In make it easier to understand how youcan get better fuel economy from your diesel engine, let’s go back to basics to give you a little more knowledge about the fuel itself.
By doing this it is easy to see how cost savings can be made and how a better fuel consumption rate (miles per gallon, or mpg) will give you an overall cheaper diesel fuel cost.
One of the very important points to acknoweldge is that a well maintained, smooth running engine is about the most important factor in achieving better fuel economy. Further, many of the problems that occur with diesel engines relate to fuel quality, which can occur in several ways.
1. It can vary from shipment to shipment
Even if you use the same vendor each time you fill up with diesel, there can be changes in the fuel they are providing. The diesel quality can change, even in a small way, with each shipment your vendor receives. The key variables are:
* Cetane: this is the level at which the fuel will self ignite, with acceptable levels being between 40 and 45. Because the levels can change with every delivery, the are not widely known. The starting and combustion roughness of your engin can be affected by the cetane level.
* The ‘weight’ or specific gravity of the diesel will affect the fuel’s heat content. Lighter fuels (Type 1) have a lower cloud point and is generally regarded as better in colder temperatures. The heavier diesel (Type 2) has good lubricating qualities, and if they are both the same price, the heavier fuel generally gives better fuel economy.
* The viscosity of the fuel governs the efficiency at which fuel travels through the high pressure parts of the injection pump. Type 1 will reduce your fuel economy because it tends to have more fuel leakage.
Purchasing your diesel from truck stops is generally regarded as the best way to ensure you are buying a quality product. These retailers would go out of business fast if they began to supply inferior fuel.
2. Using a fuel reformulator
After millions of miles of road tests around the world, there can be no doubt that using a fuel reformulator will reward you with better fuel economy resulting in cheaper diesel fuel costs.
These reformulators, like Ethos FR, should not be confused with ‘fuel additives’ – the type sold in automotive retailers. These are alcohol or gasoline based products that actually increase your fuel costs because of the quantity you need to add to each tank.
The main reason for treating diesel is to provide better lubrication, to ensure all the desired working parts of the engine are lubricated, running smoothly. Many drivers don’t realise that since low sulfur fuel was able to be used on road vehicles, the life expectancy of the fuel injection system has dropped by up to 25%.
The lubricating and cleaning esters in this fuel reformulator are show-stopping technology in action. Its use results in fuel burning more completely, and gives an appreciable net gain in mileage per gallon – meaning cheaper diesel costs overall.
Archive for December, 2009
Saving on Diesel Fuel
December 31st, 2009Air Cars: Fuel For Free (Well Almost)
December 31st, 2009Jules Verne would be right at home with today’s emerging car technology. Although compressed air technology was used in pneumatic locomotives and trams in the late 1800s, widespread commercial use in cars was partially blocked by pressure from the oil industry by the 1930s. This is of course should not come as a surprise to the reader since new information about GM’s electric car of the 1980s has recently surfaced (but that’s another article). With the race on to find eco-friendly fuel alternatives, air cars rate up high on the efficiency vs. clean fuel alternative ratio. Although in the past people have bantered around the idea of an air car, the ultimate clean air car may be closer than you think. How does it work? An electric pump compresses air into a tank at high pressures and stores energy. As the air escapes, it pushes against the pistons, similar to a combustion engine. Compressed air is stored in large cylinders underneath the car, and the only emission into the environment is cold air. In fact, the tailpipe air emissions will be cleaner than the air going in since the air is run through carbon filters to remove dust, dirt and other impurities that could curb engine performance. This makes the car especially attractive to emissions activists, worried over global warming. Not only that, but the energy it does use is minimal compared to other future cars such as hybrids or bioethanol, which employ still controversial energy conversion techniques that can have an adverse effect on the environment and economy. Zero Pollution Motors, the U. S. licensee of Luxembourg-based Motor Development International, has an air car scheduled for production in the U. S. in late 2009 or early 2010. To fill up, just stop by your local compressed air service station for a few minutes, or plug into an electrical outlet at home for four hours. At speeds over 35 mph this particular air car uses small amounts of fuel to heat air inside a heating chamber and allows the car to get to an estimated top speed of 96 mph. Infrastructure. No major infrastructure is necessary to support the air car, other than a high pressure recharger around 300 psi. This of course makes the Air Car very attractive since most of our stumbling blocks when it comes to finding an alternative to petroleum are infrastructure changes. Clearly, service stations could change system configurations to accommodate widespread needs for compressed air. While fossil fuels are still needed to generate electricity to recharge, there will still be a net energy savings and reduction in CO2 emissions and pollutants. Of course as wind and solar energy are used more and more as primary energy generators then the electricity used to run the car’s electric pump will also be from clean sources. Air cars have a promising future and are one of the major hopes for an easier than expected transition into a new clean fuel era. It is going to be exciting to watch these early air car prototypes transform and grow into viable vehicles for the 21st Century.
Green Car Technology for the Future
December 31st, 2009Manufacturers and researchers have been dabbling with technology that helps build hybrids, electric cars, and alternative fuel vehicles, for quite some time now, because of the growing concern for our environment. With a shocking revelation that our planet was on the verge of an ecological disaster, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, by the mid nineties, leading car manufacturers around the world finally came to a consensus regarding fossil fuel consumption, and started producing greener, fuel efficient cars by the turn of the century. Today, in the 21st century, we have seen many different vehicles with a hybrid engine: a conventional motor engine is present in such vehicles along with an electric engine. The most fuel efficient hybrid cars today switch between the power sources of an electric motor, and a combustion engine according to the power consumed by the car. Typically, in a hybrid vehicle running on city streets or when traveling at low speeds, the electric motor powers the car and during high-speed maneuvering or longer drives, the petrol engine does the work. It has been a dream of many a manufacturer to combine the green quotient of an electric car, with high performance. Until date, electric cars have shown limited usability and poor performance when it comes to high speeds. Today’s electric cars are usually 2 seater, lightweight mini sized cars, with a top speed of 25- 40 mph. when you look at city driving, this is not so bad, but for anything else, this falls short of many people’s expectations. The fact that they are zero emission vehicles make them completely environment friendly, however, and this is something that is immensely beneficial to the city or the country they run in. Research and development on the lines of creating powerful electric motors for a much better performance is something that is essential, when we are looking at cars for the future. Primarily, these were how to increase the power of the battery powered electric engine for high speeds, decrease time between recharges, and how to gain optimal mileage performance. Nothing short of an engineering feat has lead to the creation of the ultimate engine. The green technology is spreading up quite fast to various industrial venues these days. Car manufacturing is one of the most important ones of those venues. This spread is bringing in new opportunities to the investors. The luxury sports car or super-car segment is certainly an interesting market driver, and if a green supercar is made available things could change quite a bit within a few short years.
