About anti freeze in coolant. If these engines dont use it, what stops the engine from rusting on the inside, block etc?
Antifreeze has a corrosion inhibitor!
Gary UK wrote: About anti freeze in coolant. If these engines dont use it, what stops the engine from rusting on the inside, block etc?Antifreeze has a corrosion inhibitor!
A corrosion inhibitor is added to the cooling water.
See: http://trains.com/trccs/forums/1125495/ShowPost.aspx
RWM
In extreme cold for 18 wheelers such as -70 (Anything at +10 and below.) your engine is your life and vice versa.
We circulated deisel fuel and a little bit is returned to both tanks, sometimes including tank heaters to fight the man killing cold from turning that fuel to jelly.
I recall several runs across North Dakota during storms at -75 outside with a 50+ miles per hour sustained winds and a cab interior temps of approx 40. The gauges that one night showed all of my temps... trans, axles, engine, reefer everything.... at very low values fighting the cold.
Things break that cold.
Sometimes we had the reefer HEAT the perishables like medicines, drugs, paints etc to keep it safe. Crazy huh? Also that reefer trailer and a cellphone is your last bastion of safety should your truck engine fail. Most company trucks didnt have APUs on board. Some lucky ones did.
Fuel is cheap that cold. Run it 24/7.
I also remember running the rig back and forth in it's final daytime parking spot for my 10 hours off to pack the snow down and keep from getting stuck when it's time to leave. One other thing, rubber lines between cab and trailers rule in the cold. The plasticy crap breaks at anything below -20 stranding you wherever you might be while turning very tightly.
Railway Man wrote: Gary UK wrote: About anti freeze in coolant. If these engines dont use it, what stops the engine from rusting on the inside, block etc?Antifreeze has a corrosion inhibitor!A corrosion inhibitor is added to the cooling water. See: http://trains.com/trccs/forums/1125495/ShowPost.aspx RWM
I was a diesel fitter for many years once but,
that is very interesting and ive learnt something new today, thanks!
I can see why an engine of the size we are talking about, why antifreeze isnt used as the stuff has a searching action. If it gets in the lube oil= big bucks!
Falls Valley RR wrote:I recall several runs across North Dakota during storms at -75 outside with a 50+ miles per hour sustained winds and a cab interior temps of approx 40.
I recall several runs across North Dakota during storms at -75 outside with a 50+ miles per hour sustained winds and a cab interior temps of approx 40.
bigbird_1 wrote: Falls Valley RR wrote: I recall several runs across North Dakota during storms at -75 outside with a 50+ miles per hour sustained winds and a cab interior temps of approx 40.I don't think so. North Dakota has NEVER seen temps as low as -75. The only places in the continental US that could get that low are the valleys around Gunnison Colorado, and the valleys of central Alaska.
Falls Valley RR wrote: I recall several runs across North Dakota during storms at -75 outside with a 50+ miles per hour sustained winds and a cab interior temps of approx 40.
Maybe not for you. That wind chill was beyond -75. Anything below -30 is still very cold. I cannot account for variations in altitude in the north but the higher you go the colder it gets.
Here is another tidbit, truck exhausts become visible at about 15 above. I dont know about railroad locomotives other than steam.
The lowest ever recorded in the contiguous 48 States, was -69.7°F (rounded off to -70°F) at Rogers Pass, in Lewis and Clark County, Mont., on Jan. 20, 1954. Rogers Pass is on State Highway 200 about 40 miles northwest of Helena. It is in mountainous and heavily forested terrain about one-half mile east of and 140 feet below the summit of the Continental Divide.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wcstates.htm
-75 is a little much, but not that far off. With Windchill, it certainly could feel that cold at many points through the mountains.
Excessive wear will matter little with a driver or team frozen to death within half a day inside the cab. My rule was to never shut that engine off. It might be 3 weeks 24/7 until I get dispatched to a sunny climate.
Once or twice I was forced to shut engine off below freezing with a cooling system casulty or something that required it to be shut down or it be destroyed. Luckly Ive found a nice mechanic who had a wood stove that I could bunk down near.
Once I aborted a salt lake city delivery and stayed in a trux stop in I-80 near Larimie because the truck refused to operate properly with the faulty water temp sensor. It will be two very expensive dealer visits before the real problem was found and replaced. By then too much revenue was lost because something wasnt fixed right the first time that winter.
I could run around the sunny gulf with the bad water sensor the computer overriden with a paper clip. but in winter you dont take short cuts.
Oh, let's not forget about the nice East Coast people. They put up signs requring no idling enforced by small town cops. Ive gotten my dispatch to issue hotel tickets paid for free and clear by telling them that they can buy my hotel that night for 50 dollars or be handed a ticket for idling plus whatever else wrong the DOT might find.
I usually got the hotel. Hopefully she will start in the morning. If not? Well, that is going to ruin the schedule now wouldnt it.
Now that I look back and recall that the old air starters; you old ones know the kind. 8 seconds of crank time and maybe you get it to fire properly if you work the throttle right. They usually started if the fuel and engine block is warmed all night no matter how cold it got. Not like the picky cranky onery problematic fussy double problem computer crap.
Gotta love it.
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