Where Do You Turn When You Have Trouble?

I'm not talking about trouble with the law here. I mean, who do you turn to when the Check Engine light comes on or you fry some wires, or your engine keeps shutting off while driving?

In the old days, it helped to have a friend who was a mechanic whom you could call in time of need, assuming you were near a phone. We didn't have cell phones then. (Even better would be a brother.) Today we have something still better. Diesel forums.

Yesterday someone had a dash fire in their Powerstroke and has been dealing with shorted brake light switch wires. Within 16 hours he had five people discussing the situation with him.

Nine hours ago someone named Juniebuck posted some steps they had taken to resolve some issues in their Powerstroke and less than an hour ago there were suggestions of steps that could be taken.

In short, online forums have been a real life saver for all kinds of vehicle owners, especially those in the Diesel World. Instead of relying on your brother, you have a whole family of diesel lovers, many of them directly experienced with your engine type, whether Duramax, Powerstroke or Cummins.

IF YOU LOOK below in the right hand column you'll find links to a full range of diesel forums. If yours isn't listed I would like to add it. Please leave the name and URL in the comments.

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Blackout in the Country: Cool Beans! Live Diesel Competition Is Happening October 10 along with an Online Live Feed

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO OCTOBER 24 DUE TO WEATHER

BUT IT IS STILL HAPPENING AND WE'RE STILL STREAMING IT LIVE.

We're just over 10 days away from Beans Diesel's Blackout in the Country, a day-long diesel fest in Woodbury, TN. Woodbury is a small town in Cannon County, 55 miles Southeast of downtown Nashville. It will be a three-ring diesel circus with all the usual features: Show and Shine, Dyno Competition, Dirt Drags, Burnout Contest and Sled Pull.

The Host of this event is Beans Diesel Performance, a full service maintenance, performance, & tuning shop specializing in Power Stroke, Duramax, & Cummins engines.

 

Beans Diesel Performance

210 Rollin Coal Ln

Woodbury, TN 37190

United States of America 

$20 entrance fee 12 and up - Gates open @ 8:00 AM

Champion Oil, one of the sponsors of this event, will share a live feed  

for any and all diesel enthusiasts who are unable to attend. 

Who said “Diesel Engine Oil Doesn’t Break-Down"?

Diesel oil doesn't break down? Who said that? We don’t know for sure, but some understanding of oil shearing and viscosity loss makes you wonder what they were thinking. 

Let’s start with oil change regimens and extending drain intervals. Most diesel enthusiasts are more concerned with how long their engine last than how long their oil can last.

Messing around with drain intervals, though, has risks. Many who try extending drain intervals risk voiding their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) warranties. And even if you’re changing your oil at the intervals recommended by your OEM, it doesn’t guarantee that your engine’s protected. If you have issues with oil consumption, or oil dilution, your engine cannot be protected to the degree you might expect. 

What causes this breakdown to occur, and how can you ensure your vehicle’s engine is protected?

Understanding oil composition will give you an insight as to why engine oils break down over time. Motor oil is comprised of a basestock and additives. The additive package is designed to satisfy specific engine requirements. Additives, however, are like a bar of handsoap. They get used up over time. Toward the end of a drain interval, a lower-quality oil may drastically lose its ability to prevent wear. The constant heat, intense pressure and stress that is put on an oil causes it to impact these important chemical additives over time. 

One of these ingredients is the viscosity modifier. Viscosity modifiers compensate for the poor temperature response of base oil alone. Oils tends to get thinner at high temperatures and thicker at low temperatures. Viscosity modifiers are a critical component of nearly every engine oil.

The trouble is, under the intense heat and pressure inside a diesel engine, traditional viscosity modifiers break down over time. This is because the molecules that compose them are arranged in a linear coil shape, which is prone to breaking up as oil is squeezed between moving parts.

This deterioration of the viscosity modifier and the oil is referred to as shearing. Shearing can be a major issue for your diesel engine, because if an oil isn’t running at its specified viscosity, critical engine parts will be left without the protective layer of a lubricant. And when that happens, wear and corrosion can literally cause a catastrophic failure.

By understanding shearing and viscosity loss, it becomes clear why a standard diesel engine oil may not protect your vehicle as well as you think it will toward the end of its service life.

To keep your diesel engine protected through the entire length of its OEM-recommended or extended drain interval, it’s important to use a top-tier diesel engine oil with strong shear resistance and viscosity control. In addition, doing a periodic oil analysis (some recommend after every other oil change) can identify other potential problems that could drastically shorten your diesel engine’s life and result in costly repairs.

If you find this information useful, feel free to share it using our social media buttons on the left. In the meantime, ride on.

Education Schedule Announced for SEMA360

SEMA360 is this year's virtual alternative to the annual SEMA Show which has been the heartbeat of the Automotive Aftermarket for more than half a century. Yes, it's a bummer that we're not going the Vegas this year. There are so many highlights. The New Products Showcase, Builders Showcase, 10 miles of Manufacturers' displays, networking opportunities plus the educational tracks.

This week the seminar schedule was firmed up and finally announced. You can go to this page and see the full schedule, or you can go to this page to download a PDF of the schedule.

SEMA360 is taking place the first week of November, the usual week of their annual event. The show floor traditionally opens on Tuesday, but the seminars start Monday beginning with a Keynote opening. Monday's activities include seminars on selling and growing your business as well as interviews with industry leaders at a place called The Stage. Virtual, of course.

Tuesday begins with what's sure to be an informative Racing and Performance Forum that gives clues to where things are headed as we move into the future.

Other topics during the week include marketing strategies, classic cars and restoration, emissions compliance, how to add vehicle wraps to your business, and much more.

Follow the links above to get the full scope of the week's activities.

First Mods for Your New Diesel Pickup

This past week I came across a video titled Top 5 Mods for Your Powerstroke Diesel and it got me thinking about the countless ways our trucks can be enhanced, either for looks or for power. The YouTube video is one in a series of vids by TopCorey, whose YouTube channel currently has over 42 thousand subscribers. There's a link down below.

Thinking about modifications led me to do a quick search for other sites with recommendations of where to begin. This article by Trent McGee at Diesel Power Products's website seemed especially useful for guys and gals seeking max power for competition. According to McGee, these are the three critical areas where you need to invest.

What I like about this article is that it begins by explaining what an engine really is. "An engine is essentially a giant air pump," McGee writes. "It draws in outside air, compresses and injects fuel for ignition, then exhales the spent gasses." That's a very concise and explicit explanation. In other words, it's an efficient form of creating power but requires sufficient air and fuel, and a means for getting rid of the spent gases. For optimal power you also need a way to control that air-fuel mix ratio. 

In short, once you understand this, you understand why this article proposes the three following modifications. Once you process the previous paragraph, the essential modifications are three in number.

1) Cold Air Intake

2) Exhaust System Upgrade

3) In-line Programmer or Tuner
Installed between the ECM and the engine, think of it as A.I. for your performance diesel. 

The article goes into depth on each of these three vehicle enhancements. You can find it here:
THE TRIFECTA: THE BEST FIRST MODS FOR YOUR DIESEL TRUCK 

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The video shares TopCorey's Top 5 Mods for Your Powerstroke Diesel  which are directed more to Powerstrokes, but have application to all diesel owners. You can see that the first three mods are identical to the Trifecta above, except in a different order. The last two items on his list of five are more in the realm of cosmetics.

1) Custom Tuning via Easylink ("Unlocks a truck's true potential")

2) Exhaust Upgrade (5 inch pipe recommended)

3) Factory modified VGT Turbo from SPE

4) Wheels, Tires, Lift Kit

5) Window Tinting

Some of us like to get information through reading, others through seeing. The options are many and it sometimes helps to get guidance from people who have been there and done that. 

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Afterword: The Trifecta article has the words "Written by Trent McGee" in the title, but at the beginning of the article itself are the words "Written By: Diesel Josh" For what it's worth, I want to make sure whoever actually wrote this gets credit. Good stuff.

A guy walks into a bar and says……

"Does anyone know about Diesel Fuels?"

Diesel fuel is more efficient than gasoline because it contains 10% more energy per gallon than gasoline. But there are a few kinds of diesel fuel: Just as gasoline is rated by its octane, diesel fuel is rated by its cetane, which indicates how easy it is to ignite and how fast it burns. Diesel fuel is safer than gasoline because its vapors don’t explode or ignite as easily as gasoline vapors.

When exhaust from conventional diesel fuel was found to cause cancer, clean diesel engines were developed. Although conventional diesel fuel-burning vehicles are still on the road, states and the federal government enacted legislation that will eventually eliminate these older diesels engines.

Standard diesel fuel comes in two grades: Diesel #1 (or 1-D) and Diesel #2 (or 2-D). The higher the cetane number, the more volatile the fuel. Most diesel vehicles use fuel with a rating of 40 to 55.

You don’t have to worry about which type to use because all diesel OEMs specify Diesel #2 for normal driving conditions. Over the road truckers use Diesel #2 to carry heavy loads for long distances at sustained speeds because it’s less volatile than Diesel #1 and provides greater fuel economy.

Diesel fuel also is measured by its viscosity. Like other motor oils, diesel fuel gets thicker and cloudier at lower temperatures. Under extreme conditions it can become a gel, which limits flow. Diesel #1 flows more easily than Diesel #2, so it’s more efficient at lower temperatures. The two types of oil can be blended, and most service stations offer diesel fuel blended for local weather conditions.

If you plan to drive in very cold weather, choose diesel fuel rated at least 10 degrees lower than the coldest temperatures you expect to encounter. Consult your owner’s manual or engine builder for more specifics.

"Red" Diesel Fuel is exactly the same fluid as No. 2 fuel that's used in diesel pick-ups, heavy- duty trucks, buses and some cars on the road. The big difference is red fuel is used for engines that power off-road vehicles, as well as machines like tractors and bulldozers that are used on farms and construction sites.

Because of its price, which typically is much lower than the cost for No. 2 fuel, red diesel is subject to a rebated tax. Although red diesel certainly will "work" in our daily diesel vehicles, using it on the street is not allowed. You could face high fines and penalties for tax evasion if you are caught using red diesel on public roads.

Another type is Biodiesel. This diesel fuel is derived from agricultural materials and has the potential to provide a clean-burning alternative to petroleum.

Rudolph Diesel’s first engine was designed to run on peanut oil. Henry Ford envisioned plant-based fuel as the primary fuel for transportation, so he partnered with Standard Oil to develop biofuel production and distribution.

However, currently the only type of biodiesel fuel that can be used in vehicles in the United States and Canada without violating manufacturer’s warranties is B5, a blend of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent regular diesel. Most diesel engines run just fine on blends of up to 30 percent biodiesel.

The bartender looks up and says, "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"

Champion Oil Featured in 2020 Global Heavy-Duty Diesel Market Report

The new Global Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Oil Market Research Report (GMR) includes current API CK-4 and FA-4 Categories. The study provides information on market trends and development, drivers, capacities, technologies, and on the changing capital structure of the market. One of the key players profiled in the study is Champion Oil, a.k.a. Champion Brands, LLC. 

The GMR provides lubricant organizations with a deep focus on market intelligence, data analytics, and social intelligence, by skilled industry professionals. By combining and analyzing relevant data, they provide a comprehensive understanding of the market and today’s business climate demands for various lubricants and applications.

The history, trends and forecast report covers the history and growth strategies for the lubricant future, industry convergence, technologies, company capabilities, and market trends. The GMR study covers premium conventional oil, full- synthetic oil, synthetic blend oil & higher mileage oil for heavy-duty/off-road trucks, light duty diesel trucks, high-tech diesel engines, newer diesel cars, etc. Some of the key lubricant manufacturers featured in the GMR are: Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Chevron, Champion Brands, Total S.A., Royal Purple, Valvoline, Castrol & Kendall Motor Oils. 

Global regions, market sizes, and end users are analyzed as well as market segments by type, application and oil companies. Each type provides information about the production during the forecast period of 2015 to 2026. Application segment also provides consumption during the forecast period of 2015 to 2026. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth for full-synthetic & synthetic-blend plus applications for Off-Road Equipment, Light Duty & Heavy-Duty Truck.

The current 2020 Global Diesel Engine Oil Market Research Report is available for $2,900. The report can be acquired at the following link: https://www.themarketreports.com/report/global-heavy-duty-diesel-engine-oils-market-research-report