Another antenna work hazard to beware of, and a possible solution

[WQ9E]

Slab,

The 5 to 15% soy mix takes care of much of the lubricity issue but at the expense of increasing the solvent action along with much higher cloud and gelling points.  Soy is also less stable and hygroscopic so it requires better fuel supplier handling.

I am with you on ULSD and my 2006 diesel pickup may well be the last one I buy.  Any slight remaining fuel economy advantage in the newest diesels is offset by the increased price of diesel fuel before you even consider the additional cost and complexity of the engine itself.  HPCR (high pressure common rail) injection systems have greatly increased performance while meeting stricter emission requirements but the repair costs for this system alone can easily exceed the replacement cost of the entire engine of the pre-2000 diesel pickups.  Just a little bit of water is all it takes to destroy the injection pump which then sends fragments of itself throughout the rest of the system and water separators that are far better than the older ones still don't offer complete and sufficient protection for the current systems.   Unless you are regularly towing very heavy loads the newest offerings aren't very attractive in terms of cost and reliability.

Growing up I spent a lot of time on diesel powered vessels on the Gulf of Mexico and back then Detroit Diesels were a maritime favorite.  I think a large part of this was because of the typical observation that it was amazing how many things could be wrong with a DD yet it would keep running.  Flash forward to today and a failure of even one of the 5 to 7 exhaust pressure and temperature sensors found on a modern diesel pickup can put it  into a very slow speed limp mode.

[K9PNP]

Just be careful not to splash it on the BAs, it'll definately have you steppin an fetchin! ! !     

It be the truth.  Had a young troop once put some on certain parts of his body for the chiggers that were always around.  For sure he never did that again.  And that was the old DF2 diesel fuel;  Uncle Sam's low bid diesel.

[The Slab Bacon]

Rodger,
           I am not a big fan of common rail diesels either. It just complicates the hell out of a wonderfully simple device. Yes they run nicer, but.............they are so much more vulnerable to failure. Just too many parts to worry about.

I have rebuilt quite a few old style diesel FI pumps over the years. They are no where as complicated as one who has never done one would think. I have always had a fascination for engines that run with no electrics. I have one small one that has no starter or electrics at all!! Not one piece of wire at all. It starts with a crank and starts absolutely effortlessly in the warmer months. I have used that for a "test bed" for quite a few fuel related experiments. I have run it on everything from waste deep fryer oil, to ULSD, to olive oil! ! !  I wouldn't dare try some of those substances I ran that engine on in a common rail diesel.

ULSD does also run well in a lot of the antique "start it on gas and switch it over" kerosene engines that used a carburetor to meter the fuel and a sparkplug to light it off. You can switch them over much sooner with ULSD. (colder engine) But this is the extreeme opposite end of the spectrum for "oil engines". (the proper name for what we refer to as "diesel" engines)

As far as all of the emission control crap on diesel engines, as far as I'm concerned is all "hogwash and poppycock". Diesel engines by nature produce very low amounts of CO, and the "unburned hydrocarbons" are the particulate matter that falls back to the ground harmlessly as soot. Soot is basically nothing but carbon, the same stuff we are made of................

[W1AEX]

I finished restoring a Traffie Hex Beam today and set it up out at the edge of the treeline on a 3 foot post to check it out before moving it to the top of the tower. The beam works great and is ready to go, but unfortunately my son and daughter-in-law's two little Boston Terriers that my wife and I are dog-sitting this week ended up with 3 ticks while they played in the grass and watched me working. They were out there with me for about 20 minutes and that's all it took. What a pain. I've never seen it this bad and I expect it will get worse through the summer months.

Rob W1AEX

[The Slab Bacon]

<snip> "Growing up I spent a lot of time on diesel powered vessels on the Gulf of Mexico and back then Detroit Diesels were a maritime favorite.  I think a large part of this was because of the typical observation that it was amazing how many things could be wrong with a DD yet it would keep running". <snip>

Like start when you dont want it to.      They are known for firing off while cranking them through by hand to adjust the FI rack and the valves. (Also known as "barring them over") I love Detroits, you can always rely on them starting. The old and venerable 6-71 is my favorite diesel of all times. those 2-stroke diesels were just the bomb!! They would run well on just about anything oily. The old Baltimore Mass Transit Administration used to run them in their busses on filtered (strained) drain oil! !  It's a shame that the EPA forced them out of production. The rather odd thing about the 2-stroke Detroits was how easily they started with a compression ratio much lower than other diesels. (IIRC it was something like 13.5:1? ? ?)

Getting them started was never a problem. Getting them shut down sometimes was a very big problem. If you had a "run-away" and the crankcase oil came up into the transfer ports, it was almost impossible to get them shut down. If you had an early one without an air strangler (emergency kill) and you couldn't find a way to cut off the air, about all that would kill it was to discharge a large CO2 fire extinguisher right into the air intake. 

[w1vtp]

Get some fle collars and put 'em on.


klc

Yeah!  Wear 'em like ankle and arm braceletts.  STYLEN! 

[Ed/KB1HYS]

I wonder if a large application of something like Malathione would simply kill them all off,  at least in the yard.

[W1AEX]

I've been wondering exactly the same thing Ed. It's a very tempting idea...

[Ed/KB1HYS]

"Better Living through Chemistry"   

I guess it would work, just keep the kids and animals off it for a day or two afterwards.