not run the engines long enough to find the piston ring lands filled with carbon, but this is a typical symptom in direct-injected diesels if larger droplets hit the cylinder walls and the rings collect them. You've seen some veg. oils dry out and become sticky? The same reaction happens in the cylinder only much faster because of the temp. Most of the papers on combining filtered veg. oil with diesel fuel showed very good long term results.
Onto the soot issue. Soot is a concern because it contains not only carbon but also poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (unburnt fuel). The typical diameter of an agglomerated soot particle is small enough that it enters the avoili in the lungs and deposits leaving a hydrocarbon compound in contact with cells for long periods of time. In some cases cells are damaged by the hydrocarbon and during celluar replacement they may deform (cancer). The key is to control exposure hence the enforcement of threshold limit values in the form of exhaust emissions.
I've got several MB diesels. I love them. They get great gas mileage and in my opinion they produce less amounts of harmful emissions because of their higher efficiency. But to say soot is not a concern is not correct. If you have been to Europe, particularly Paris in the last 10 years, you would see the tons of soot from diesel engines covering the outside of buildings and statues. Some of the cathedrals including Notre Dame were completely black on the inside and outside in 1999. France cleaned Notre Dame for FY 2000 celebration after it had been cleaned 10 years earlier. The reason: gasoline taxes doubled the price of gas in the early nineties so now diesel powered cars are everywhere. Nearly 50% of the cars, all the trucks and bus in Paris in the late nineties were diesel powered and the soot created a problem. By the way, how did we get onto the bio-fuels issue from this guys original problem?

#26 01-26-2003, 01:51 AM

I drove around Paris and never saw many old cars. The reason: they drive like nuts. There are so many car wrecks in the city a car never has a chance to get old so, maintenance is right out.