S4 E25 We experiment with our 196 cc 3 hp diesel engine Motor oil fuel, propane, water vapor

Another good old-fashioned FAFO With Small Engines episode. It's like a glass of cold orange juice after a long morning of bucking firewood.

When I worked as an auto shop machinist (back in the 70’s), we would modify the head(s) to run on propane. A local conversion shop would send us the heads and we would mill out all the valve seats and replace them with Stellite seats along with Stellite valves. We would bore the valve guides and insert brass sleeves and then cut down the boss and press on Teflon valve seals. Without these mods, the oil moving down the valve stems would mix with the propane and become a serious grinding compound that would wallow out the valve guides and valve seats. If run to long it would destroy the head(s) and you would need a new head(s) and the modifications.

Thank goodness. I only had a 14mm wrench and was concerned about how homogeneous I could mix my fuel. Appreciate the clarity 😂!

"So, things are not looking good; lets make things worse." -Jimbo

On the "detonation" you observed I think there is validity to it. Propane has an octane rating of around 110 which makes it much more difficult to ignite without a spark than diesel fuel. In a diesel engine typically only the leading edge of the fuel/ air mixture cloud radiating out from the injector ignites because it has the proper conditions. Because of this the burn is relatively smooth because the combustion process is draw out without any, (hopefully), high combustion pressure spikes. However, when you add propane when the diesel ignites then the entire volume propane ignites in a short time causing a spike in combustion chamber pressure creating the "knock: you are hearing. This can also occurs with a cold diesel engine when self ignition of the fuel is relatively delayed and more of the fuel / air mixture ignites at once causing knock.

"Propane into the engine" Hank Hill wholeheartedly approves.

by the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, Dr Diesel had his engine running on 100 percent peanut oil!

The propane thing brought back an old memory. A million years ago while in the army we tried an experiment on one of our trucks and I couldn't believe it but we added white kerosene to the diesel fuel and it started better, ran cleaner (and quieter), plus made more power. Not sure I would do that with anything modern but it sure was fun.

I LOVE the theme music! Does anyone else get up and dance like nobody's watching when it comes on? Since I ALWAYS listen to the end ... I spotted that poor, innocent pickup truck. I have a feeling something weird and wonderful is going to happen to it. A wood-burning turbo gasifier perhaps?

"can you use the exhaust from a vacuum cleaner to create boost?"... The question I didn't know I wanted the answer to, love your videos :)

Another thing you can monitor is oil temperature, we have an old Deutz air cooled 6 cylinder diesel on an irrigation pump and that's how we monitor engine temperature without coolant

Oh, I'm looking forward to whatever you do to that s-10!

How this channel doesn’t have 3M subs is a mystery

I have a customer who owns a pre emmisions 7.3 f350. He has 973,000miles on the truck. He has always ran it on used oil and gas because he owns a chemical recycling plant. He has some modifications to help the fuel burn. He had a fuel pre heater and lots of fuel filters. At least 3 in-line not to mention the filter when it fills the truck, and the filter in the pickup tube.

This was the best Molotow Cocktail mixing tutorial, that I have ever seen 😂

I drove a Ford F250 6.9 diesel to college for 3 years on WMO. I put about 30K miles on it with used oil. I did try the 80/20 with UR gas. I ended up using a blend of 20 percent diesel with motor oil. In the hotter months and when I was broke I would run straight WMO. It had dual tanks and I kept one tank with pure diesel for start up and shut down. It was an hour drive each way to campus, so plenty of time to get the engine warm before switch to straight motor oil. Love the experiments!

The propane ignites after the diesel, increasing the peak pressure drastically. This is known as diesel knock. Diesel knock happens when you burn low cetan fuel, which ignites to slow. The fire in the cylinder starts slow and increases in speed drastically, once the temperature in the combustion starts rising with partiale burnt fuel. This usually happens with vegetable oil on direct injected high speed diesels.

Hey Jimbo, regarding the propane testing, what you saw was exactly what should have happened. I work at a University and we do alot of dual fuel testing with diesel engines that have port injection of high octane fuels like propane, gasoline, ethanol, methanol, etc. What you saw is exactly what normally happens. The combustion will get alot faster and louder, as it is knocking; which you heard and saw with the lower EGTs. Also when you port inject fuel, some of it will not burn, which is common and which is why you can smell propane in the exhaust. The main reason to run dual fuel engines is that they can have alot less soot and NOx, but they will have more unburned fuel and CO emissions. The brake thermal efficiency is also a bit better due to the faster and louder combustion. Also regarding the carburetor, I think it would be interesting to use it in future for your own dual fuel testing to inject fuels like gasoline, E85, methanol, etc and see how it effects the engine performance.

Exactly the kind of nerdy experiments i come here for 😎 No coffee today, redbull! I have things to do, but they can wait til im done here checking up on what the Cantina has gotten up to, hope you had a good week, Jimbo!

WOW, a video longer than 18 minutes! Thank you!!😊😊😊