L.E.D.s and smiles

A lot of time spent on a Canadian made low boy trailer, eh. A lot of enjoyed time spent well on a trailer, a lot of new wiring and lights throughout the trailer. Converted over to L.E.D. The truck driver is very happy with the new shiny lights and the lighter load on the alternator, but mostly because of the lights. Alex is very happy he gets a change of pace from F series pickups. Having gone on vacation and then coming back and catching a cold, in the cold sucks, thus the lagging of the blog. I will pick up the pace.  

Jeff you mentioned that are exceptions on my previous blog, do tell.... 

Filter this.

In response to reflections on learning.  From what I have read and from personal experience, this is what I have come up with. In regards to added capacity, it is in some ways obvious how this method would extend intervals. One way to look at would be is if we put a pinch of dirt in a cup of water or in a bucket of water, which would essentially be cleaner, the bucket right?  Right. Oil is not exactly water but you get the picture. Besides cooling, lubing, and cleaning oil also absorbs contaminates from the combustion chamber, which in most cases cannot be filtered by a regular oil filter. So my take on it is that the more oil you have the more of the contaminants you can absorb thus increasing the longevity of your oil. With modern engines and the machines they go in becoming more and more compact it would be difficult to increase oil capacity, so it would make more sense for larger or stationary engines where space is not of concern.

As far as kidney loop filtration, my knowledge on it is this; in a regular filtered system for continuous oil flow and desired pressure, the oil must be passed through the filter at a substantially fast rate. At this higher rate only larger particles can be effectively removed from the oil, while leaving the oil contaminated with other contaminants. Kidney filtration is a process that takes a good percentage out of the oil and filters it separately from the oil that is constantly being cycled, allowing for slower filtration of the oil and removal of contaminants, after which it is returned to the cycled oil. This process however requires a lot more oil, setup cost and in some cases multiple “kidneys” for more efficient and constant filtration. It also takes up quite a bit of room as you can imagine, leaving this type of setup almost exclusively to stationary application.  

Oily

We all heard of new oils that claim to double and even triple intervals between services. Be it transmission oil, engine oil or other lubricating fluid. Though some do sound promising and are backed by guarantees I have doubts. Besides oil, I’ve also been doing a lot of reading on different fuel additives that increase MPG. In my personal experience with messing around with these super wonders and more official controlled environment tests that I have come across on line, the results have been very insignificant, sometimes even with decreased MPG. So with these guys claiming the increase in efficiency with poor results, how can we believe the increased service intervals with the super oils? I know that all oils are not created equal, and I do know that synthetic oils do take longer to lose their cooling and lubricating properties, but by a marginal amount. While it’s always the best idea to follow factory recommended service intervals, even some of those seem bogus, with some autos claiming 100,000 miles for transmission fluid change. Seriously?  I bet there is a constant debate between marketing departments and engineering, if you know what I mean. The TRA(Transmission Rebuilders Association) says that 90% of transmission failures are the result of overheating. Overheating that is mostly caused by overextended use of oil that has lost its properties. For the sake of proper lubrication and having to do less major repairs, change the darn oil more often than not!!!

By the way, cool video Jeff. It’s pretty good to know that our education is centered on the most efficient type of combustion engine. I like how the dudes are wearing suits while experimenting with the engines. It’s interesting that Copenhagen was the first place to build the first ship with a diesel engine and that today we have ties with that region. 

Here is a cool chart that I found about the degradation of oil.

Can you hear me now?

IMCO recently landed another project with Boeing; this time around it’s a job inside a building. We all know the dangers of using emission producing vehicles/equipment inside an enclosed environment. So management decided to obtain 3 "gently" used Cushman electric carts. We took extra caution not to cause any shorts because of the nearly 60volts running the motor. Not too complex in design except the one with the Curtis electronic motor controller. The controller is programed to make the electric motor behave like a combustion engine powered vehicle. A tech can hook up a programmer and change the drive-ability parameters of the cart. We didn't have a programmer so we had a little trouble with it. With the help of the magical internet and some manuals we found there, we had these voltage juiced up battery beasts running around in no time. One concern that I addressed though was that these things were incredibly quiet, too quiet. A man striding through a warehouse would cause way more noise than these Cushmans. There is a backup alarm on every single one, but going forward? This is not new technology for use where emissions are prohibited but I’m curios to know how many accidents occurred simply because you can’t hear these things put-put, or should I say zip along. Some people reference comically to equipping electric vehicles to imitate motor sounds, but I see somebody getting rich. Can you hear me now?

Repetition

It seems a lot of times that repetition is a nuance of preventative maintenance. I began looking at it as a way of being accustomed to quicker diagnosis. What I mean is that once you have gone over a piece of machinery multiple times it becomes very evident when something is out of order.  It could be with anything electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical; you just need to try to not let it bore you but see it as an opportunity to find something out of place. For example I was servicing a 2006 f150 when I came across heavy milky build-up on the oil cap. Every other fluid looked good on the truck so I didn’t suspect a blown head gasket; I was guessing poor crankcase ventilation. I didn’t find a PCV valve because it turns out that this ford doesn’t have one, sort of. Ford decided to have constant ventilation and to prevent condensation build up the PCV passage is heated. I pulled it out, connected to power and checked it with my infrared thermometer. Not a degree in variation of temperature, bad PCV tube.  The first time around I was in there for hours, the second week different truck, same motor-same problem. It took me half of an hour this time around. So because of the repetition I was able to identify the problem faster and thus repair it faster. Not so boring now.