Looks like Mercedes is in Uncle’s gunsights now.
With VW shot full of holes and sinking fast over the diesel emissions “cheating” scandal, the heavy artillery has been retrained, azimuth and altitude calculated, the breech closed. The next salvo’s ready to fire.
At the three pointed star.
At its line of BlueTec diesel engines.
Which are alleged to be “cheating” Uncle’s emissions tests, the same accusation that’s rocked VW and which may, ultimately, end VW (via potential liabilities/fines in excess of $50 billion).
Automotive News reported the other day that “independent” testing discovered “evidence of a defeat device” that causes Mercedes’ diesel engines to emit larger-than-allowable levels (but not necessarily quantities; this is a critical point which I’ll get into shortly) of nitrogen oxides at low temperatures.
Uncle has “requested information” from DaimlerBenz. It is never good news when Uncle “requests information.”
Mercedes – for the present – denies having “cheated” Uncle. Which is like denying you successfully outmaneuvered street mugger.
My hope – if it turns out that Benz did “cheat” Uncle – is that it does not do what VW did and don the hair shirt. It hasn’t done much for VW; it won;t do much more for Mercedes. When fired upon, the right response is… fire back.
A rather odd (perhaps not proof-read) statement was issued by Daimler AG, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, also late last week: “A component that inadmissibly reduces emissions is not used in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.”
Italics added.
It’s still probably ok to sell a vehicle that eructs less rather than more of whatever it is Uncle objects to.
But perhaps it was a deliberate malaprop?
If the allegations are true, at least whoever wrote or signed that statement won’t be in peril of a perjury rap.
Either way, Benz is now the target as VW’s list continues to worsen.
Or rather, diesel engines – generally – appear to be the target.
Uncle seems determined to purge them from the marketplace. One wonders… why?
First VW – the one car company that was selling affordable diesels – diesels that (interestingly) undercut the economic rationale for hybrid cars and to an even greater extent electric cars.
Hmmmm.
Now, Mercedes.
Who’s next?
BMW?
There seems to be a jihad under way against the compression-ignition engine. To either eliminate them entirely via a de facto illegalization or render them so expensive (and lackluster performing) that people will either decline to buy them or buy something else.
Like a Tesla, perhaps?
And that may be the key to understanding what’s really happening.
Uncle does not like diesels because they provide a solution to the problems that are used to justify Uncle himself.
For one, Uncle kvetches about too much oil being used. Well, diesels use less oil. If half the cars on the road had diesel engines under their hoods (as in Europe) Uncle would have much less to kvetch about with regard to how much oil the populace uses.
That is to say, much less in the way of plausible justification for onerous regulations such as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fatwa. It’s set to uptick to 50-plus MPG on average by model year 2020 – less than four years distant. Not a single gas-engined car makes the cut.
But diesel-powered cars could.
Affordably. 
That likely makes Uncle itchy.
Uncle is uncomfortable when supposed problems no longer are. It makes it harder to justify the budget allotment.
Which brings us back to levels vs. quantities.
Emissions are measured either in terms of parts per million (PPM) or grams per mile (GPM). The distinction is important because a car that produces lower emissions as measured GPM-wise may emit more on a PPM basis – and seem (or be be portrayed as being) “dirtier.”
Put another way, the car with a lower PPM may emit more total emissions if measured GPM-wise.
An engine that uses less fuel will be more likely to have a lower GPM reading than an otherwise similar engine that uses more fuel.
Diesel-powered engines use much less fuel overall than otherwise-equivalent (in size/power) gas-burning engines. The difference is about 20-30 percent, in favor of the diesel.
Now, consider that even if the allegations leveled at VW and lately Mercedes are absolutely true, the PPM differences we are talking about amount to less than 1 percent of the exhaust stream.
The agit-prop dramatically screeches “up to 40 times” higher!
Well, even if it is “up to” 40 times higher, it’s “up to” 40 times higher than a fraction of a percent.
Uncle obsesses about such things. The media rarely ever explain such things.
It’s criminal malpractice on the part of journalists.
Diesels – especially affordable ones, like VW was selling – also make hybrids and electric cars (especially) seem silly.
Why – other than green preening – would any person merely interested in an extremely efficient automobile even consider a $35,000 Tesla (with a best-case range of maybe 200 miles) when they could buy a $22k Jetta TDI… or even a $35,000 diesel Mercedes (with a range of 700 miles).
The eyes begin to open.
Uncle’s object appears to be to make very expensive cars like the Tesla the New Normal – all in the name of being Green.
Which in a way, is absolutely true.
Only the green at issue is of a very different kind.
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I believe what we are fighting against is far greater and more insidious than we’re willing to admit.
It’s the extinction of individuals capable of providing value for money directly that they’re after. It’s the extinction of individual transactions that they have nearly achieved.
It’s not some mere jumble of constructs such as socialism, you need fear. It’s a life or death biological struggle you should be afraid of. It’s eusocialism, they seek. Where no man extant can care and tend for himself any longer. Where everybody needs somebody. And where always there are a multitude of revenue generating interwebs between each and every person, and each and every human or natural interaction. Capitalism only for a tiny ruling class, where you are merely a piece of capital in somebody elses portfolio.
http://www.britannica.com/science/eusocial-species
It’s a system where gold, silver, currency, commodities, everything is kept separated from everything by their system of predatory spider webs. Eric needs our support. We want what he provides. But there’s a vast sociopathetic deathstar battleweb system between us and him, that’s difficult or impossible to traverse safely without doing more harm to us all than good for us and Eric.
While we’re arguing about whether individualist, loner spiders are more noble. Or if its the cooperative, productive ant who is our ideal. And which ants colony and type of ant is the ideal. They are spinning the final threads of their interwebs of plunder.
If it helps you to retreat to a simpler life, without all the electronics and modernisms, great. So long as you understand what it is you’re avoiding. It’s not any technology or behavior per se that you need avoid. It’s any kind of human spider, glittering silky web, and desirable item or path that funnels traffic to theses webs that matter.
You have to abstract yourself from all of the various colonies and webs that naturally exist. And really begin to see things from a more distant, intuitive perspective. You have to disconnect yourself from the notion that you can successfully be social with others unless its face to face with someone you know directly. Everything done at a distance is eusocial by design.
This site is as good as any to rise above the wellspun webs and silky strands of percieved meaning.
Or alternately, the works of Kurt Vonnegut will serve you well, if you read them all more like a textbook, like a human psychology repair manual of sorts, rather than mere entertainment. Don’t trust any person though, we all weave and deceive to some degree. Maybe Kurt is somehow in on the con. Maybe we all are to some degree. So we have to fight ourselves even, if we are to see the truth and act as intelligently as possible.
Kurt’s Cradle: Kurt Vonnegut Was GE’s PR Man Before Becoming A Bestselling Author
http://www.gereports.com/post/78009878650/kurts-cradle-kurt-vonnegut-was-ges-pr-man/
When are these automakers going to stand up and say enough is enough? Or do they love economic fascism too much to do anything about it?
Hi Handler,
I think it’s a combination of go-along/get-along and greed at the top. The people in charge are primarily interested in “shareholder value” (and their own compensation package) and not so much making cars, which is incidental. They might as well be making refrigerators. The days when guys like John deLorean made decisions at a major car company are, well, history.
eric, it appears the old school system and the heavy hand of big bro have struck again. The movers and shakers(sic….since they’re neither in the real meaning of the term)these days are those who grew up with a boot on their neck with 90% of their teachers being women who never seem to get enough marching orders, unlike in my day when women were a force you didn’t run over. I’d say edgycashun has done its due and here we are.
Everyone my age has been pushed out as if they’ve become old and brainless. Probably most of them were glad to take a retirement to get out of the nursery.
I agree. That’s the way it seems to be in almost all industries these days. Fewer and fewer people seem to have passion and integrity. It’s no wonder why things have gotten so mediocre.
Re: John deLorean
Yep, those were the days. When GM allowed their divisions to compete, beautiful things happened. I never understood why they were so worried if one GM division stole sales from another GM division. As long as customers are buying GM, who cares? Anyway, that was part of GM’s downfall.
GM’s downfall had a great deal to do with beancouters who had no idea of the full picture. This was a time of specialists who had power to sway via their number they generated, CEO’s and majority stockholders.
Never mind the numbers they generated had nothing to do with longterm viability or really much of the auto industry. The numbers they generated simply varied from one quarter to the next with absolutely no regard or understanding of the big picture.
This is really when the US started to take a collective shit. When you have people who look at the long haul and others with too much power who simply look at what happened last quarter, the last year and so on, it’s not a true representation of what is happening.
Many a successful car company…..and companies of all types had to bite the bullet and put stock increases aside to make a new strategy to be successful over the long run. This meant little profit for a year or two or three and as an old day trader, I can tell you we hated/loved that shit. Make the right bet and you were untouchable but make the wrong one and you were shit…..even though the next year you might be completely vindicated. And this is what affected the auto industry to a great degree, to too much effect.
Harley Earl would have told the whole bunch to go to hell just like Henry Ford 11 would have. Harvey Firestone, with all his defective products, just shrugged and rode out all that bs. This was when PC first started. Well………..
Hi Handler,
I think things changed because the care companies turned into corporations in the fullest sense of the term. The cars, as such, were not the thing. It became all about making money.
There are still passionate engineers (“car guys”) working for the major automakers. The problem is that the corporation directs policy and the primary (arguably, the sole) consideration now is “shareholder value.” Placating Wall Street and Washington… with the cars being incidental to that.
A guy like DeLorean or Bill Mitchell would not do well in today’s corporate car culture…
Dude,
I used to really enjoy your stuff, but recently your anti Tesla ranting has gotten the best of you bro.
Tesla are freaking awesome. You can accuse them of corporatism (unlike GM?) and that is a debatable point. Corporatism exists BECAUSE a government exists. But somehow acting like a technological tour de force like a Model S P90D is some evil plot to over through humanity is a bit unhinged.
Yes, I will own a loaded Model 3. Yes I am a libertarian. Yes, I fear the government getting hold of the autopilot tech down the road. The problem is not the tech, is not Tesla. The problem is the government. Point your weapons at the right enemy bro.
John,
I’m puzzled.
How, exactly, is the Tesla a “technological tour de force”?
It’s a very expensive, heavily subsidized electric car that is badly gimped by functional problems such as a very limited range vs. a conventional car and lengthy recharge times vs. a conventional car even if you have access to one of those “fast” chargers.
Thirty to 45 minutes vs. 5 minutes or less.
Yes, I know… it’s very quick. For $40k, it should be. It costs about the same as the BMW 340i I am test driving this week.
But if quickness is the thing, then why are taxpayers being fleeced to “help” a billionaire build quick (and luxurious) cars for very affluent people?
You can’t make a sensible economic argument for the Tesla. To speak of a $40k car (or even a $30k car) in such terms is ridiculous on the face of it. If you want to save money – not just on gas, but on driving – then you buy a $17k Corolla or Fit or similar… right?
Unless you want to go fast, too. And look cool. And enjoy lots of bells and whistles. But is it right to fleece taxpayers for that? Is it right to fleece them for anything?
The real issue here, John, is not the car itself. It is the grotesque rent seeking of Musk, the crony capitalism of Tesla the company.
How do you reconcile your professed Libertarianism with this?
Either check your premises – or accept that you are not a Libertarian.
Eric, could we just agree that the Tesla is a Turd de (government) Force?
Dear john. I hope you buy two Teslas. I hope you enjoy them. I hope you get over your butt-hurt some day soon. Dude.
Love,
Ed
Here’s my question: How much in the way of the various emissions (NOx, particulates) are produced by Diesel passenger cars, versus heavy trucks?
I don’t know the answer, but will hazard a guess, given how few Diesel passenger cars there are: 1% cars, 99% trucks.
So when you want to reduce pollution, do you try to make the 1% better by a margin of 50%? That would reduce pollutants in the air by a half percent. Or go after the 99%, and try to make them 10%, 20%, 30% cleaner? That would reduce pollutants in the air by about that exact amount.
Answer: It’s easier to persecute individual car owners, so you go after the 1%.
“BTW, who is the idiot who picked the cute clover leaf as the ‘icon’ for “The control freaks (Clovers) that hate us”?”
ahaha
That flashing clover in the right hand margin drove me crazy. I had to use AdBlock+ to kill it.
Yeah, I never adopted the whole clover thing anyway. It just sounds stupid to me. A few years ago, my daughter sat down at my desk and was reading an article on EPA when I was logged in to the site. She said, “Dad, what do they mean by clover?”
I told her that it was a nickname for assholes who drove like dickheads. She said, “That sounds retarded. Why don’t you call them assholes?”
I said, “I do” and we laughed.
BTW, who is the idiot who picked the cute clover leaf as the ‘icon’ for “The control freaks (Clovers) that hate us”?
By calling something “Eco-” you can keep the wolves at bay a year or two while they try to figure out if it actually is.
Meant as a response to 8man.
Dear Eric ,
that’s true: “Huston , we have a problem !”
I always agree with you, but Eron Musk have a armada as beck up his lunacy !
They want us rather dead than alive !
God help us please !
Thank you Eric !
Hi Aleks,
Musk is just cashing in – like so many these days. He’s a modern “businessman” who uses the government to enrich himself.
eric, did you read the article Jeremy posted on Musk? Every venture he’s involved with uses govt./taxpayer money to the tune of a few tens of billions. Nice work if you can get it. I’m sure he justifies it as simply working the system in his own mind.
“Uncle does not like diesels because they provide a solution to the problems that are used to justify Uncle himself.”
NOW you’re catching on. Why do cops lobby for increased drug penalties? About 20 years ago I was attending an annual budget meeting of our County Commissars…oops…Commissioners. The director of the local health department was putting on his budget dog & pony show. At one point he stated, “if the entire county was on Medicaid the Health Department would be rolling in dough.”
Ronald Reagan supposedly said that the measure of success is how many people get off welfare not how many are served. No wonder he was shot. GovCo has zero tolerance for problem solving since solving a problem would hit them where they live, “solving” problems of others. Everything from war to education to the dog catcher relies on there being “terrorists”, low test scores and strays.
Put down the smartphone and wake up ‘Murica. The GovCo employee that sits in the next pew at church is the enemy as much as it might hurt to admit…or admit that it’s YOU.
“GovCo has zero tolerance for problem solving”
Just like Big Pharma wants to create (and patent) treatments, not cures.
E.g. Cancer isn’t a disease; it’s an industry.
Big bucks in “health care”… that is, in endlessly treating symptoms caused by or made worse by lifestyle factors correctable without meds.
I especially pity today’s young – who are forced to waste money on health insurance they have as much use for as they have for Depends and Viagra.
“treating symptoms caused by or made worse by lifestyle factors correctable without meds”
Or caused by or made worse by one med, then treated by another, which in turn causes or worsens other symptoms.
And the unconstitutional Drug Prohibition goes on, and on, and on decade after decade. Cui bono? Google AMERICA’S FORSAKEN PROMISE. It is forty plus pages of outrage by Yours Truly. tgsam
Hi Tinsley,
Yes, indeed. Why in the world should any free man have to worry about prosecution for “possessing” anything? In what way does the mere fact of “possession” entail a harm caused to some other person? And how is it that a free man can be told – at gunpoint – what he may not put into his body?
I restrict what my animals may consume – and control what they do – because I own them. They are my property, to do with as I see fit.
We stand in the same relation to the state as my chickens.
Exactly. It is exactly the analogy of the animals you own.
This is the clear reason why possession is illegal and it isn’t even hidden. It’s plain sight. However one has to have had the TV off for awhile to see it. Possession is illegal because it implies use and use (conventionally) means reduced productivity. To the ruling class and collectivists this is the individual stealing from his owners or from the collective. Which is of course seen as being owned by those at the top of the economic and political pyramid.
Ever notice how they report things on the news? Drinking water at work (or whatever) costs employers three billion (some huge number pulled out of someone’s ass) in lost productivity annually. If the individual is not working but is a dependent then he’s supposed to live by ‘the rules’ because the ‘collective’ makes it possible for him to live. (drug tests for people who get welfare and other such nonsense comes from this view)
Either way, ruling class, collective, work, or welfare it’s that we are owned by something. Either owned out right by rulers or by the collective society which is managed by rulers.
BrentP, right you are and PC has made it much worse. Now the SJW crowd is intent on re-writing history. We’re seeing these new control devices of the SJW on the internet with self-righteous SJW’s determining what someone can post. Twitter stock is falling like a rock because of it.
These people destroy everything they get involved in. I suspect the backlash won’t be pretty when I finally happens.
A couple years ago when there was a big shitty with the then CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, attacked by employees who resented his opposition to gay marriage years earlier that resulted in his resignation. I’ve rethought using Mozilla ever since. Now he’s started a new open-source browser call Brave I think I’ll try.
The SJW’s are intelligent enough to see everything they attack simply causes the free market to go elsewhere. They have no understanding of markets, free or otherwise. In fact, they have no understanding of fundamental human rights. It’s the “me” generation.
Brent,
At least WRT drug testing those on the dole, there’s an argument to be made for it. It’s money we paid in taxes that’s being spent.
The fight, much like the voter ID fight, is about made-up “disenfranchisement.”
We need to pee in a cup to get a job, but it’s immoral to make someone who lives on OUR dime pee in a cup?
Voter ID “disenfranchises” the poor, minorities, etc. because they’re too poor to learn to drive or to spend an hour or two at the DMV. (Note, we use slang a lot and don’t realize. “Driver’s License” is actually a specific term, but it’s used to include the “non-driver’s ID” – which last time I checked, was $6 in NJ. IIRC, it’s $6 in MA, too. No complaint from the leftist shits about making US sit there for an hour or two, or how we’re accepting the brand of the FedGov [via StateGov proxy] – no, it’s OK to make the PRODUCTIVE sit there and get documented, but those at greatest risk of being bought – those on the dole, those on the street, subsisting through assistance of various sorts, with no trackable income in some cases – THOSE are to be allowed to vote without ID, because to stop them from pretending to be the dead, or paid to vote fraudulently, or paid for their honestly-cast (!) vote – when they can’t open a bank account, or get a library card, or buy liquor or cigarettes without that ID, THAT is discriminatory.
So, THEY can enforce their will on us via tyranny of the ballot box (enabled, I’m certain, by BOTH parties) – but we cannot demand an accounting of how often they vote, or ensure they’re actually supposed to vote at the precinct, or that they’re not impersonating someone else…?
Too many idiots making things impossible.
And if you bring up these points, it’s dismissed because many people have dropped out of the rat race, and don’t even make $24,000 / year or so (working poor on social assistance.) Note, they don’t respond when you want to talk about how they SHOULD be able to work their way off the dole. Only that ensuring the abuse of the system is OPPRESSION! and that includes drug testing, alcohol purchases, cigarette purchases, etc. The old story was the n-gger rolling up to the welfare office in their Cadillac. More recently, it’s designer bags, bling up the wazoo, designer clothes, and they’re buying lobster and grass-fed beef on the EBT… While we (and I earn well) are struggling to make ends meet. And I’m not even in the voter registry here, so my vote was tossed in the primary. (I might’ve been dumb and registered as Indie when we moved up here, but I re-registered when we moved last, and I’m NOT registered at all now. Disenfranchised by showing ID, my fat fugly arse. Disenfranchised because I’m a white male who actually works for a living, courtesy of some rent-seeking pubic servant, spelling intentional.)
We should be in the field by now. But too many pussies, too many PakLed. Always been the way of it, but it’s getting worse, as the rabbits are outbreeding the wolves and it’s shifting the voter demographics.
That’s before we factor in the slacker aspects of the millenials (“How the hell can you work / when there’s no work to do?” as the song goes.)
Economic man is not a new problem.
The problem is US. We aren’t killing the rabbits fast enough. We repealed Darwin, we’re paying the price for rewarding the stupid.
“At least WRT drug testing those on the dole, there’s an argument to be made for it. It’s money we paid in taxes that’s being spent.”
This is the trap the social engineers and utopia builders set so that people accept them managing society. How dare these people be supported by tax dollars and do ‘X’. New laws, new powers. Then expand the taxation and social programs every year. Eventually our dear utopia builders are managing everyone’s life. Even the most productive mundanes are taxed so highly they can’t get by without some of those tax monies being kicked back. They can’t get by without government run medical insurance. It’s about the leverage.
But first people have to believe the leverage is just and the best way to do that is through welfare and other collectivist programs. Now everyone has a say in the lives of everyone else. But there’s only one set of managers who get to decide.
I agree with you, but think my point still stands, too.
We need to go back a step or two – why does Das Boot get to take money from those who produce, and give it to those who do not, under threat of force?
And, why are those on the dole unable to move up? (We’ll omit those who CHOOSE not to work, and ignore the issues of education – which is a major hurdle, but let’s stick to the principles for the time being, and discuss in a vacuum, to make sure I have the principles right. We can come back and discuss the education/manufacturing/whatever aspects if the principle is sound, yes?)
So, we need low-end jobs; workforce mobility; adequate but not excessive labor pool. Assuming those are not being artificially constrained, why does gov’t get to define who “needs” money? Why do they have that power?
Given they have TAKEN that power by force of arms, should we not at least have the concurrent power to ensure the money is not funding illegal activities? (After all, we productive must justify our existence there – pee in a cup to get a job. BTW, Philadelphia I think it was, has been sued by the PoPo because drug tests on bacon are “unconstitutional.” I shit you not…)
I guess that’s why I’m so willing to throw it ALL out: There IS no baby in the bathwater. Just a pinkish-yellowish miasma of puss.
Only solution is to pour it all out, sanitize things, and start fresh, with like-minded humans. Phrased differently, we’re ALREADY living “The Walking Dead.” We need to start dealing with the problem, not walking around like zombies ourselves.
THAT solves the problem, of course, because there IS no Central Authority That Speaks For And Is God. I think that’s better… But oddly, the Leftists shits can’t see beyond a government to enforce WHAT THEY WANT. Mobocracy. Stupid beyond words – but they’re intentionally blind, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
As long as I’m not being the same.
Your thoughts?
-Jean
Hi Jean,
My 50: I think part of the problem – the trap most of us are in – is that, as bad as it is and as bad as we know it’s going to get – we’re still tied to the system because we have things to lose.
In other words, we are not yet free to act.
They keep us controlled very effectively via our need – as decent people – to provide for our families, to not “get into trouble.”
And we like our houses, our cars… our barbecues in the summer. The small pleasures we’re still allowed.
I think it will take them taking away everything before we’re ready to act.
And of course, by then, it’s too late.
I’m only saying why welfare exists. The ruling class uses it to their ends in a number of ways. The useful idiots think it’s our duty to our fellow man or similar, but it’s not, it’s a tool for the ruling class. If it wasn’t they would just keep all the plunder for themselves.
Uncle’s long-term objective is to move all the Mundanes, i.e. Us, to public transportation. A population that relies on public, that is, government, transportation, is much easier to control. When cars are cheap, almost everyone’s preference is to use a car rather than take a bus or train, so Uncle needs to “fix” the cheap car problem. The attack on diesels is just another front in their war.
Serfdom, I couldn’t argue that consensus. They certainly put the onus on businesses that must have light trucks. I was recently looking at a used twin-screw Peterbilt with a lot of bells and whistles complete with something like a 72″ sleeper that only had 600,000 miles. The ad said it ran good, used no oil, had 90% rubber. It looked brand new and the price was in the high 20’s. The wife sees it and says, Shit, that’s half the price of the same year model GMC pickup she’d looked at when I was looking online. Yep, and that 600K mileage is a better deal than the almost 70,000 on the pickup. Seems like they were both ’08’s.
They came first for Volkswagen, And I didn’t speak up because I didn’t own a Volkswagen; And then they came for Mercedes Benz And I didn’t speak up because I didn’t own a mercedes benz; And then they came for ….They need to unite and fight back.
Hi Willy,
I think something is up. But will Mercedes roll over like VW?
I just don’t get it. What’s the upside? Has apologizing to Uncle (or the “advocacy” groups) ever accomplished anything? I mean, other than embarrassment and ruin for the apologizer?
The business men of this day and age are devoid of any backbone. They don’t fight for anything anymore, even when it means their ruin if they don’t.
Yeah, this book ought to be required reading at all levels of the private sector: http://www.amazon.com/SJWs-Always-Lie-Taking-Thought/dp/9527065682
When dealing with a screeching social justice warrier (SJW) aka Clover, Rule #1 is “NEVER, EVER apologize”. A SJW / Clover interprets an apology as an affirmation of their position / accusation / brain-cramp / etc.
I loved that book!!!
It seems I was seeing many articles (RT maybe?) about Europe wanting to eliminate diesel engines, especially France. I wouldn’t put it past them to use the US as a means to get rid of them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a part of Uncle’s evil intent toward diesels is because those who want to live off the grid can make their own fuel if they are willing to exert the effort, and Uncle is absolutely hellbent on attempting to keep everyone fully dependent on The System, lest any of the sheep manage to escape from being herded into their vaunted New World Order. Of course, the newer diesels (after 2000 for Mercedes, not sure about VW), which use Direct Injection, Common Rail, and have those horridly expensive piezo-electric injectors and super-fancy electronic controls, get better gas mileage and accelerate better, but I have heard but they really don’t like homebrew fuel so much. 1981-87 Benz – will drink anything, lives forever. W126 S-class is hard to beat. A site for fuel making equipment I just ran across – Florida Biodiesel (http://www.floridabiodieselinc.com).
Had enough of Uncle? Check out Team Law (www.teamlaw.net). Learn how to use the law to enforce your God-given rights.
I had an older Chevy 6.2 diesel. I always ran straight used transmission fluid for fuel.
Grant, did you run it through a filter first? I’m just wondering how much crap gets tossed in with the fluid. Every diesel I have driven seemed to love transmission fluid and if I don’t have a can or drag-up tank handy when I change filters I use transmission fluid. Seems like a diesel runs better for a bit afterward……or it could just be my imagination……
My imagination too then.
Dexron 3 ATF. Years back, I always added a quart to the fuel every 3 or 4 fill ups for my ’86 1.6 non-turbo VW. It was still running at 470,000 miles so it certainly does not seem to hurt anything.
Nothing absolute but several folks I knew with VW diesels not using ATF had to replace the injection pump at about 300,000 miles. Mine was still strong after 50% more miles so it does seem to help. YMMV.
Me2, how much fuel would you add a quart to? I once added gasoline(unknowingly, green hose with diesel price). I ran it out by shorting from an always hot lead to the fuel pump and opening the filter, ending up standing in about a 30 foot puddle around me and the pickup. I was right by the diesel pumps so it was dicey when someone would pull up smoking a cig. Once it started sputtering I gave up getting out the rest. I filled up with diesel but it wasn’t happy and the temp gauge told me how much. I’d stop and fill up every town and added ATF too till it finally got diluted enough to return to normal.
A full tank. Don’t recall exactly how big the tank was but I think it was around 12 gallons.
The idea of using something with little bits of metal in it for fuel just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. The filter on the car isn’t going to catch everything. It would take a considerable filtering process to do it.
If he were pumping it out of a barrel he wouldn’t have the pump on the bottom where particles would be. Even if he did bring some metal in with it, the fuel filter(s) should catch it. I had a 6.2 and seems like it had a primary and secondary fuel filter. I have noticed diesel fuel filters catch stuff so small you can’t identify it but it will turn the bottom of the filter black as it accumulated. That’s one reason I prefer a fuel filter with replaceable filter media instead of screw-on filters. You can see some of the crap that’s caught.
If you go to the Frantz By-Pass Filter page http://www.frantzfilters.com/
they have (or at least used to) information about ‘fuel polishing,’ especially for marine diesels.
Would probably be suitable for biodiesel as well.
I went there, didn’t find anything about fuel.
Sorry, I’ve not looked at/for that in a while.
They used to feature transmission filters also.
The microscopic particles would take months or years or never to fall to the bottom. Maybe a fuel filter catches anything big enough but the presume a fuel that doesn’t have anything like that normally in it to begin with.
I think the government also doesn’t want anyone stockpiling fuel (to be used later after they phase it out). Since diesel can be stored much longer than gasoline, they don’t want us driving diesel vehicles we’ve kept around.
Can we just skip right to the part where we hang the worthless politicians and the pseudo-green econazis?
“Mercedes – for the present – denies having “cheated” Uncle. Which is like denying you successfully outmaneuvered street mugger.”
When for chrissakes are people going to wake up and realize they are under no obligation whatsoever to obey these people???
There is never any need to look any further. The problem is always just one thing. The Myth of Authority. The deluded belief that “government is necessary and must be obeye”.
Federal government test requirements are in grams per mile.
Sniffer tests done by 3rd parties and state governments are usually in PPM.
And yes there is a lot of confusion about the various tests and then mainstream media compares the results of one to the standards of another and mixes units and basically renders the whole thing a bunch of muck as they attempt once again to socially manipulate the public by doing things that from a scientific and engineering standpoint are not valid. But of course for a few dollars they can find no shortage of people who should know better to put a seal of approval on it.
And the dumb sheep fall for it…
Something is very rotten; it probably has something to do with consolidating money, power, and control. Just a wild guess.
My cousin’s step son bought a new diesel VW a few years ago. He really likes it, claims over 50mpg (he drives many miles in it for work).
One of the comments he made when he bought it (people were surprised it wasn’t a Pruis) was that he thought hybrids and electric cars seem silly when compared with the VW diesels.
He hopes he can dodge whatever “fix” that uncle has in store for that car.
Is this going to affect the Sprinter too? Or is it, as a ‘near truck’ exempt?
They have to go for light trucks too at some point. They can’t leave that one standing as a large percent are diesel, and the truck owners are the biggest critics of the EPA’s (see rolling coal) nonsense . See moves against the American big three truck divisions. Ford will rethink bringing diesel to the f-150 series for sure. Ram and GM will likely begin by removing diesel from their 1500 series first to decrease sales of them.
rich, GM doesn’t have a diesel in a 1/2 Ton but is probably going to be forced to do so. Their 24 mpg compared to Dodge Eco Diesel @28 mpg and the Ford Eco Tec @30 mpg. I just hope they can think of something besides Eco to name it.
Of course they could have simply bought Raptors from Ford(for all the outside difference looks) for their Colorado body with its Duramax 2.8L Turbo-Diesel. A couple years ago they set up a line at the Tonawanda plant for a 1/2 T diesel(4.5L) but nixed it for lack of funds.