Greetings! Wow! Twice in one month I actually have something to contribute to this forum other than questions! To wit: although black smoke is indeed unburnt diesel, it does not necessarily follow that by throttling-back to a smoke-free condition there will be no significant reduction in power. Drivers of semi-trailers, especially in the mountains, will confirm that pumps are sometimes adjusted to where considerable smoking occurs to gain the extra power. This is because, unlike in a gasoline engine where a near-stoichiometric (sic) mixture of air and fuel is required, diesels need a surplus of air. As more fuel is added combustion is not adversely effected although a certain proportion of the fuel is not burnt. This proportion does increase but not linearly. As the volume of unburnt fuel increases smoke is the result. However, because a proportion of the added fuel is burnt, there is an increase in power. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.