Monday, March 26, 2007
Something made something better
I got 30.8 mpg this morning on my morning drive today. I usually get 27 mpg.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
DieselPurge & Mobil 1 TDT
Ran two cans of DieselPurge through the engine to see if I could stop the burning of oil. (see last post) Then had Dan do an oil changed and started using Mobil 1 Trubo Diesel Truck motor oil which I bought from Autobarn. I'll start testing the oil again every 3,000 miles so I can compare it with Castrol Synthetic. Yes, it's true, Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck does not have a 505.1 rating. But what it does have are three really important words: Turbo, Diesel and Truck. Plus, it's not going to be any worse than the Castrol but we'll have to wait and see the oil reports.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Piston Rings Probably Just Not Doing Their Job
This is an email I received from Craig Reece that he passed along to a mechanic.
The mechanic responses are in blue.
CRAIG: The most probably reason for your car's using oil - with such low miles on the engine (well under 100K I assume) is that the incompletely combusted fuel (as indicated by the "white mist" problem you had prior to getting the MAF contacts working, and perhaps due to the faulty MAF, and/or perhaps due to the fact that the PD engine is not a good candidate for WVO) ran down the cylinder walls and caused coking and/or gumming of the ring lands - the grooves in which the piston rings fit.
MECHANIC: Which means they won't rock in the lands and scrape down/compress up
CRAIG: If the ring lands are gummed up or coked up, then the rings can't expand and contract as they're designed to, and they don't seal properly. The function of the top rings is to maintain good compression, and since diesels, lacking spark plugs, ignite the fuel due to the high temperatures created when you compress the air in the cylinder and the combustion chamber, good compression is vital for complete combustion. So, it's obviously a vicious circle.
MECHANIC: Top rings do the scraping by rocking to a different position on the down vs. up
CRAIG: The bottom ring or rings are the oil control rings, and their job is to scrape the oil from the oil pan, which by design is splashed up onto the cylinder walls, and prevents that oil from getting into the area above the top of the piston.
MECHANIC: Oil control ring holds oil to lube cylinder walls.
CRAIG: So, it's unlikely that your piston rings are badly worn, and much more likely that the rings are not doing their job in preventing the oil in the crankcase from making it's way into the combustion chamber and being burned. Burning oil shows up as bluish smoke in the exhaust, and of course low compression will show up via a compression test, which is why I've suggested you get one. The other possible cause of using so much oil could be that it's leaking, but you'd see that on your driveway. A final reason could be worn valve guides, and the traditional way to isolate this from rings as a cause is to first take a compression test, then, if it's low, squirt some oil into the cylinder, and if the compression numbers increase, it's a sign of worn rings, not bad valve guides, since the oil has sealed the rings and improved the compression.
MECHANIC: Worn guides usually show a lot of blue smoke on start and then go away or greatly reduce after start because the cylinders fill up at night. Unlikely he has bad valves guides or seals. Squirting oil in the cylinders is not recommended for diesel engines because of the fact that if you put fuel (oil) in the combustion chamber it might fire. Compression test should be done on hot dry cylinders.
CRAIG: DieselPurge *can* free up stuck rings or rings that aren't expanding and contracting as they should be burning away the carbon and/or gumming. And there are probably other strong solvents that could be used. Tom and Ray, the Car Guys, recommend Rizlone for this, and you might try that too.
MECHANIC: Just pull the glow plugs and dump that purge stuff in. Just pull the oil plug while you do it and then do and oil change after. Marvel Mystery, WD-40 sometimes also work for this.
CRAIG: And if you do in fact have stuck rings, and your oil consumption is due to your car's burning crankcase oil, you should remember that soy is not what you want to be running, since it has a polymerizing effect on the motor oil, and it's even possible that the fact that you used it as your main fuel source, and had (probably) incomplete combustion for a long time, did in fact thicken the oil and thus reduced it's lubrication of the cylinders, and even that some polymerized motor oil got into the ring lands of the oil control rings - and once again we have a vicious circle/downward spiral. Did oil analysis indicate thicker oil?
MECHANIC: Just change the oil more.
CRAIG: And it's because of the polymerizing effect of soy, and the fact that we can assume that some is still getting into the crankcase, that I wouldn't use it, and I'd also change your engine oil a twice the recommended intervals. And I'd use Delvac I or Mobil 1 "Turbo Diesel Truck Oil" (which is just rebadged Delvac 1 and which replaces "Truck and SUV Oil." (And I've gone half-blind reading many of the many threads at the Tdi Club Forum on which oil to use in the PD engine, and my vote is still with Delvac/Mobil 1.)
So, once again, here's what I would do, in approx. order of importance (and cost) - that is, most important and (more or less) least costly first:
1. Buy the DieselGiant VW Tdi DieselPurge kit with DVD and watch the DVD with your mechanic, then pay him to use DieselPurge. Buy enough to do it twice or more. I'd get 4 of the 500ML cans.
2. Try some Rizlone (most auto parts stores should have it.
3. Drive it hard 1x a week - WOT (wide open throttle up a long grade.) Aka an Italian Tuneup.
4. Change your oil if you haven't in the last 3000 miles, and do so every 3000 miles. Send a sample, every time, for analysis, and tell them you're most interested in viscosity. (Who do you use?) Use Delvac or Mobil I - and I know it's a drag to dump a quart of $5.99 oil into your car every 1000 miles, but that's only .006 cents a mile, and you're still getting over 30 mpg even if you're running diesel.6. Run diesel or pure Canola, not soy WVO or soy biodiesel (sorry.)
5. Get a compression test done. Have him squirt some of cheap non- snyth. oil down each cylinder, per the above.Let us know what happens.
And, once again, if it turns out (and the jury is still out) that the PD engine is not a good candidate forWVO: I'm sorry! (And even if it is a good candidate, I'm sorry you're going through this!)
Craig
craigreece@plantdrive.com
http://www.plantdrive.com
The mechanic responses are in blue.
CRAIG: The most probably reason for your car's using oil - with such low miles on the engine (well under 100K I assume) is that the incompletely combusted fuel (as indicated by the "white mist" problem you had prior to getting the MAF contacts working, and perhaps due to the faulty MAF, and/or perhaps due to the fact that the PD engine is not a good candidate for WVO) ran down the cylinder walls and caused coking and/or gumming of the ring lands - the grooves in which the piston rings fit.
MECHANIC: Which means they won't rock in the lands and scrape down/compress up
CRAIG: If the ring lands are gummed up or coked up, then the rings can't expand and contract as they're designed to, and they don't seal properly. The function of the top rings is to maintain good compression, and since diesels, lacking spark plugs, ignite the fuel due to the high temperatures created when you compress the air in the cylinder and the combustion chamber, good compression is vital for complete combustion. So, it's obviously a vicious circle.
MECHANIC: Top rings do the scraping by rocking to a different position on the down vs. up
CRAIG: The bottom ring or rings are the oil control rings, and their job is to scrape the oil from the oil pan, which by design is splashed up onto the cylinder walls, and prevents that oil from getting into the area above the top of the piston.
MECHANIC: Oil control ring holds oil to lube cylinder walls.
CRAIG: So, it's unlikely that your piston rings are badly worn, and much more likely that the rings are not doing their job in preventing the oil in the crankcase from making it's way into the combustion chamber and being burned. Burning oil shows up as bluish smoke in the exhaust, and of course low compression will show up via a compression test, which is why I've suggested you get one. The other possible cause of using so much oil could be that it's leaking, but you'd see that on your driveway. A final reason could be worn valve guides, and the traditional way to isolate this from rings as a cause is to first take a compression test, then, if it's low, squirt some oil into the cylinder, and if the compression numbers increase, it's a sign of worn rings, not bad valve guides, since the oil has sealed the rings and improved the compression.
MECHANIC: Worn guides usually show a lot of blue smoke on start and then go away or greatly reduce after start because the cylinders fill up at night. Unlikely he has bad valves guides or seals. Squirting oil in the cylinders is not recommended for diesel engines because of the fact that if you put fuel (oil) in the combustion chamber it might fire. Compression test should be done on hot dry cylinders.
CRAIG: DieselPurge *can* free up stuck rings or rings that aren't expanding and contracting as they should be burning away the carbon and/or gumming. And there are probably other strong solvents that could be used. Tom and Ray, the Car Guys, recommend Rizlone for this, and you might try that too.
MECHANIC: Just pull the glow plugs and dump that purge stuff in. Just pull the oil plug while you do it and then do and oil change after. Marvel Mystery, WD-40 sometimes also work for this.
CRAIG: And if you do in fact have stuck rings, and your oil consumption is due to your car's burning crankcase oil, you should remember that soy is not what you want to be running, since it has a polymerizing effect on the motor oil, and it's even possible that the fact that you used it as your main fuel source, and had (probably) incomplete combustion for a long time, did in fact thicken the oil and thus reduced it's lubrication of the cylinders, and even that some polymerized motor oil got into the ring lands of the oil control rings - and once again we have a vicious circle/downward spiral. Did oil analysis indicate thicker oil?
MECHANIC: Just change the oil more.
CRAIG: And it's because of the polymerizing effect of soy, and the fact that we can assume that some is still getting into the crankcase, that I wouldn't use it, and I'd also change your engine oil a twice the recommended intervals. And I'd use Delvac I or Mobil 1 "Turbo Diesel Truck Oil" (which is just rebadged Delvac 1 and which replaces "Truck and SUV Oil." (And I've gone half-blind reading many of the many threads at the Tdi Club Forum on which oil to use in the PD engine, and my vote is still with Delvac/Mobil 1.)
So, once again, here's what I would do, in approx. order of importance (and cost) - that is, most important and (more or less) least costly first:
1. Buy the DieselGiant VW Tdi DieselPurge kit with DVD and watch the DVD with your mechanic, then pay him to use DieselPurge. Buy enough to do it twice or more. I'd get 4 of the 500ML cans.
2. Try some Rizlone (most auto parts stores should have it.
3. Drive it hard 1x a week - WOT (wide open throttle up a long grade.) Aka an Italian Tuneup.
4. Change your oil if you haven't in the last 3000 miles, and do so every 3000 miles. Send a sample, every time, for analysis, and tell them you're most interested in viscosity. (Who do you use?) Use Delvac or Mobil I - and I know it's a drag to dump a quart of $5.99 oil into your car every 1000 miles, but that's only .006 cents a mile, and you're still getting over 30 mpg even if you're running diesel.6. Run diesel or pure Canola, not soy WVO or soy biodiesel (sorry.)
5. Get a compression test done. Have him squirt some of cheap non- snyth. oil down each cylinder, per the above.Let us know what happens.
And, once again, if it turns out (and the jury is still out) that the PD engine is not a good candidate forWVO: I'm sorry! (And even if it is a good candidate, I'm sorry you're going through this!)
Craig
craigreece@plantdrive.com
http://www.plantdrive.com
