How diesel is made. What to do if you flooded summer instead of winter diesel fuel

26.03.2019

It happens that winter can come suddenly, and when it appears at gas stations, winter diesel fuel I don't know, but I have to go. Now many different fuel additives have appeared on sale, which, when added to diesel fuel, can significantly lower its pour point. But the quality of many leaves much to be desired, what the engine resource will be from this chemistry is unknown, and these additives also appear in the dead of winter, when winter diesel fuel is already at gas stations. In this article, we will look at how you can afford to drive in summer diesel fuel in winter, at least before the appearance of normal winter diesel fuel, which appears at gas stations much later than the frost that hit.

Many people know that diesel fuel can be summer, winter and arctic, and it is natural that from the names themselves it is clear which one is intended for what. And one of the characteristics of the fuel is its cloud point, that is, the beginning of paraffin crystallization in the solarium. At the same time, the fuel becomes cloudy, becomes similar in viscosity to jelly, and begins to be pumped worse through the elements of the diesel power system (we read how to improve it), or even not to be pumped at all.

With more cold weather, below the cloud point, in diesel fuel, more solid layers are formed on top of the "jelly", and then the "jelly" also solidifies. And normal winter fuel begins to become cloudy at minus 25 degrees, and for arctic fuel, the parameter of the onset of cloudiness is not normal.

And the cloud point temperature of summer diesel fuel is minus 5 degrees, which means that with normal (fresh) filters fine cleaning fuel, start-up and operation diesel engine, does not cause trouble in light frost. Well, if you keep your car in a warm garage at night, then even more low temperature(up to minus 10) will not be a hindrance to driving a summer diesel fuel.

After all, the excess fuel heated from hot injectors is drained along the return line back into the tank, thus heating the summer diesel fuel in it. But with such trips (especially at minus 10), you should not leave the car for a long time without movement on the street (for example, you came to work and left it on the street for the whole day). Since there will naturally be no circulation and heating of the fuel when the engine is not running, and the fuel will solidify during parking (especially if it is not minus 5, but minus 10 on the street).

You can enhance the effect of heating the return line (fuel line backflow into the tank) or drainage if you take a copper tube and wrap it with a coil around the exhaust pipe of the muffler (about five turns are enough), and then connect a rubber backflow (return) gas line to this copper tube in series.

Another way is to run the return hose through a simple heater that will run on hot coolant temperature. In detail how to make it with my own hands, I described here great dignity such simple methods described above, in contrast to factory devices (such as a boiler powered by onboard network), which are installed on some foreign cars intended for the northern regions, is that they do not consume a single volt, which means they do not discharge the battery that is already overloaded in winter.

Another option for effectively heating the fuel in the tank, which also does not consume a single volt, can be seen in the figure on the left. Making such a heater in your garage is not at all difficult, if available. From sheet metal with a thickness of about 3 - 4 mm., A steel box is welded, with a height of the side walls of about 70 - 100 mm - this height depends on the clearance ( ground clearance) of your car, 100 mm can be made on jeeps, and 70 mm is enough for low cars. The box is tightly attached to the tank from below, for example, using band clamps made from steel plates.

And it is enough to make the area of the box such that it occupies about one third of the area of your tank. After the box is made, a pipe is welded to it, equal in diameter to the diameter of your exhaust pipe, and through a conventional T-shaped tee it is connected to exhaust system your machine (see picture). It is useful to make such a heater adjustable (switchable), since in summer it should generally be turned off as unnecessary.

To do this, install a damper in the tee, which will work from the tension of the cable, and at an unnecessary moment (in summer) when this cable is pulled, the damper will block access to hot exhaust gases to the box under the tank. However, who does not want to bother with the damper, then you can simply remove the heater in the spring, and screw a suitable plug into the tee.

The main disadvantage of the above methods is that diesel fuel is heated by heat from an already running engine. This means that it is only suitable for those cars that are stored at night in a warm garage. For cars stored at night in a parking lot on the street, such methods will not work.

You will have to use fuel additives that do not add "health" to the diesel, or install in a filter or tank electric heaters(some install in oil pan), which also have a number of disadvantages, the main of which is that it is possible to heat up the fuel in such a way that the energy of a battery that has lost capacity in the cold is no longer enough for a fun scrolling of the engine crankshaft starter, with oil thick from frost.

Although it is now possible to find good branded heaters on sale (as in the photo on the left), which do not drain the battery so much, and work from both 12 and 24 volts.

Yes, and a lot depends on the ambient temperature, and naturally, the lower it is (the stronger the frost), the longer the electric heater will have to work to defrost the thickened diesel fuel, and the more the battery will be discharged.

There are heaters that also work from a 220 volt network, but of course these are only suitable for a cold garage that has an outlet. It is unlikely that someone will use such a heater if they store the car in a street parking lot and pull a carrier from somewhere. Still need to find where to connect it.

But most drivers, faced with the problem of sudden frost and thickened fuel, use more simple ways, for example, a hairdryer, but here, too, a 220-volt network is required, which is available only in the garage. Although some pull the carrier from the apartment if the car is stored under the window.

I hope all drivers have enough common sense not to use an open flame in such cases. Indeed, despite the fact that the solarium does not flare up like gasoline, there is still a great chance to be left without a car.

And one more important point. Some drivers add kerosene or gasoline to diesel fuel to lower the pour point of diesel fuel. And if kerosene can still be used as a last resort, then gasoline should never be added to the tank diesel machine it is forbidden.

Because expensive details High-pressure fuel pump, in 95% of all diesel foreign cars (high-pressure fuel pumps that are lubricated by a separate oil supply are very rare), are lubricated with diesel fuel. And the lubricating properties of gasoline are zero, and when it is added, not only strong and rapid wear details fuel equipment, but also their breakdown (chipping).

And even if there is a high-pressure fuel pump, the parts of which are lubricated engine oil, then all the same for gasoline cetane number 25 - 30, while diesel fuel has about 45. Therefore, when gasoline is added, the diesel engine will work very hard, and the life of parts not only of the high-pressure fuel pump, but of the entire engine will be drastically reduced. In addition, when gasoline is added to a solarium, vapor locks may appear in the suction line and air in the fuel system.

And finally, a couple of tips. If you live in a region where frosts can strike before winter diesel fuel appears at gas stations, and you keep your car not in a warm garage, but in a windswept parking lot, then take care of the supply of winter fuel in advance, at least that would be enough for the appearance of such fuel at gas stations (you can stock up at the end of winter and keep it until the first frosts next winter). After all, diesel fuel is like wine, the more it costs, the cleaner and healthier it is for the engine and expensive fuel equipment.

Or look in advance for a proven additive to summer fuel (which will not ruin diesel), because you may not find one at the moment when the frost hits. Well, those drivers who keep their car in a warm garage can make and install the above-described heating devices on their car in order to meet the first frosts without any problems and drive in winter on summer fuel, which is cheaper than winter, success to everyone.

Oil is a mixture of many hydrocarbons, from the lightest to tar and asphaltenes. When separated into fractions, all types of diesel fuel are obtained from oil.

An oil refinery somewhere in Russia...

Before being in the fuel tank of a car, tractor or tanker, oil has to go through a difficult first stage of oil refining, which results in the best fuel in many respects.

Processing takes place in distillation columns - there, heated to high temperatures, oil releases certain fractions required to obtain a given product. For example, to obtain diesel fuel, a temperature of 180 to 360 °C is required. This stage of production technology is the easiest, cheapest and fastest, but provides the most low level output of diesel fuel - no more than 22-25%. Other, heavier hydrocarbon fractions require further processing by the cracking process, the output of which is the components intended for combustion in the cylinders of a diesel engine.

Several types are knowncracking process: thermal, carried out without catalysts, hydrocracking, during which the crude oil interacts with hydrogen contained in the reactor, as well as catalytic, where metals such as iron, nickel, and sometimes spongy platinum serve as accelerators of the process. This is a complex, energy-intensive, but necessary step that increases the yield of light fuel components to 70-80% of the feedstock volume.

Further semi-finished diesel fuel must be cleaned from sulfur and other impurities for which oil products are subjected to hydrocracking. In the process of interaction with hydrogen, which has a high chemical activity, at high temperature and pressure, sulfur and other compounds are formed, which are then removed from the reactor. Sulfur removal is expensive, often exceeding 50% of the cost of diesel production. Costs are further increased if the feedstock is today's most common sour crude. Final stage purification of diesel fuel from impurities - alkaline cleaning with a solution of caustic soda, removing organic acids and sulfur compounds.

If the finished fuel will not be subject to high requirements or imparting specific properties, then the final stage follows. diesel fuel production - blending (compounding). Products of cracking and direct oil refining are mixed in the required proportions based on the permissible sulfur content, enriched with various additives. Although it seems simple, mixing is a long and expensive process. Composite fuels with dozens of additive components require many chemical analyzes during the process, strict observance of mixing parameters and modes. Compounding often occurs when elevated temperatures and pressures, on very complex equipment. If it is necessary to obtain highly frost-resistant fuel, dewaxing may also be required.

Let's start with the fact that over the past ten years, cars became a viable alternative gasoline analogues for a variety of reasons. At the same time, significant fuel savings due to better and other positive qualities motors of this type.

However, this type of engine is also not without drawbacks. The main problem all diesel engines without exception modern cars is the vulnerability of the sensitive fuel system, as well as the difficulty of cold starting. It should be noted that certain knowledge makes it possible to avoid a number of such troubles during the operation of a diesel engine.

In this article, we will talk about what a novice "dieselist" needs to know about the features of engines of this type, as well as how to start a diesel engine in cold weather and do it right with minimal damage to other powertrain systems.

Read in this article

Cold start of a diesel engine in winter: difficulties and nuances

As a rule, problems with a diesel engine begin precisely when the outside temperature drops to zero or below. At near-zero and negative temperatures in any engine, there are several, the fuel evaporates worse, it discharges more strongly, etc. As a result, launching can be naturally complicated.

As for the diesel, in this case special attention deserves . The fact is that diesel fuel is divided into "winter" and "summer". This division is dictated by the fact that this type of fuel tends to thicken and paraffinize in the cold. If this does not happen in warm weather, then in winter thick diesel fuel simply will not be pumped through the power system.

It turns out that in the summer at gas stations they sell the so-called "summer" diesel fuel, while to solve the problem with the onset of cold weather, "winter" diesel fuel is supplied to the gas station. Simply put, special additives are separately added to summer diesel fuel, which allow this type of fuel to remain fluid even at sub-zero temperatures.

At the same time, it is important to understand that in the off-season, when it is still relatively warm during the day, and it is already cold at night, not all gas stations have time to switch to winter diesel in a timely manner. Considering that winter fuel itself is also more expensive, then some unscrupulous sellers, in pursuit of profit, quite often sell summer diesel fuel at the price of winter fuel before the onset of stable cold weather. The situation is further complicated by the fact that it is impossible to distinguish summer diesel fuel from winter diesel fuel visually, by smell, consistency and any other signs.

How to start diesel in winter

So, we sorted out the "fuel" risks. Now it becomes clear that common problem when starting a diesel engine in winter, which leads to difficulties during a cold start, is unsuitable for the season or low-quality diesel fuel. in the right ways To avoid such problems are the following solutions:

parking the car in a warm garage or heated parking lot;
installation of systems, etc.;
independent use of additives-antigels;

If everything is clear with the first two methods, then the third solution is many engine repair specialists and experienced car enthusiasts are being questioned. The fact is that the addition of various third-party additives to fuel tank may be unsafe for diesel system power supply and the internal combustion engine itself.

By the way, many official dealers separately indicate that if any breakdowns occur due to the use of different antigels on diesel cars that are under warranty, then such a malfunction is not warranty case. This means that repairs will be carried out solely at the expense of the owner.

Let's go back to cold start. Let's imagine a typical situation where there is no garage, and the car itself has been standing on the street for a long time. At the same time, the car is not equipped with any additional heating. In this case, you need to know how to start a diesel engine in winter and what needs to be done to do everything right.

First of all, it is taken into account that starting a diesel engine in winter compared to a gasoline engine can be difficult due to the individual differences in such a motor. More precisely, fuel injection and further ignition of the mixture of fuel and air in a diesel engine occurs somewhat differently than in.

Also, owners of diesel cars that are operated in regions with fairly severe winters can be advised to install various preheaters (and power systems, preheater engines such as Webasto or Hydronic, etc.)

It is also recommended to separately insulate engine compartment and engine. It is well suited for this, which retains heat and prevents the internal combustion engine from cooling down quickly. Warming will not be superfluous. For these purposes, various solutions can be used, the simplest of which is the installation of a dense cardboard “flap”.

Finally, we note that for a long time, since the motor of this type warms up only in motion under load. This means that 3-5 minutes after the start of work on diesel car need to drive, however riding for the first 5 km. should be smooth, without a significant increase in speed, sudden starts and braking, movement on overdrive etc.

Blow from a cannon

Summer diesel fuel is often in the tank by mistake. In the off-season, there is a lot of unsold summer fuel at gas stations, and it is sold at reduced prices. Such announcements are usually hung at the box office or on the steles themselves in front of the stations. But some unscrupulous gas station workers deliberately deceive drivers. This is fraught with problems.

If diesel fuel is still frozen after a night of downtime, then no additives will revive it. Moreover, if they are still poured into the tank, then when the thickened diesel fuel is liquefied, clots of paraffin hydrocarbons will fall to fuel pump and further block the highway. Therefore, it is necessary to warm up summer fuel in winter using old-fashioned methods.

Someone dares to build a fire under the bottom of a frozen truck. Others pick up a blowtorch. But both should be done very experienced drivers. Otherwise, there is a risk of not warming up the car, but turning it into a fire.

Stores usually sell heat guns and hair dryers that run on electricity or gasoline. They can be installed under the bottom and direct the air stream along the fuel line towards the engine. The sides are best overlaid with wooden or cardboard shields to reduce heat loss. In this case, the temperature of the gun should be controlled, otherwise there is a risk of melting plastic and rubber parts under the bottom. A half-hour procedure is usually enough to revive the car.

If the gun was not at hand, then it can be made from a watering hose and a neighbor's petrol car. True, the owner of the car must agree to help the suffering.

You need to drive the car closer and put the hose on exhaust pipe. With the other end, you can climb under the bottom and, like a hairdryer, warm up the frozen areas. This is not easy, so it is better not to bring the matter to the thickening of diesel fuel in the tank and in the nozzles.

Gasoline to the rescue

It is best to prevent the fuel from turning into "jelly" and, at the first suspicion, pour anti-gel additives into the tank. They are usually sold in shops filling stations. If, after refueling, the car loses power, and the engine runs intermittently, then it's time to look for such a gas station. At summer fuel the filterability limit is minus 5 degrees, and with additives it drops to minus 10 degrees. Such fuel freezes at minus 13 degrees. By the way, in winter diesel fuel, thickening occurs at minus 35 degrees.

But chemistry is very expensive. That's why experienced drivers for liquefaction summer diesel fuel dilute it with gasoline. Usually one-fourth of the gasoline is enough to keep the diesel fuel from running out. Some truckers pour it even up to half a tank. But then the risk of damage to the engine increases.

Instead of gasoline, it is best to add kerosene in the same proportions. It is less dangerous for diesel technology. Kerosene is also neutral to chemical additives. They can be used together. Part of the paraffins will be dissolved by kerosene, and the rest will be taken over by chemistry.

But it is best to be vigilant and check with the sellers at gas stations what kind of diesel fuel they sell.