diesel pollution

[Drago]

Yeah, don't worry, very frequent oil changes. Been running various vehicles this way since 2002 with no problems. Sadly, the time will one day come when there are no suitable IDI diesels left for me to use.

 

[Smurfy]

Yeah, don't worry, very frequent oil changes. Been running various vehicles this way since 2002 with no problems. Sadly, the time will one day come when there are no suitable IDI diesels left for me to use.

Very frequent? Is that 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000? I'm tempted, but too worried about sludge. to try it yet.

 

[mustang1]

A guy I know who has a diesel car and removed the DPF told me the dpf is not required in suburban areas (where he loves), its only required in stop/go traffic. I think he was trying to justify chipping his car and removing the DPF. I thought that was an MOT requirement these days.

Interesting to hear a DPF will be required on petrol cars with Euro 6 standards, I had no idea. One reason I didn't buy diesel is coz of the dpf. I need to re-analyze.

 

[Drago]

Very frequent? Is that 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000? I'm tempted, but too worried about sludge. to try it yet.

3000 miles. The standard interval on my old warhorse is only 4500 miles anyway, so it's by no means onerous.

DPF has to be present for the MOT but there's no viable means of testing them so its a visual inspection only, so a lot of people hollow them out. Same with cats on diesels.

 

[Smurfy]

3000 miles. The standard interval on my old warhorse is only 4500 miles anyway, so it's by no means onerous.

DPF has to be present for the MOT but there's no viable means of testing them so its a visual inspection only, so a lot of people hollow them out. Same with cats on diesels.

Mine's old, I think it only has a catalyst, and no DPF. I've certainly heard of people ramming the whole lot out with a metal bar to improve efficiency.

 

[stowie]

Diesel cars are rubbish town cars. Notwithstanding the debate on particulates etc. they are mechanically rather fragile given all the gubbins that they now have to manage emissions. I have a Vauxhall where the swirl flaps - a half baked invention to try to manage emissions / power at various revs - had decided to come adrift (they get gunged up by that other amazing invention, the EGR) and cause merriment in the engine block. Luckily it was under warranty and a new manifold, turbo and engine rebuild sorted it. But if you think this is only applicable to things like Vauxhalls, BMW have had a very similar problem in the past, with BMW seemingly taking little responsibility when the bits went through the engine. All this is because they are adding in delicate parts at lowest cost and then people are driving their cars such short distances that they get gunged up.

All of this is hotly debated online, with little thought given to the fact that it might be better to simply not drive ridiculously short distances in crowded cities in the first place.

 

[mgarl10024]

Buses

I've often wondered about this. I started off smug that I got the bus to work with my green credentials intact, but over time started to wonder when I noticed how most of the buses - were old; were heavy (11 tonnes for a double decker); would belch out smoke when pulling away; would stop/start frequently; would idle when waiting at stops; etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_transport#Buses suggests that they are still better but not by as much as you'd think (at least in the US).

 

[Feastie]

What about Taxis?

If Boris made some kind of decree that all taxis had to be electric (and compensated the cab men for this), I think it would make London SO much nicer air-wise. They have some kind of different fuel that really stinks and there's something in it that sets off my asthma like nothing else.

 

[albion]

Electric, Boris and TFL will have wiped out the vast majority of traditional London taxis within a year or two.
Could it be that their OTT support of unregulated Uber happens to be another war on unions ?

They wont be electric, they will all become clapped out bangers in the fashionably new, capitalist race to the bottom.

 

[albion]

So, they solved the Oxford Street problem by breaking the meter apparatus!
Putney now gets to be 'the biggest public health catastrophe since the Black Death'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...on-Putney-reached-maximum-levels-morning.html
But luckily we can ignore all this because Wandsworth is to be declared a low emission zone some time in the long distant future.

Big oil has an interesting diesel/petrol battle between CO2 flooding the world and NOX destroying peoples respiratory systems.

 

[ufkacbln]

A couple of years ago during one of the "fuel strikes" it was shown that some drivers could increase their mpg by 20 - 25% with the simple expedient of improving their driving, which in turn would decrease the pollution they cause

There is also the question of how many car journeys are actually necessary

All of this is pollution, and suggesting that we can take action on diesel, yet let the petrol users sit back smugly and imagine thay are somehow not part of the big problem is really rather counter-productive

Forget diesel and concentrate on the whole problem of inappropriate driving and inappropriate use of vehicles

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I drive a pickup, does that make me a numbskull?

I'm not intro cars, buy my transport solely for practical attributes. The large front cabin suit me well - I can't drive a focus if the drivers door is closed - and the rear bed is ideal for bicycles or my wife's wheelchair.

I've converted it to run on veg, so the emissions are far cleaner than any diesel with over 3/4 less particulates, and its closer to carbon-neutral than any commercially available car by a huge margin. It also means I can fuel it for 65p/L, so at low 30s to the gallon it costs less than a Nissan Micra to run.

So who's a numbskull?

Does that include the input from veg oil production?

 

[Drago]

If one went full circle and powered the machinery with veg oil too, then yes.

Alas, I've gone petrol now with both cars but Cuno is right. I use it as little as possible, and drive it as economically as possible, so even in my current 4x4 I'm probably chucking out less crap annually over 2500 miles or so than the average mileage electric car user is responsible for.

 

[MoultonDan]

Biggest problem with diesels is the ice like slick it leaves on the road from seemingly over filled trucks and vans!