Fuel of the Devil
Author
Discussion

delboy735

Original Poster:

1,656 posts

232 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
quotequote all
If diesel is the fuel of satan, and diesel cars love to eat DPF's, EGR's Turbos DMF's etc if they are not used for long runs at regular speeds, then how come the fuel of satan is the favoured fuel of the taxi driver?.....thats the one that does nothing but stop start motoring all day long.
Surely if the horror stories of PH are to go by, then taxis should be disintegrating all over the shop !!


Prepares for flaming by wearing fireproof overalls ! laughlaugh

MethylatedSpirit

2,103 posts

166 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
quotequote all
Deisel toyota avensus, Honda accords and oldish skodas are the weapons of choice round here. There are reliable diesel cars out there and taxi drivers generally get to know which ones are good.

B'stard Child

31,111 posts

276 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
Round here for oil burning taxis it's Mondeos, Avensis or Octavia and one C5 (probably a tad brave)

Not seen anything else and to me that says a lot........

Having said that they run up a lot of miles and I wouldn't mind betting if a DMF failed they'd opt for SMF (solid) conversion kits



Edited by B'stard Child on Wednesday 29th January 00:16

sherman

15,244 posts

245 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
When you say stop start motoring taxis dont really stop start as the drivers never turn the engine off (apart from at the fuel pump) so the engine will always be up to operating temperatures.

Riley Blue

23,205 posts

256 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
There are plenty of reliable short-trip reliable diesel engined vehicles around, just as there are plenty of unreliable petrol engined cars. In all I've driven well over 400,000 miles in diesel engined cars, only one DMF replaced at 160,000 miles. I'd call that pretty good.

skyrover

12,700 posts

234 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
I don't like diesel, but appreciate it's the best tool for the job in certain applications.

I do not think it is a suitable fuel for passenger vehicles, especially in urban areas due to the high amount of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter these engines produce.

They are incredibly bad for human health.

I would like to see electric motors used in public transport to a much higher level.

PanzerCommander

5,026 posts

248 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
skyrover said:
I don't like diesel, but appreciate it's the best tool for the job in certain applications.

I do not think it is a suitable fuel for passenger vehicles, especially in urban areas due to the high amount of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter these engines produce.

They are incredibly bad for human health.

I would like to see electric motors used in public transport to a much higher level.
The daft thing is there used to be electric motors in public transport, from 1937 to 1964 we had Trolley Busses in hull, essentially a bus with a pantograph type contraption on the roof which contacted a wire over the road. Which means zero localised emissions, IC engined busses were only used to service areas where the overhead wire was not practical.


Image nicked from wikipedia.

These replaced the tram network, there are some little bits of the tram network remain here and there (bits of track mainly), most has been demolished/torn up.

There are a few hybrid busses creaping into operation around here now, though not many as I guess they are far more expensive than a regular diesel bus.

Edited by PanzerCommander on Wednesday 29th January 07:41


Edited by PanzerCommander on Wednesday 29th January 07:42

Mastodon2

14,326 posts

195 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
Taxis pretty much never stop their engines apart from refuelling or ending a shift, so once it's up to temp at the start of the shift, it will stay that way throughout.

Furthermore, I never see taxi drivers in the most modern, complicated diesels, they tend to be in older, simpler stuff like Vectras, Mondeos, Mercedes C class and Superbs.

skyrover

12,700 posts

234 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
PanzerCommander said:
The daft thing is there used to be electric motors in public transport, from 1937 to 1964 we had Trolley Busses in hull, essentially a bus with a pantograph type contraption on the roof which contacted a wire over the road. Which means zero localised emissions, IC engined busses were only used to service areas where the overhead wire was not practical.


Image nicked from wikipedia.
Still very common in places around Europe as well I gather.

Hopefully we will see more electric buses now that hot swapping batteries is becoming a mature technology.

Buses by their very nature are predictable, so they are the perfect candidate for electric power.

mcflurry

9,190 posts

283 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
PanzerCommander said:
There are a few hybrid busses creaping into operation around here now, though not many as I guess they are far more expensive than a regular diesel bus.
Including the new Routemaster biggrin

redtwin

7,518 posts

212 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
In my area taxis tend to be newer diesels or older petrols. Some of the newer diesels are BMW/Merc with pains taken to ensure any council plates and radio aerials don't do damage to the car. I strongly suspect these are only run for a short while then removed from taxi duty before they have too much wear on them.

kambites

71,483 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
Taxi drivers don't really do "short journeys" in the conventional sense. I think it's running cold a lot that upsets DPFs rather than driving slowly?

zeppelin101

724 posts

222 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
skyrover said:
I don't like diesel, but appreciate it's the best tool for the job in certain applications.

I do not think it is a suitable fuel for passenger vehicles, especially in urban areas due to the high amount of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter these engines produce.

They are incredibly bad for human health.

I would like to see electric motors used in public transport to a much higher level.
Modern diesels are cleaner for particulates than their petrol equivalents thanks to the chemical factory stuffed into the exhaust.

Don't believe me? Look at the tail pipe of a recent diesel car compared to a brand new petrol.

Petrol cars will require a particulate filter in the near future the same way diesels do now.

Engine out NOx will be negated by SCR catalysts in the coming years. Think VW already have something in production in a passenger car? Lots of commercial vehicles are already using it too.

kambites

71,483 posts

251 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
zeppelin101 said:
Modern diesels are cleaner for particulates than their petrol equivalents thanks to the chemical factory stuffed into the exhaust.
Only until the DPF fails or gets taken out. hehe

It'll be interesting to see if PPFs (or GPFs if you're feeling American) suffer the same sorts of failures.

JamesD1

844 posts

157 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
i think the whole diesel engines are crap at short runs is slightly over done. yes dpf's do soot up if not blown through properly (foot down) and egr's do the same leaving sludge in the intake doing the turbo in.

more importantly is that diesels are not better on fuel for crawling around in town traffic. day to day use of a diesel e.g. run to school / work / shops etc there should be no issues

skyrover

12,700 posts

234 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
zeppelin101 said:
Modern diesels are cleaner for particulates than their petrol equivalents thanks to the chemical factory stuffed into the exhaust.

Don't believe me? Look at the tail pipe of a recent diesel car compared to a brand new petrol.

Petrol cars will require a particulate filter in the near future the same way diesels do now.

Engine out NOx will be negated by SCR catalysts in the coming years. Think VW already have something in production in a passenger car? Lots of commercial vehicles are already using it too.
They are not cleaner than petrols, the soot filter simply traps the larger particles and dumps them at a later date.

Diesels are also still produce more than double the NOx of the equivalent petrol motor according to Euro emission standards.

podwin

652 posts

232 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
skyrover said:
the soot filter simply traps the larger particles and dumps them at a later date.
That's not entirely true, what comes out of a DPF is not the same as without one.

RizzoTheRat

28,932 posts

222 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
skyrover said:
They are not cleaner than petrols, the soot filter simply traps the larger particles and dumps them at a later date.
I thought DPF's burn it off rather than dumping it back out again? Some modern ones can do a regeneration cycle when the vehicle's parked, automatically fueling/revving correctly to get it up to temperature to regenerate.

Trucks now use Adblue to lower the NOx, don't think that's made it in to any cars yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to happen

wemorgan

3,583 posts

208 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
RizzoTheRat said:
Trucks now use Adblue to lower the NOx, don't think that's made it in to any cars yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts to happen
yes I believe it's coming to cars in the very near future

redtwin

7,518 posts

212 months

Wednesday 29th January 2014
quotequote all
I thought that adblue usage was the reasoning behind the "Bluetec" moniker on MB diesel cars. paperbag