[Rhodes22-list] Diesel Powered Trucks

[Rik Sandberg]

Doug,

You are right, out in Ohio where you are the winters are a ton milder than
here. I don't know where Joe is from though or where he might go, so I
brought the subject up.

Far as your fuel is concerned, #2 for most of the conditions you will get
into in Ohio, will work just fine. If you feel you are going to see temps
under maybe 10 degrees or so, you might think about buying a 50/50 blend of
#1 and #2, or you can blend it yourself by just putting half in from each
respective pump. That's assuming that you buy fuel where they actually have
a pump for both grades. If you are looking at temps lower than 5 or 10 below
0, I would seriously consider not blending at all and going with straight #1
fuel. There is a lot of paraffin in #2 diesel fuel. When it starts getting
pretty cold this paraffin will start to solidify and separate from the
liquid. The paraffin solids will plug your fuel filters in short order once
they start forming. This is called jelling up. It generally had to be pretty
cold for this to happen. Probably below zero if you have pretty good quality
fuel. I have seen it happen at about 25 above though if you get a batch of
crappy fuel. You can probably get into those high cetane winter blend fuels
and stuff too if you want to. We have never messed with that stuff though. I
don't know exactly what the difference is, but I do know it's generally
quite a bit more expensive

OK, that's one way to freeze up, but there is also another way. Water in
your fuel can freeze almost anytime the weather is below freezing and will,
especially if you park your vehicle outside and shut it off for a while. Now
most people think they get water in their fuel from the fuel station. Well,
this is possible, but, most time they actually put the water in the tank
themselves without realizing it.

What one needs to understand is how condensation can put water in your fuel.
Our biggest problem, fuel-wise, in the winter is our heated garage. If a
driver doesn't top off his fuel tank before parking his truck in the warm
garage, there will always be water in his fuel tanks. If he does this very
many times in a row, there will be enough water in the tanks to be picked up
with the fuel and make it to the fuel filters, where it WILL eventually turn
to ice and freeze the filter shut. I know you probably can't look inside the
fuel tank on your pickup, but on my big truck, I can. When these trucks get
backed inside our shop on a cold day with a less than full tank, I can pull
of the fuel cap and see the frost on the inside of the tank. Sooner or later
this frost is going to become water and end up in the bottom of the tank.

So, it is kind of a toss up whether you are better off keeping your truck
inside so you always start with warm fuel, or keep it outside so you don't
get condensation in your tank. Given a choice I would pick inside, being
careful to keep my tanks full as much as possible and also regularly adding
some isopropyl alcohol (or similar fuel treatment, I have also used
methanol) to the tanks to break up the water. Also, in the winter I always
carry at least one set of fuel filters with me, ALL THE TIME. You'll usually
only plug the primary filter, but I've seen both changed before the truck
would run again.

Keep in mind here, I'm am absolutely NOT a chemist!!! Most of these lessons
I have just picked up at the school of hard knocks and frozen toes. Got the
poor circulation in my fingers and toes to prove it. :-)

Rik

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gardner, Douglas L. (LNG-DAY)" <douglas.gardner@lexisnexis.com>
To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 4:08 PM
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Diesel Powered Trucks


> Rik,
>
>    I'm certainly not going to disagree with you on anything diesel!
> Clearly, my truck is more than overkill for the R22.  When I just had the
> Rhodes, the motor in my Jeep Cherokee was just fine.  The vehicle was a
> little light for my taste, but the motor was more than adequate.
>
> I also heard about problems with the drive train not being up to the
diesel.
> Like, when Dodge first introduced the Cummins as an option, there was a
> problem with farmers snapping the driveshaft because they were pulling a
> fully loaded wagon out of a field.  The motor was up to it, but the rest
> couldn't handle the additional torque.  I shouldn't have the transmission
> problem (knock on wood), as ours has the 6 speed manual tranny built by
ZF.
>
>
> I haven't had the cold weather problems, at least not yet.  We start with
a
> much warmer winter than you do, though.  I think that the newer motors
have
> much better cold weather starting than the old ones.
>
> Now, about what else I should know...
> Fuel types... I can never keep track of all of this.  I usually just buy
> whatever diesel is in the pump. Sometimes that is at the car pumps, but
> sometimes it is at the pumps that the trucks use.  What are the
differences,
> if any? And cold weather?
> I normally use No.2 diesel, but think I'm supposed to use No.1 if the
> weather turns really cold (for Ohio).  Am I correct?
>
> Then there is the water separator... I've always wondered what I'm
supposed
> to do with the water I drain out of the separator.  Is there somewhere to
> dispose of it at a gas station?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rik Sandberg [mailto:racerrik@rea-alp.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 4:45 PM
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Diesel Powered Trucks
>
>
> Joe,
>
> Seems like from what I am hearing, it isn't the engines in the diesel
> pickups that are the problem. Looks to me like the manufacturers are
having
> trouble building automatic transmissions that will stand up to the diesel.
I
> know several guys that have had all three major brands of diesel pickups
and
> most have had no engine trouble to speak of, but have had lots of
> transmission trouble. Then there's my brother's 7.3 ford that's had
trouble
> with both.
>
> I'm with Brad a little on this. A diesel pickup is not necessarily a great
> thing for the more casual driver. Fuel is sometimes harder to locate. It
is
> also helpful if one understands a little about diesel fuel types, water
(in
> the fuel), fuel filters, cold temperatures and glow plugs. One of my pet
> peeves with my old diesel (older Chevy 6.2) was the way the glow plugs
kept
> cycling on after the engine was running. I finally took them off of their
> sensors and hooked them up to only work manually. I had no more problems
> after that. If you should ever happen to get into any cold weather with
your
> new diesel, I hope you have studied up on this subject, because you can
get
> in trouble real fast with a diesel if it turns cold on you.
>
> A diesel pickup is really kinda overkill for pulling an R 22. If all you
are
> worried about is pulling the guts out of your gas pickup because you're
> pulling your boat, this should not be a concern to you. Our boats are not
a
> big load to virtually any V-8 made today. Heck, my gas V-6 handles the R
22,
> no sweat. Also, it seems the fuel mileage on these new diesels isn't
> necessarily so good anymore, since they started turning up the pumps for
> better horsepower numbers. Most of the new gas engines seem to pound out
> 150,000 miles or so pretty regularly these days.
>
> Rik
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gardner, Douglas L. (LNG-DAY)" <douglas.gardner@lexisnexis.com>
> To: "'The Rhodes 22 mail list'" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 2:40 PM
> Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Diesel Powered Trucks
>
>
> > Joe,
> >
> > I have a Dodge 3500 with the Cummins, and love it.
> > Data says that the average miles between an engine rebuild for the
Cummins
> > is 300K.  My understanding is that the new GM diesel (Duramax) is
> excellent
> > as well. If I recall correctly, the Duramax is built by Isuzu (also
known
> > for their diesel engines).
> >
> > I've heard mixed reviews on the International engines in the Fords, but
> have
> > no data to back it up.  Like Brad, I have spoken to a lot of Ford diesel
> > owners who swear by them. I'm sure that all 3 motors are far superior to
> > their gasoline counterparts.  My guess is that opinions on them are
> largely
> > influenced by brand loyalty/hatred rather than true quality concerns.
> Many
> > truck owners have the "I wouldn't own a Chevy (or Ford or Dodge) if you
> paid
> > me" attitude. Today, my wife is anti-GM.  Who knows what next year will
> > bring.
> >
> >   Worth the extra cost?  A friend of mine pointed out that you can buy a
> LOT
> > of gasoline for $4K. It really depends on how you use it. I like to
drive
> a
> > vehicle until it dies, so the plan on the truck was to have it for many,
> > many years.
> >
> > --Doug
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: brad haslett [mailto:flybrad@yahoo.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 2:39 PM
> > To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Diesel Powered Trucks
> >
> >
> > Joe, I know of at least 20 guys at work that have Ford
> > F-250's with diesels and they swear by them. Dodge
> > uses a Cummins diesel which is good too. I don't know
> > much about GM's because I'm just not a GM kinda guy.
> > Pretty good mileage for the size and the engine is
> > good for 200K.  The downside is that they are
> > expensive (about 4k more on the front end) and you now
> > can't pull into any convenience store for fuel.  I
> > drove a Mercedes diesel for 200K miles and my son
> > drove it another 75K. The car was getting rather tired
> > but the engine was still going strong, typical of good
> > diesel engines.  Going down the interstate is no
> > problem, just look for Ric, and follow him to fuel.
> > Around town, especially in a strange city, it can
> > become a major PITA to find fuel. For me personally,
> > the extra front end expense and convenience has kept
> > me out of returning to diesel but they do last a long,
> > long time. If I did a lot of heavy towing (heavier
> > than the R-22) the diesel would definately be the
> > ticket.  If your current truck is in good shape other
> > than the miles, you might consider running it until
> > the engine dies and then repower with a rebuilt Jasper
> > engine.  They are not cheap but Jasper's are probably
> > the best rebuilt engines on the market.
> >
> > Brad Haslett
> > "CoraShen"
> > --- "Ware, Joseph W." <joseph_ware@merck.com> wrote:
> > > Any one have good information on the longevity of a
> > > diesel motor in a pickup
> > > vs. a regular gas motor?  I'm in the market and will
> > > be putting on about
> > > 20,000 miles a year for the next 8 years.  Either I
> > > run my current gas motor
> > > to death, (it already has 120,000 miles on it), or I
> > > pickup a new diesel
> > > which I hear can handle the extra miles.
> > >
> > > Joe
> > >
> > >
>
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