The wisdom of large crowds (sometimes).

[ruffrecords]

Apparently the world's population just passed 8 billion.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Tubetec]

Kind of a stark outlook isnt it ,
maybe we need to start thinking up an epitaph for humanity ,
'we came , we saw, we conquered , but in the end our own success was our undoing'

Sorry for my previous grouchy comments John , were all , to some degree complicit in this mess thats unfolding .
I wonder what Musks plan to deal with it is , even Harry Houdini would be scratching his head trying to figure a way out of this .
Human greed and the 'new' keeping up with the "kardashians' (Jones's) via the internet is only accelerating our demise .
Im not married and I dont have any kids but just because I'll be dead and gone doesnt mean I dont care about the future .

My dad is around the same age as some of our more senior members here , maybe its a generational thing , but he still has trouble accepting that poorer ,less well educated people are playing the game with dice loaded against them .I have to watch out where I take him for a pint at times as he can easily end up coming across as condesending towards more working class folk , and thats a very easy way to get yourself in trouble .

 

[JohnRoberts]

this thread is about car repairs...

my car is still working right so far.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

My understanding of petrol/ethanol fuel mix is its the chemicals added to stabilise the two immiscible liquids that cause a lot of the damage ,the hygroscopic nature of ethanol is the other issue .The result of the combustion of such chemicals probably goes a fair way towards negating any possible upside environmentally
The extra demands on food crops to produce the ethanol also makes life more difficult for the less well off .

Glad to hear your big old V8 is running good again , I woudnt have pockets deep enough to keep a thirsty beast like that on the road here ,
Im knocking on the door of 50 years and I never owned a car in my life, I still very much like tinkering with small engine service to keep my gardening equipment going .

Agreed AP , a chainsaw is a very different beast to most IC engines , they either sputter along at idle a bit roughly or throttle open wide
while your in the cut . In my experience even the air filter choked with sawdust isnt a issue as long its cleaned regularly any carbon deposits burn off harmlessly , when the fuel tank is almost empty you start getting bubbles of air in the fuel line engine temp goes sky high and your in danger of doing damage .
Ive three working Stihl 02x series saws , old and well used but they still start first pull . From a cold start I take off the air filter,clean it , cover the intake with my thumb and pull the crank past TDC , that primes it , applying the choke works also but tends to require a few pulls and extra wear and tear .

 

[JohnRoberts]

My understanding of petrol/ethanol fuel mix is its the chemicals added to stabilise the two immiscible liquids that cause a lot of the damage ,the hygroscopic nature of ethanol is the other issue .The result of the combustion of such chemicals probably goes a fair way towards negating any possible upside environmentally
The extra demands on food crops to produce the ethanol also makes life more difficult for the less well off .

The ethanol program in the USA is all about using corn alcohol to supplant gasoline supply. I am not aware of any claims regarding saving the planet. This is a farm state wealth transfer. Burning food is not a great idea. I have paid attention and the price of corn in the super market roughly doubled.

Glad to hear your big old V8 is running good again , I woudnt have pockets deep enough to keep a thirsty beast like that on the road here ,
Im knocking on the door of 50 years and I never owned a car in my life, I still very much like tinkering with small engine service to keep my gardening equipment going .

I don't even drive it enough to keep the battery fully charged, only one 15 mile total shopping trip each week... This week I am going to test the state of repair by driving it 25 miles each way to my dentist for my annual teeth cleaning. I feel lucky, it has been 100% functional since I replaced the relay control module several weeks ago.

Agreed AP , a chainsaw is a very different beast to most IC engines , they either sputter along at idle a bit roughly or throttle open wide
while your in the cut . In my experience even the air filter choked with sawdust isnt a issue as long its cleaned regularly any carbon deposits burn off harmlessly , when the fuel tank is almost empty you start getting bubbles of air in the fuel line engine temp goes sky high and your in danger of doing damage .
Ive three working Stihl 02x series saws , old and well used but they still start first pull . From a cold start I take off the air filter,clean it , cover the intake with my thumb and pull the crank past TDC , that primes it , applying the choke works also but tends to require a few pulls and extra wear and tear .

I gave up trying to keep my old POS Poulon chainsaw running, even my small motors repair guy couldn't get it to run (I suspect a warped/leaking crankcase two stroke motors aren't that complicated). The small Stihl I finally replaced it with has been rock solid . I had to replace the stihl handle/frame one time when a tree dropped on it and broke it. I also bent the bar once, but my repair guy bent it back straight again so now it is my back up bar. I have got my moneys worth from that stihl.

Ethanol tended to dissolve the small fuel lines, and some bits inside the small motor carburetors. The politicians wanted to increase the fraction of ethanol in gasoline, but the installed base of gas station pumps would need to be upgraded to not be damaged by higher ethanol content. My repair guy swears by gas additives to protect against ethanol damage.

JR

 

[rob_gould]

Speaking of ethanol...

Haha, late night posting plus ethanol is a dangerous mix

 

[Tubetec]

I could have edited my comment ,tried to sweep it under the carpet unoticed ,
but I felt owning up and making the apology was a more honest way to deal with it .
An yes Rob your right , beverages had been consumed .

I'm not sure selling nearly pure alcohol to run our cars off in Ireland would end well at all , I think in Brazil they have been doing that for years ,of course they have massive surpluses of cane sugar to use as a raw material .

 

[JohnRoberts]

I could have edited my comment ,tried to sweep it under the carpet unoticed ,
but I felt owning up and making the apology was a more honest way to deal with it .
An yes Rob your right , beverages had been consumed .

et tu?

I'm not sure selling nearly pure alcohol to run our cars off in Ireland would end well at all , I think in Brazil they have been doing that for years ,of course they have massive surpluses of cane sugar to use as a raw material .

exactly... and the vehicles in Brazil are designed accordingly.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

My car started briskly again and reliably carried me to the big city and back for my dental appointment.

The check engine light came on again, so I guess the new gas cap did not resolve that. Looks like I need to start ignoring it again, its just an emissions fault and the car works fine otherwise.

JR

 

[fazer]

Denver has emissions checks due to air inversion pollution at higher elevation. If you have a check light come on during testing, they reject your car and you can’t get plates for it. I remember when they put smog pumps on cars in the 70s. Congress past laws to reduce emissions and changed gas formulas and car company’s used the pumps to blow fresh air into the exhaust to dilute the exhaust emissions. What a racket. Still the modern cars have far less pollution. This time of year is the worst for pollution in Denver and the blended gas used adds more cost to gasoline used here. That and the gas tax increase the per gallon cost, but I just got gas for $3:17/gal. Wonder where it goes from here.

 

[ruffrecords]

. That and the gas tax increase the per gallon cost, but I just got gas for $3:17/gal. Wonder where it goes from here.

Even if we assumed the GB pound was at parity with the dollar that would mean £3 per gallon - but US gallons are only 6 pints whereas British gallons are 8 pints so that equates to £4 a UK gallon. The current pump price in the UK is close to £10 a gallon and it is not a lot different throughout Europe.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

Even if we assumed the GB pound was at parity with the dollar that would mean £3 per gallon - but US gallons are only 6 pints whereas British gallons are 8 pints so that equates to £4 a UK gallon. The current pump price in the UK is close to £10 a gallon and it is not a lot different throughout Europe.

Cheers

Ian

from a quick search one US gallon =128 FL ounces =4 quarts=8 pints. One Imperial gallon =160 FL ounces =4.5 liters.

To convert to imperial gallons $3.17 in multiplied by 1.2x =$3.80 To convert the UK Pounds x 0.85 or £3.23

Todays average US gas price is more like $3.75 so that Denver $3.17 price seems like an outlier.

====

Denver has emissions checks due to air inversion pollution at higher elevation. If you have a check light come on during testing, they reject your car and you can’t get plates for it. I remember when they put smog pumps on cars in the 70s. Congress past laws to reduce emissions and changed gas formulas and car company’s used the pumps to blow fresh air into the exhaust to dilute the exhaust emissions. What a racket. Still the modern cars have far less pollution. This time of year is the worst for pollution in Denver and the blended gas used adds more cost to gasoline used here. That and the gas tax increase the per gallon cost, but I just got gas for $3:17/gal. Wonder where it goes from here.

Yup I've been to Denver before, on my way to skiing in Aspen or Vail decades ago. The air is cleaner now. Southern California used to also have serious smog issues.

I have recently spent a bunch of money on car repairs. I concede my focus is on making it run reliably, clearing the emissions fault was not a high priority but so far I have replaced the fill tube grommet, the evap purge solenoid, and the gas cap. The mechanic told me that he replaced some of the EVAP tubing when he had the gas tank out to replace the fuel pump.

I haven't checked the fault code since this recent idiot lighting but I am pretty sure it is the same old EVAP fault I have been seeing for years. This is difficult to trouble shoot since the light can stay off for weeks after I clear it. I do not drive many miles.

I can look around inside the engine compartment for an obvious vacuum leak, but I am not optimistic.

JR

 

[Matador]

and car company’s used the pumps to blow fresh air into the exhaust to dilute the exhaust emissions.

This isn't how a smog pump works. Exhaust temperatures are at their highest right as they exit the combustion chamber, so a fresh oxygen supply allows combustion to continue right inside the exhaust manifold, dropping (by total amount) the emission of unburnt hydrocarbons. In fact, these systems only come into play while the engine is increasing in RPM (e.g. the car is accelerating), when air/fuel mixtures are "richer". During de-acceleration, the pump is forced off to prevent backfiring, and is also off when the engine is cold, and the engine is purposefully richened until it is up to temperature.

 

[crazydoc]

This time of year is the worst for pollution in Denver and the blended gas used adds more cost to gasoline used here. That and the gas tax increase the per gallon cost, but I just got gas for $3:17/gal. Wonder where it goes from here.

I grew up in Wheat Ridge, just to the west of Denver, and in high school (early 60's) I could look out a class room window to the north, and watch the dark pollution roll down Clear Creek valley from Denver during the winter afternoons. I imagine that has seen significant improvement.

I got gas this week for $5.89/gal. At least it's under $6 now.

 

[fazer]

I grew up in Wheat Ridge

I grew up in Arvada. Now live in Elizabeth 14 miles to east of Castle Rock in a pine forest area. The air is so much cleaner here. It’s ugly driving into the city and seeing that cloud.

 

[fazer]

This isn't how a smog pump works

I don’t remember the pumps turning off in the 70s. They were always running off the fan belt. Are they still used today?

Anyway thanks for the analysis.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am pleasantly surprised by how long the new fangled ceramic wax is holding a shine. Just a few days ago Scooter, the stray cat that hangs out in my car port tried to jump up on the hood and slid back off because it was too slippery. I can see dirty footprints on the trunk lid where the cat was able to jump up onto the relatively flat surface back there, but not the sloped nose of the hood. It is kind of amusing to see the cat sliding backwards down off the hood while flailing his arms like a cartoon cat.

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

I don’t remember the pumps turning off in the 70s. They were always running off the fan belt. Are they still used today?

Anyway thanks for the analysis.

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1504-understanding-how-a-smog-system-works-clean-living/

 

[Matador]

Don’t remember them turning off in the 70s. They were always running of the fan belt. Are they still used today?

Yes, they are still common today. The belt is always turning the impellers, however there is a diverter valve which opens and closes the airflow.

Modern cars carefully controller ignition timing and fuel air mixture so A.I.R. systems don't do as much. The big beef with smog pumps is that if you had a badly tuned engine with a rich mixture, significant combustion was always happening in the manifold, cooking it (and the surroundings) until it cracked.

 

[JohnRoberts]

My car was running poorly especially when cold until I replaced the 4x O2 sensors in the exhaust system last year. Technology like this can get a little flaky after a couple decades.

Another suspect in my persistent EVAP system idiot light is the purge flow sensor. Another $35 part, hopefully under the hood....

[edit it appears it is located under the hood with multiple tubing connections, that also could be leaking. Probably a good idea to replace all those hoses too. It's too cold right now. Weather report does not look very promising either for relief soon.

edit2- sensor only $20 so on order... I had to guess the tubing size so I ordered some 3/8" we'll see. /edit]

JR