Epa

[surfie]

This is good, I have just received a letter from the EPA that someone reported me for driving a smoky vehicle (no action to be taken luckily).

I have noticed some smoke earlier and it seemed it was also happening after new filters were put in. When I got my new IP (about 50K earlier), as I found out later, the inlet strainer was not installed, so maybe I have some dirt in the IP. I will try new filters again and maybe I have to head for an IP clean. I was just considering what to do, but it seems it got somewhat better since.

It is just ironic that I was reported when everyone else is driving on dirty fuel and I am driving on WVO, which is normally so clean that you could even drink it with no problems! I have also disposed of our other car on LPG and bought an EV. So no more petrol/diesel/LPG or any other mineral fuel in use!! (apart from some minimal start up diesel).

I am considering putting a sticker on my car now to say that it runs on Veg Oil, although until now I thought it is better not to put any notice on it, in case the cops don't like me and want to pick on my car.

[Tony From West Oz]

Re: Epa

I doubt that the problem is with your IP. More likely to be the Injectors themselves. I think that one or more injectors has a poor spray pattern, causing unburnt fuel to go out the exhaust pipe.

Regards,
Tony

[Matt]

Re: Epa

Correct Tony, smoke is going to be unburnt fuel which if dark is large droplets not burning completely (carbon) which is most likely, the universe is like that! The other is white smoke which is injected fuel not burning, vastly worse normally. The worst is going to be really bad injection which ends up in a streamof fuel buring like a plasma cutter, it can put holes in tops of pistons. Either way get the injectors cleaned, better injection, more power, better economy and less smoke.

Enjoy,
Matt

I doubt that the problem is with your IP. More likely to be the Injectors themselves. I think that one or more injectors has a poor spray pattern, causing unburnt fuel to go out the exhaust pipe.

Regards,
Tony

[craigcurtin]

Re: Epa

Correct Tony, smoke is going to be unburnt fuel which if dark is large droplets not burning completely (carbon) which is most likely, the universe is like that! The other is white smoke which is injected fuel not burning, vastly worse normally. The worst is going to be really bad injection which ends up in a streamof fuel buring like a plasma cutter, it can put holes in tops of pistons. Either way get the injectors cleaned, better injection, more power, better economy and less smoke.

Enjoy,
Matt

Nasty about the EPA. Maybe someone on here can answer this for me.

Under heavy load i get some black smoke - presumably the IP ramping up fuel delivery to the engine and the injectors not burning it - however this only happens if i am under load - lets say get to the bottom of a steep hill after coming around a 90 degree corner - so the car is only barely rolling, if it put the boot into it - i will get a big belch of black smoke (expected), but then once it gets to a certain speed going up the hill the smoke stops and everything is OK.

My sweet spot for Torque is around 2200 RPM on my car - once it goes above that i seem to get a fair amount of black smoke - any other time none whatsoever - i do not believe this is an injector issue as one would think i would see it all the time if i had a faulty injector ?

Craig

[tillyfromparadise]

Re: Epa

[surfie]

Re: Epa

Thanks guys for the advice. Given that last time I had black smoke and a total loss of power (http://www.biofuelsforum.com/threads/7594-Loss-of-power) I had a blocked inlet strainer to the IP, I thought that maybe I have the beginnings of a similar problem.

I got black some when I was idling at the traffic light and when I looked back in the mirror, I could see it coming out when the wind was blowing it sideways or to the front. I guess that is why someone reported it. I have also noticed some loss of power on the freeway, it was struggling uphill, but later seemed to come better. When driving at speed, I did not notice any smoke as I guess the wind blew it away very quickly (almost the opposite to Craig's issue)

My IP is fairly new, so it should not really have serious problems, I guess.

Ok, I will get my injectors checked and report back the results. Can they clean them or is it mostly replacements these days?

According to the EPA (from my letter):
"Under the Environment Protection (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2003, no visible emission from any internal combustion engines is permitted for 10 or more seconds. This applies to petrol, diesel, gas and LPG vehicles. Diesel engines are NOT exempt."

So, Craig, at least you are not in violation. It was as I was idling for a minute or so at the red light.

Still it hurts my feelings that out of all people, they reported me :-) when I drive an WVO truck and also an EV.

[Matt]

Re: Epa

Sad for you with an EV and all. You do not mention your vehicle, most older diesels can have the injectors services, new pintles if necesary which makes it cheaper. They also need to be adjusted to crack at the correct pressure, a shop will do this for you. You can do it yourself if you know what you are doing. Cleanliness and a pressure test is required.

Have fun, a diesel lives and dies by clean filters and clean fuel.

[craigcurtin]

Re: Epa

Thanks guys for the advice. Given that last time I had black smoke and a total loss of power (http://www.biofuelsforum.com/threads/7594-Loss-of-power) I had a blocked inlet strainer to the IP, I thought that maybe I have the beginnings of a similar problem.

I got black some when I was idling at the traffic light and when I looked back in the mirror, I could see it coming out when the wind was blowing it sideways or to the front. I guess that is why someone reported it. I have also noticed some loss of power on the freeway, it was struggling uphill, but later seemed to come better. When driving at speed, I did not notice any smoke as I guess the wind blew it away very quickly (almost the opposite to Craig's issue)

My IP is fairly new, so it should not really have serious problems, I guess.

Ok, I will get my injectors checked and report back the results. Can they clean them or is it mostly replacements these days?

According to the EPA (from my letter):
"Under the Environment Protection (Vehicle Emissions) Regulations 2003, no visible emission from any internal combustion engines is permitted for 10 or more seconds. This applies to petrol, diesel, gas and LPG vehicles. Diesel engines are NOT exempt."

So, Craig, at least you are not in violation. I was as I was idling for a minute or so at the red light.

Still it hurts my feelings that out of all people, they reported me :-) when I drive an WVO truck and also an EV.

Surfie - is this still on your 95 Surf ? That has the 1KZte engine i believe ?

Injectors are easy to take out and visually inspect. Head over to the Surf forum and ask them about the pop pressures - you can make your own tester or take them to a specialist who will do it for fairly cheap for you. How many KMs have you done on them ?

Craig

[Bueff]

Re: Epa

Hey surfie,

Just had some issues with a neighbour reporting me for having a "unapproved dwelling" on the property, which is a relocatable cabin, council came, $1500 later I had to shift since I was a environmental hazard. My composting toilet was not to council specs. Don't worrie about the cattle on the same property pooing all over the place. Anyway "do gooders" are out there and Karma will get to them as well! Hope you get your bus sorted! When it says 10 or more seconds, what happening with all the D9's and large earthmoving machines? Just another pencil pusher securing his arse on a compfie chair

[oily4me]

Re: Epa

i might be spreading bullshit, but i read somewhere to clean injectors,

put 1 litre of straight non synthetic ATF at run temperature to clean or,
100ml/100L of DINO for maintenance of injectors.

does any one know if this is true?
any advice?

[Captaincademan]

Re: Epa

I know I am not an SVO user, so please dont boot me out!

Harping back to a couple of posts ago, I just replaced the injectors in my 1hz on saturday. the old girl was starting to smoke a bit too much, and it had developed a slight and irregular miss at idle. not detectable under power. the injectors are coming up to 300,000 km now and have been adjusted / reset once. I think i had a soft spring in both 1 and 5, which would explain the miss (early opening and late closing) and the additional smoke. the reason i said 1 and 5 is because there was some build up on the injector face, but not near the pintle, over near the side against the small face washer. I guess it was a less energetic spray.

replaced the injectors - purchased new off ebay for about $470 including freight. about 4 hours work 'cause my index finger was bloody sore and I suffered from the dropsies. a lot. its tight but you can get the injectors out without dropping the intake manifold, but the crossover pipe definitely needs to come off. no big deal.

end result - smoother and more powerful. less smoke. still smokes if my foot is flat (typical) but it is a lot better now. Car runs like an absolute dream to be honest. I dont think it needs a turbo at all now.

I contemplated getting them redone again, but it wasnt worth the down time or the muck around. time is my enemy, so it was out with the old and in with the new.

Oily - A lot of people swear by ATF. do a quick search and you will see its a well done topic.

Jens - buy some pigs and roosters. put them both in pens on your boundary near his house. that way he can wake up early to smell the 'roses'........

[Bueff]

Re: Epa

Thanks for the hint mate,I'll keep it in mind, I trust karma will sort it out one way or another.
I am glad that I listened to you guys to get the 1HZ, its a very nice engine, coming from a 3L I can't understand why people need a turbo on them even with my app 800 kg toolbox on the back its rather flying up the hills. As I said compared to the 3L. Good to hear the injector swapsies is fairly easy to do as well, had a look at that the other day, but got sidetracked with my upgraded processor, 350l in almost the same time as 180l before hmmm. Anyway, Oily let us know if you come across more interesting facts like the max 10 sec, smoke thingie, I like a good giggle in the evening Hop you get it sorted without to much hassle !!! Best of luck!

[cuppatea]

Re: Epa

My wife was an authorised officer. On occasion I would point out something I thought wasn't a good thing and she wrote the details down next to me for "processing" the next Monday haha. I don't think we did a smokey. Mostly drivers throwing rubbish or ciggarette butts out the window - easy targets. Smokeys are hard to "process" because of the fairly specific tests. From memory you can't observe the smokey vehicle on an uphill, it must be on a flat section of road. The smoke from the exhaust must not "linger" in the air visibly for more than a certain number of seconds. All the details have to be documented, time date section of road etc.

[surfie]

Re: Epa

Surfie - is this still on your 95 Surf ? That has the 1KZte engine i believe ?

Injectors are easy to take out and visually inspect. Head over to the Surf forum and ask them about the pop pressures - you can make your own tester or take them to a specialist who will do it for fairly cheap for you. How many KMs have you done on them ?

Craig

Craig, it is a '96 3rd gen Surf with the 1KZTE engine. My surf has done 230k kms.

Ok, so this is where I stand:

I had the injectors taken out and I took them to a specialist. He tested them and they were not very nice, some were pissing instead of popping on close up. He suggested to swap or clean the nozzle, I asked him to just get on with it and get me new nozzles. Cost $350 for the 4 injectors.

They have also suggested that I check my EGR valve and get the valve clearances done. I asked Toyota for a new EGR valve, costs $525 and takes 4-6 weeks to get them. I have done a bit of reading on them and everyone seems to suggest that it is better to block the EGR valve all together. While disassembling the injectors, we have noticed that the inlet manifold had heaps of soot in it, several millimeters all over it. So the EGR has definitely recirculated a lot of junk back into the engine. In the end I asked my mechanic to disassemble the whole manifold and clean it out as well as the inlet to the engine and block the exhaust pipe on the EGR valve. We had a LARGE heap of soot come out by the time it was cleaned out. It seemed that the EGR valve was not stuck.

Now, it is waiting for an assembly and hopefully the injectors and EGR block will make it much better. My mechanic is not wanting to do the valve clearances, he suggested for me to take it to Toyota. Anyone knows where in Melbourne I can take my Surf to get this done apart from Toyota?

I am keen to get it all under control and hopefully it will last a long time.

[peter1]

Re: Epa

EGR causes the same trouble on many Diesels.
The V8 cruisers have trouble with manifolds getting filled with crud and so do the VW's and Mitsubishi's. Another poorly tested idea on the part of the manufacturers. You are far better blocking the thing off. Most if not all of these "polloution" devices do more harm than good. I never figured out how putting something on an engine that made it burn more fuel was a good thing for the environment. Whenever you burn fuel you cause polloution so the mentality of emitting more polloution that had less of SOME elements in it still adds up to more emissions.

I took the PCV hose off my engine after seeing all the crap that put in the airbox and subsequently the manifold. Can only imagine what putting the exhaust back through would cause. Makes you won'der why they put on an air filter on the engine when they are going to pump crap like that back into it.


What is so hard about doing the vales on your engine that the mechanic dosen't want to touch them? Wouldn't they have hydrulic lifters anyway?