Alternative Energy

With gas prices spiking again it there has been talk of how to bring them down. If you follow politics (I do as the government has a much bigger impact on my life than most things) then you may have heard of President Obama's suggestion to create fuel from algae. Now true to form the Republicans started bashing President Obama on this supposedly stupid idea claiming it won't work and won't make a difference. The truth is it would work and would make a difference. Now this isn't' the only idea out there on how to fuel our future but is the most recent. So with this topic I decided to cover some of the ideas that are out that since oil is a finite resource  despite what one party would suggest and we will eventually run out. This way people can have a good understanding of what the options are and have reasonable knowledge about them. Side not I once asked an oil geologist about how much oil the earth ever had and got the following about 15 years ago so the values may be different now and I don't know if these include non traditional sources like tar sands and shale:

• Approximately 6 trillion total barrels of oil existed
• Approximately  3 trillion of that 6 trillion are recoverable with current technology
• We have consumed  approximately  1 trillion in the last 200 years, most in the last 50 years at an ever increasing rate.
• OPEC lies about their reserves.

The battery powered car

First off this means nothing. A battery powered car is really only as clean as the source that provides your electricity. Granted coal, and natural gas power plants are a whole lot more efficient than your small internal combustion engine in your vehicle so even powering an electric car with electricity from a coal plan would probably be much cleaner. This is most because a really good running vehicle engine is capable of a max 30% or so efficiency. This means that you use at most 30% of the total energy in the fuel for useful work. The large stationary engines used in power plants are about twice as efficient meaning they get twice the usable energy from from the same amount of fuel. Also handling pollution from one stationary large source is much easier than from many small moving sources. Right now the biggest obstacle for electric cars are range and recharge time. The best ones now claim 100 miles on a charge that takes 8 or so hours from a special outlet. Granted this does cover most people's daily driving habits. Also this wouldn't require additional power plants as most people would be charging their vehicles at off peak times (at night when power demand is low and generators that can be stopped are) when there is extra generation capacity.

Solar

There are 2 primary forms of solar energy photoelecrtic and solar thermal. Both can be used to produce electricity to do useful things with like power a car with a rechargeable battery. I have head lots of people complain that there is no way we could ever get enough power from these to power our planet. These people are wrong. The truth is if 1% of the entire planet was covered with 1% efficient solar panels would would be able to meet all of our current power needs. This isn't a number I just made up but is are real figure from NASA where they state that we receive 10,000 times the energy from the sun than we actually use. Now given that most solar solutions are more efficient that 1% (really good solar cells are about 40% efficient and cheap crappy ones are usually at least 5% efficient) we could easily meet all of our power needs. Solar thermal can be used to generate power even when the sun goes down as they use molten salt to store the heat so solar can work even when it is dark out. The setup for this is the solar power tower where mirror focus light onto a tower. 

Ethanol

Good idea in theory when you do it like the Brazilians do but when you do it like we do in the US and make it from corn it is one of the dumbest things government has ever done. I plan on writing a couple of articles specifically on ethanol eventually where I will really go into detail on it as it is the favorite bio fuel.

Bio oils

There are a number of things that can be lumped under this heading such as the bio diesel made from used vegetable oil (or straight vegetable oil), bio diesel made from soy beans, and bio oil. that is refined into fuels. They are all chemically very similar. This is where President Obama's plan to make fuel from algae falls. This group would be the least painless for most people as it requires no change to our current infrastructure. You can refine bio oil into the correct type of fuel to use in your vehicle or what ever. So lets look at a few select options in the category (I can't include all of the different options there are too many):

• Algae - This shows some promise for making bio oil even in crappy climates like Minnesota. Granted it would work better in warmer sunnier climates like Florida or California. Basically what is done here is algae is grown in enclosed vats  of water. When the vat is full the algae is scraped off  and pressed to get the oil out of it. The left over bits of algae can the go off and be used either as a fertilizer or feed into some other processes or disposed of in some appropriate manner.
• Thermal Depolymerization - This is another promising solution as it would work with just about any organic material. You can use things garbage, bits left over from animal processing plants, saw dust, tree trimmings, leaves, switch grass, or basically anything made from carbon. Under high heat and pressure (add in some water if your source material doesn't have enough) you turn carbon based things into oil. This oil can then be sent off to be refined into the same things we make from crude oil from the ground like fuels, plastics, fertilizers, industrial chemicals. 
• Fischer-Tropsch Process - This is a similar process to thermal depolymerization and is part of the gas to liquids process to produce liquid fuels and other hydrocarbons from organic material. It is a process that works as the Germans used in during WWII on an industrial scale to fuel their war machine. They were using coal as the source material but you could feed it any carbon based material and get the same results.
• Vegetable Oil - I think this is great using wast veggie oil to power a diesel vehicle. Here you basically get used fryer oil from restaurants (they may give it to you free since they have to pay to dispose of it) and you go an burn it in your diesel vehicle. It seems like a good use of something that was just going to be thrown away. If you are interested in doing this just do a Google search and you will get more info that you need to get started. It probably wouldn't work to fuel every diesel vehicle as there just isn't enough wast vegetable oil but it would cut demand for diesel.

Hydrogen

If you think this is going to happen you are kidding your self, and no I don't mean because of the Hindenburg. The biggest problem is hydrogen is that it doesn't exist in a free state on our planet. You need to make it from something and you will never get the energy out of it that you put into making it. Lots of people think that this is the water powered car, if you are one of them you have been fooled, this won't work because of the Laws of Thermodynamics (I should do a post on this myth some day). Basically there are 2 ways to make hydrogen either use natural gas and do some steam reformation on it or use massive amount of electricity to do electrolysis on water, either of these options takes way more energy than you will ever get back out of the fuel so why not just have natural gas or electric vehicles instead and cut out all the losses of making hydrogen. Other than the energy loss (hydrogen is really a poor carrier) hydrogen is a pain to transport. Again here I am not talking about explosions but it has this nasty ability to cause embrittlement in all sorts of metals, and we currently don't have a distribution network for it like we already do for the things required to make it (natural gas, or electricity). So can we just say this was a stupid idea and quit wasting resources on it.

Non-Traditional Oil

This is probably the worst solution as we could go after more shale oil, tar sands or just convert coal to liquid fuels. It would work until it becomes too expensive to do but it would buy some more time to get better solutions working.

Better Mileage Through Synthetics

I have wanted to post about this for a while but haven't gotten around to doing so. As you I am a big believer in using synthetic fluids in vehicles. One of the benefits that I had mentioned was improved gas mileage. As evidence I offer up my 96 Jeep Cherokee with 370,XXX miles on it. 

When I acquired the vehicle last summer it has standard fluids in it. The dealership I purchased it from had changed the oil but had put in non synthetic oil. I had done some tune up work on it like changing out plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, coolant, and fuel filter but hand't gotten around to changing out any of the fluids before going pheasant hunting. When I left I topped off the tank and filled it up again after going 186 miles and put in 9.3 gallons. On the way back I put 185 miles on it and put in again 9.3 gallons. Shortly there after I manged to get around to changing the gear oil in the transmission and differentials as well as fluid in the transfer case. The engine oil is still the non synthetic fill from the dealership. This time when going deer hunting in colder weather I drove 187 and 183 miles between fill-ups and this time only put in 8.3 gallons each time. 

Those 2 gallons of gas alone come close to covering the difference in the cost between standard and synthetic fluids that I put in. With the other driving that has been done the cost of those fluids have now been easily recouped. Granted this is just anecdotal evidence but does help to support the claim of better mileage by using synthetic fluids.

When it is time to change the engine oil I should see more of an increase in mileage but I don't know how much.  Now before I change the engine oil to synthetic I will be changing the oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket as they are old and are a bit on the leaky side so that should eliminate any of the associated problems people claim are caused by synthetics.

Beat the heat

With some really oppressive heat and humidity over us here in the mid west (I know those of you down south get it worse) I have noticed a number of vehicles broken down on the side of the road. This kind of heat is just as hard on your vehicle as the bitter cold (sorry for those of you down south you can't even compete on that one). So how do you keep your vehicle running well in this kind of weather.

Coolant
If you haven't changed it recently you might want to consider doing so. A good flush and fill will go along way to ensuring that your car will stay cool and continue running. Also if you haven't checked your coolant level recently do so and fill as necessary as you will want the maximum amount of cooling capacity. If you have a vehicle that has been modified to produce more power you factory cooling system my not be able to keep up. A little trick to ensure that these vehicles stay cool is instead of using the standard 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is to run almost 100% pure water with a product like Water Wetter to lubricate the pump (also it decreases the surface tension in the water allowing for more cooling). Granted this mix doesn't have as high of a boil over protection, but will keep your engine running much cooler since 100% water has a much better thermal transfer than a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze.

AC
If yours isn't working as well as it use to you may just need a new cabin air filter. Changing these is similar in difficulty to changing the engine air filter but a little more expensive with the filter costing $10 to $15. If this still doesn't help you may be low in refrigerant in the AC system. Unless you know what you are doing I suggest you  take your vehicle to a professional as it is pretty easy to over fill the system and then wreck seals thus making your poorly working AC into a non working AC

Tires
Tires should always be properly inflated, especially in hot weather. Too little air and your tire will over heat and you will be suffering a blow out and have to change a tire in this crappy weather. Too much air and your tire may just burst and you will be stuck changing a tire in this crappy weather.

Battery
Heat kills batteries so if you have a battery that is old and questionable you might want to change it out before you get stuck. Also keep your battery properly charged will go along way to preventing the stresses that can prematurely kill a battery.

Oil
In addition to providing lubrication to your engine oil also helps cool it as it flows. In extreme heat you should ensure that you have the proper amount of oil so as to maximize the cooling capacity. Additionally using a synthetic oil will decrease the internal friction thus helping your engine stay cool.

Shade
If you have the opportunity to park in the shade or in a covered ramp I suggest doing so. Not only will this keep the interior of your car from becoming an oven, but it will help protect interior trim and the pain. Heat is what causes the plastic in things like dashes to dry out and crack. Also by keeping your vehicle out of the sun it helps protect the paint from UV damage thus helping the paint prevent your car from rust. If you can't park in a shaded area I highly suggest getting one of those windshield shades and cracking your side windows to keep the interior heat down.

Don't expect a miracle in a can

If you have been in an auto parts store, down an auto care isle, or watched infomercials then you have seen them. These are the miracle in a can products that promise to do almost magical things to your engine. There are some that claim they will make your engine last for ever, be cleaner, stop leaks, get better gas mileage and so on. The truth is these products produce varied results some work great while others do nothing to fix the problem. Most of the problems these products attempt to resolve could have been prevented by doing regular maintenance on your vehicle.

Stop Leak Products
These are probably the most common types of products out there within this group there are products that stop coolant leaks, oil leaks, and I would also include ones that stop burning of oil.With the various stop leak products you actually have a decent chance of them working. The bad news is that any fixes they provide are temporary at best. Oil stop leak products work by either "reconditioning" seals and gaskets or by thickening the oil so it doesn't leak out (this is also how the products that stop your car from burning oil work). With ones that recondition seals and gaskets all they do is cause the gaskets to swell so that the gasket plugs the gap, void, or crack. These will work for a while but eventually you will have a leak again. The only real fix is to replace the gasket or seal that is leaking. The products that thicken the oil I am not a big fan of as they really don't fix anything but just mask the problem. Add to that these products thicken oil I start to question if they are really good for your vehicle since you vehicle was designed to run with a specific weight of oil. As far a coolant stop leak products, I have had varied success with these, some of them seem to work some of them don't. Basically if you have a leak on a non moving part of your coolant system (i.e. not the water pump) then this product will plug the hole. I don't know how permanent these fixes are but once I have gotten home I go do a proper fix (solder, weld, or replace) so that I don't have to worry about the stop leak product.

Clean mechanical parts inside your car
These are also very common products and provide varying results. There are products to clean your fuel system, combustion chamber, engine, transmission, cooling system and so on. Basically these products are solvents. The ones that are put into the gas tank are meant to do one or more of the following:

1. Remove deposits from the fuel system. This usually called fuel deposits and are basically varnish. This can happen over time if you let vehicles sit for a while, the vehicle doesn't consume much fuel, or has a lot of miles on it. This also includes products like fuel injector cleaner or carburetor cleaner. Here I think that some products work better than others, but generally they won't cause any damage if used.
2. Remove water from the fuel. Products that do this usually have alcohol in them as alcohol will absorb the water and will still blend with gas. Getting water in your tank can happen if you have an old vehicle who's tank doesn't seal well, or if you bought some bad gas. These products were more common years ago, but now with most gasoline already having ethanol in it the need to remove water is lessened. These products usually work well as they solve only one problem that is pretty simple to fix.
3. Oil additives to clean out deposits in the engine. Personally I don't like these products as they thin the oil. This will decrease the ability of the oil to properly lubricate. I have used the products in the past but when I do I only use them just before an oil change and then only drive for a little bit with them. I only do it the first time I change oil on a vehicle because most people don't change their oil as frequently as they should and this will remove the deposits and sludge that have built up. If you change oil when you should this is something that never needs to be done. Using these products on a very neglected engine may actually make things worse as those deposits may have been plugging leaks or filling voids so now your vehicle may leak oil or burn it so it is best to just take care of your stuff to begin with than hope for a miracle fix in a can.
4. Coolant system cleaners. My feeling with these is similar to that of oil additives, they may work, but you would be better off taking care of the system to begin with than using one of these products and hoping for a miracle. Usually issues these products resolve are silted up cooling systems, rust, and calcium build up. These problems can all be avoided by doing a flush and fill on your coolant regularly. Also as with oil additives using one of these products may reveal other problems as they clean away the neglect. 

Performance improvements in a can

Unless you are running an extremely high compression engine or using a lot of boos don't expect much of anything from these products. The reason is that mostly these are placebo products. The only ones that do anything are those that increase the octane of the gas you are running, or in the case of diesels increase the cetane number. Increasing the octane doesn't do anything unless you have an engine designed for higher octane (even higher than the 91 or 92 premium fuel) than can normally be found. Unless you have modified your engine substantially (made a race engine out of it) you don't need these. Also don't expect any product to magically increase your fuel economy. If you use one of these products and your car magically starts running better it probably is because something is wrong with your car that needs to be fixed. It will be cheaper in the long run to actually fix the problem instead of keeping buying stuff in the can.

So what products do I like

There are some gems out there for the products in a can. Below is a list of products I like and have had success with in the past.

Oil stop leak - If you really want to use a product to stop oil leaks and not just replace gaskets or seals then go use something like Valvoline Max Life or Mobile 1 High Mileage. I would recommend either of these since you aren't playing backyard petrochemist. These are designed to meet the correct specifications of the oil for your vehicle instead of you just dumping stuff in. Don't expect results overnight with these products as it takes time for them to cause the seals and gaskets to swell and plug the gaps or cracks.

Coolant stop leak - I have had success in the past using the Bar's Leaks Lquid Aluminum product. When using products like this you need to drive the vehicle around for a while. This prevents it from solidifying into a big clump in the overflow tank. As I have mentioned I use this as a temporary fix and when I get home I go and do a real fix. 

Fuel system cleaners - Lots of people swear by Chevron Techron, but personally I like the Berryman B-12 Chemtool fuel system cleaner or injector cleaner. Basically these are some of the most caustic things I have ever used. I was introduced to them when cleaning the intake manifold on my car and had gone through several cans of regular carb cleaner and the guys at the auto parts store suggest the spray form. It really does clean well, don't get it on your paint, or on your hands. Also recently I have seen a couple of gas stations advertising the they carry gas to meets or exceeds top tier gas standards. I would say using these fuels would be a better option as again you aren't playing back yard petrochemist. Both Holiday and Kwik Trip in my area have recently started offering these. 

Oil additives for cleaning - I have used Seafoam to do this I put in the recommended amount and drive for a max of 30 miles and then change oil. I don't regularly use this since changing your oil at the correct time is the better option. As a side not Seafoam works great for fogging motors when putting them away for the season.

Coolent system cleaners - None, just do regular flush and fills.

Performance in a can - None, but if you really feel you need to run high octane fuel you can always go and get some leaded avgas down at the nearest airport for about $6 a gallon or race track for about $8 a gallon. If you feel you still need more octane then you are doing something wrong. 

The best oil change ever

Changing the oil on your vehicle is probably the single best thing you can do for it. Getting your oil changed isn't very expensive and doing it on a regular schedule will help to greatly extend the life of your vehicle. If you are in a pinch you can always take it to one of those oil change places and and get it done in 30 minutes or less. This is better than nothing and if more people would do this then they would have fewer issues with their cars. Personally I don't really like these places as they don't seem to do a very good job and I keep hearing horror stories of them stripping out the threads on the oil pan so I just do my own oil change.

Benefits of doing your own oil change:

1. It is done correctly
2. Cheaper
3. You can take care of other things as well

Mandatory Supplies:

1. Oil (probably between 4 and 8 quarts). If you don't know how much you need, or what type ask at you local auto parts store, they are helpful. I prefer O'Reilly because they are close and seem to have most of the part I need. I recommend synthetic oil, grease, and other fluids as they are better.
2. Oil filter. The people at the parts store can help you with this as well
3. Funnel
4. Hydraulic floor jack (don't use the crappy spare tire jack, those are junk)
5. Oil drain pan
6. Socket set or wrench set (you will need the size that fits the oil drain plug)

Recommended additional supplies:

1. Power steering fluid
2. Grease gun
3. Fluid transfer pump
4. Synthetic Grease
5. Antifreeze

Steps:

1. Drive the car around until it is fully warmed up. This will make it so the the old oil drains out quicker. Additionally this will get all the crud in the oil in suspension so it will be carried away with the old oil.
2. Open the hood
3. take off the oil filler cap
4. Jack the car up (use one of the jack points for changing the tires)
5. put the drain pan under the oil drain plug
6. Remove the oil train plug
7. Do these optional (recommended) steps as the oil drains out as the oil draining will take a while (probably close to 30 minutes)
1. put the battery on a charger (trickle charge ensures that the battery is fully charged)
2. using the fluid transfer pump remove all the fluid in the power steering reservoir. (cheeper to replace the fluid a little at at time than to pay for a new power steering pump)
3. refill the power steering reservoir with fresh fluid (probably close to 12 ounces)
4. grease all suspension parts using synthetic grease (makes these parts last longer. These are expensive)
5. Shake the dirt out of your air filter (this will help extend its life)
6. Check to see that your belts aren't cracked or worn (you don't want to get stuck somewhere)
7. Check the radiator hoses 
8. Check the tire pressure (don't want to get a flat)
9. Check your coolant level (refill as needed, you don't want to run low on coolant as a blown head gasket will probably be the end of you car)
10. Fill your windshield wiper fluid.(you want to see don't you?)
11. Check lights and blinkers (this avoids a visit from a L.E.O.)
12. Take the battery off the charger
8. Now that the oil has finished draining out put the oil plug back in. Initially put it in finger tight (several full turns) then use a wrench or socket to tighten it down the rest of the way. This will prevent you from stripping the threads on the oil pan.
9. move the oil drain pan so it is under the oil filter.
10. Remove the oil filter and put it in the oil drain pan (more oil will drain out)
11. Fill the new oil filter with oil (This will get oil into the engine quicker when you start it)
12. put a light coat of oil on the rubber gasket on the oil filter (This will make it so you can easily get it off when you change it next time)
13. Put the new oil filter on. once it makes contact with the engine turn it another 1/4 to 1/2 turn. this will keep oil from leaking out.
14. Take the oil drain pan out from under the car
15. Take the car off the jack
16. Put the funnel in the oil filler hole and pour in the correct amount of oil.
17. Put the oil filler cap back on.

Congratulations you have just done the best oil change ever. I do all of this each time I change oil on any of my vehicles. At this point you are stuck with some old oil, an old oil filter. Some auto parts stores will take the old oil and filter, but if not you can always dispose of them at the local hazardous waste disposal site. In Dakota county MN it is free. My local O'Reilly store take used oil so I just save up the old filters and bring a bunch of filters to the Recycle center at once (about 3 or 4 times a year).

Note* I am NOT sponsored by or in anyway affiliated with O'Reilly auto parts, I do NOT own stock in O'Reilly either.  I have had better experiences there than at any of the other auto parts stores so that is what I am basing my recommendation on.

Oil: Why you should probably be using synthetic

One thing that I am frequently asked is should I use synthetic oil or not in a vehicle. In almost every case the answer is yes. I use synthetic in all of my vehicles including the old Bronco II. Synthetic oil in general is better than non synthetic because of:

• Higher film strength
• Better resistance to oxidation
• Better cold flow properties
• Better stability at higher temperatures
• Higher detergent content
• Longer drain interval
• Lower Friction

I frequently hear two complaints against synthetic oil. The first is that it will make your vehicle leak oil or leak more oil than it currently does. The truth is it isn't the oil that makes it leak it is that it cleans out all the crap that was plugging leaks in your engine. So if you have a vehicle that is older and has dried out gaskets it will probably start leaking. It would have started leaking eventually and gaskets are cheep. The other complaint I hear is that it costs more. This is true but you can go to a longer change which usually makes to total cost per mile the same or less that that when using conventional oil. 

Why is higher film strength better?

Film strength is the force needed to push through the film of oil to have metal to metal contact. This higher this is the better protected from wear parts are

Why is better resistance to oxidation important?

Being better able to resist oxidation prevents the oil from breaking down over time. As oil oxidizes its ability to lubricate goes down as it is no longer oil. For those who don't know oxidation is just like burning, except burring is very rapid oxidation.

Why is better cold flow important?

Cold flow is the ability of something to flow like as liquid when cold. The lower temperature oil flows at the colder a vehicle can operate at. Also being able to flow better a cooler temps allows oil to circulate and flow through the engine faster on start up.

Why is better stability at higher temps important?

Heat can cause oil to break down in to other molecules. Some of these molecules could be solvents that thin the oil, some could be tars, some are gases that just escape. This is similar to what is done in oil refineries when they take crude oil and make different thing out of it.

Why is higher detergent content better?

Some may not think this is a good thing as this is what usually causes your engine to leak oil when switching to synthetics. The truth is that this will clean out the crud and crap that has built up over time. If you have seen the Ford commercial where they have the engine that is filled with black stuff that is sludge. It will build up over time and restrict oil flow or prevent oil from getting to moving metal surfaces. Higher detergent contents help clean this out. This is also the most important reason why changing oil regularly is important.

Why is a longer drain interval better?

This should be simple, you don't spend as much on oil. You also don't consume as much oil. Previously when using standard oil I would typically change oil at 2,500 miles, with synthetic I typically change it at 5,000. I have heard of some people going as much as 12,000 to 15,000 between changes but I just can't seem to force my self to go any were near that long. I have gone as much as 7,000 when I couldn't get to it for about 2 and a half weeks and it didn't look much worse than it does when I change it a 5,000.

Why is lower friction better?

Friction is the amount of energy to move one thing across another. By lowering the friction in your engine it takes less energy to move all the moving parts. This means that you get better fuel economy and also your engine produces more power. It makes your engine more efficient.

When you shouldn't use synthetic oil
There are few cases where I wouldn't recommend using synthetic oil:

• Your car already leaks oil and it leaks from engines seals not gaskets. If you use synthetic oil you will just leak even more oil.
• You have an older engine that is worn. Here you will just burn lots more oil than you already do
• You are doing an initial engine break in