Getting Off Gas!

[bennelson]

When I got home today, I thought I might try starting the Mercedes.

It's pretty cold today - 3℉. Typical winter temperatures in my area in winter are typically in the teens and 20's. Single digits are fairly cold, but less common that 15 to 25 degrees.

Since the car has been sitting since Sunday, and it's cold, I figured this is a good chance to see what it does with a cold start on regular petrol-diesel fuel.

I turned the key to the on position, and pulled on the start/kill rod.

The car has a handle you pull to use the glow plugs, start the engine, and kill the engine.

To use the glow plugs (I finally figured this out..) you pull on the rod until just before the starter would kick on. Hold it there until the little light on the dashboard glows. In fact, it's not actually a light at all, but a hot piece of metal. I imagine this is a material with similar resistance to the glow plugs, so that it and the plugs both "light-up" at the same time.

Once the glow-plug indicator is going, you pull the rod the rest of the way out to activate the starter.

This pull knob is spring-loaded and very uncomfortable to hold. I will either need to change this when I do the truck conversion, or order a wrist splint.

With the glow-plugs lit up, I activated the starter and cranked away. Not too much happened. Seemed like it wanted to start.

I repeated the glow-plug and starter sequence a couple more times, with no luck.

I had no problems with it a couple days ago in 20℉ weather.

While the car DOES have a block heater, it isn't plugged in. And I don't mean into my electric outlet, I mean the other end. I followed the power cord, only to find the engine end dangling down in the engine compartment, rather than plugged into the block.

In the cold and dark, I can not locate where the cord plugs in.

A block heater and battery heater will be essential components in my finished "Fossil-Fuel-Free" vehicle.

If I DO decide in the end to design the vehicle to also be able to run on vegetable oil, all sorts of heated components will be required.



Giving it some more thought, the "transplant" of the Benz engine into my pickup truck is going to take longer than I think.

That means I will be without long-range transportation while for the duration of the open-hood surgery.

Couple that with the limit range I can get on electric vehicles in the winter, and it means I will have a tough time getting around from when the project starts, to when it's finished.

Two different options I can think of are:
1: Wait til it's warmer - Use the electric car to get around until the truck is done
2: Buy a different truck, do the transplant into it, then sell my truck.

I don't love either plan. I would like to get started sooner rather than later, and waiting for warmer weather will slow me down. I also don't want to buy another vehicle - it means re-registering (costs money!) dealing with insurance and titling, etc. More work and money into the project.

I think I just need to learn a little patience here.

If I can hold my horses for a little while, I may even be able to install more batteries and an Open Source controller in my Metro EV. That would give me a 30 mile range on electric.

I also might be able to borrow somebody's car for a bit. I have an 18 year old brother who still lives with my parents. He has a Taurus he might be able to part with for a week or two, especially if he could borrow the Citicar to drive to school in.

Anyways, it's COLD outside.

At least I am thinking about it right now, so I can plan for it, instead of next winter and have my truck dead somewhere, filled with solid bio-fuel!

[Frank Lee]

This is precisely why I haven't "warmed up" to electrics and diesels as year-round vehicles for the Midwest. 30 years experience already told me 1) batteries lose LOTS of capacity in the cold, and 2) diesel fuels have gelling problems, and diesel engines have starting problems, with our kind of cold.

Now as THREE season vehicles they can be great.

[Intrigued]

Find where that heater plug is.

If it's working, that'll take care of a lot of problems. On my Pontiac, as long as I had the heater plugged in, it never failed to start, and since I always used the fuel additive in the winter, it never failed to get me the 57 miles one way to work and back...

...except for the time the nut behind the wheel let the thing run out of fuel... (Priming that particular diesel is a ROYAL pain...)

...and it would get 35mpg all day long. A/C running. At 65 mph.

[MPaulHolmes]

I lived in Kenya for 6 months, and the whole time I was there, the temperature was in the range of 78-83 degF day and night. They wouldn't have to worry about all this extreme temperature stuff, and gas is like $8/gallon there or something ridiculous, and it's sunny all the time. They should get some solar power and EV fleets set up. Well, maybe they should make sure everyone gets their corn meal mush first (they eat that crap 2 times a day, and tea for breakfast.).

[bennelson]

I brushed the snow off the car, jacked it up, and popped the hood.

It's a delightful 17℉ outside - the warmest it's been in a while.

I was able to dig around and find where the block heater was.

It was difficult to actually plug it in, as the connection was under the exhaust manifold and behind some other rod or hose.

Once in, I plugged the block heater into a Killawatt on an extension cord. Sure enough, the heater started pulling 375 watts.

The heater also makes a bit of a hissing or bubbling sound. Is that normal? When I have used the frost plug block heater in my S10, it's totally silent.


EDIT:
One hour, twenty minutes later - (the Killawatt tracks time too.)
I pulled the starter knob to the glow plug position, and let it charge up for 15 or 20 seconds.

Pulling the knob to run the starter, the car started right up. It did sound rather clangy for a little bit. I think diesels can run on just a cylinder or two before the others get warmed up, right?

I ran it for a minute or two, turned it off, then turned it back on. One the second start, it fired right up and sounded great.

Seems like this engine, running with a block heater, should fire right up in future winters.

I still need to get the whole thing in the truck, and also make sure it runs well on bio-diesel.


EDIT again:
Since I can now MOVE the Mercedes under its own power, I was able to move it over enough that I can park my truck next to it.

I have a long, narrow driveway - I wasn't able to get the Electro-Metro out of the garage before without having to move the truck every time!

Now I will be able to drive my electric car without having to play "driveway shuffle"!

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I brushed the snow off the car, jacked it up, and popped the hood.

The heater also makes a bit of a hissing or bubbling sound. Is that normal? When I have used the frost plug block heater in my S10, it's totally silent.

Mine was quiet, but it was an element only, like the "freeze plug" heaters I've seen. SOME of the fancier ones had a small circulating pump built in... you'll have to look it up or ask someone in the know about that...

Originally Posted by bennelson

Pulling the knob to run the starter, the car started right up. It did sound rather clangy for a little bit. I think diesels can run on just a cylinder or two before the others get warmed up, right?

Yeah, when they have "a few" miles, and when it's below freezing, or if not all of the glow plugs are working, they'll sound pretty rough at first. If it's only hitting on two or three, it'll sound like an old John Deere...

Originally Posted by bennelson

Now I will be able to drive my electric car without having to play "driveway shuffle"!

Woohoo!

[Christ]

Electronics + hissing noise = magic smoke sighting.

[Intrigued]

...magic smoke sighting...

Yeah, if it's an element only, you might want to have the camera ready... but I repeat:

SOME of the fancier ones had a small circulating pump built in... you'll have to look it up or ask someone in the know about that...

[MetroMPG]

Ben: I've seen several cars with hissing block heaters. It's probably the coolant boiling at the element. I don't think that's particularly efficient, and maybe bad for the long term prospects of the element, but it's not unusual.

[MPaulHolmes]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I still need to get the whole thing in the truck, and also make sure it runs well on bio-diesel.

I'm sure it can! I saw on Mythbusters they had a Mercedes that they just added filtered vegetable oil in the gas tank, starting on empty (nothing else) and it got about 30 mpg, whereas regular diesel got around 33 or 35 mpg I think. By the way, there were tons of commercials during that episode about how the oil companies are doing everything they can to make the world free of oil. It was pretty funny.