OT: Rolling Coal

[rnhood]

Every time a diesel car or truck in front if me accelerates it smokes like a Chinese factory. Glad I don't own one.

[pbarry]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

the way i understand it is the "old stuff" is just called diesel, the "new stuff" is ULSD (ultra low sulfer diesel).

ULSD is 15 ppm.

NRLM [non-road locomotive marine] is 50 ppm for 2007 and earlier years.

[pbarry]

Originally Posted by rnhood

Every time a diesel car or truck in front if me accelerates it smokes like a Chinese factory. Glad I don't own one.

Diesel engines are substantially more efficient than gas, and built this country after the Big One, and continue to do so. Almost none of the consumer and industrial goods we all enjoy would be available without the diesel.

[gasman]

I never knew there were so many grades of diesel nor had I heard of rolling coal. Learn something every day.Some of it I wished I didn't know-like rolling coal.

[Lewis Moon]

EPA ses it's illegal

[pbarry]

Yeah, enforcement is the problem. OPEN weigh stations on interstate highways were few and far between last time I drove cross-country.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by goonster

In that classic youtube clip of the jerk "rolling" the cyclists on a Colorado mountain road, as best I can tell, the driver is upshifting every time he passes a cyclist.

the time I was smoked, there was an obvious change in engine note, but no upshifting or change in speed. Then when he turned off the smoke the engine note changed back to normal. The chips come with a switch to change between gas saving, high power, etc. Typically, they have five settings. I can think of good reasons to have three: normal, a little lean, and a little rich.

[Lewis Moon]

Originally Posted by pbarry

Yeah, enforcement is the problem. OPEN weigh stations on interstate highways were few and far between last time I drove cross-country.

I work for an environmental agency in a state that does emissions checks.

[pbarry]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

I work for an environmental agency in a state that does emissions checks.

I live in one too. My post was referring to spot checks for weight and fuel type usage for heavy dual axle vehicles. LD trucks could be inspected for ajustable chips if the legislation was in place.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

I work for an environmental agency in a state that does emissions checks.

I think California checks for modifications, but they may be alone in doing that. Most of the coal-rollers live in places without emissions checks. Pennsylvania has one, but it's a visual check to make sure your vehicle still has cats. Even in Utah, where they do a tailpipe check, you could modify the car but as long as it didn't fail the tailpipe test it was ok. So the fact that these diesel mods allow you to return the engine control to stock with the flip of a switch means they will not be caught in most states, even if they do a tailpipe check.

[Elefantino]

I believe that it is every American's God-given right to behave as kindly or as angrily as he or she wishes.

There seems to be more and more of the latter, from politics to the public and everything in between. Then again, no one said freedom of expression doesn't have consequences.

[Jaq]

Originally Posted by saab2000

A bit of a tangent here but there seems to be antipathy and antagonism of anyone who seems to try to 'do the right thing'. I use reusable bags at the grocery store. I keep them in my car and bring a few in when I go. I got called out by a friend who observed this practice as an environmental wacko. ···? Just seems like common sense and most stores actually credit you a nickel per bag for using them.

Sorry for the off track but whoever it was who mentioned ignorance is spot on.

I don't do it for the nicely but that doesn't suck either.

Well...

If you use a reusable bag and don't keep it clean, then you run the risk of accumulating food-borne bacteria in your bag.

If you do wash your reusable bag, then you use the resources (energy, water, etc) that you were supposed to save by using reusable bags.

Or you can pay 10 cents per recycled paper bag (the current cost per paper bag in Los Angeles).

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by rnhood

Every time a diesel car or truck in front if me accelerates it smokes like a Chinese factory. Glad I don't own one.

Even when I put my foot into my Jetta TDI, it smokes not at all...Glad I do own one..particularly since diesel $ and regular gas $ is only about $.10 difference..and I get 40+ mpg, mixed driving, 47 or so on the highway.

[Ahneida Ride]

The tile of the article is as follows:

Conservatives who show their annoyance with liberals, Obama, and the EPA by blowing black smoke from their trucks.

The implicit Logic is as follows.

People who drive diesel spewing whacked out trucks are Conservative.
Driving whacked out diesel spewing trucks is only for nut-jobs
Thus all Conservatives are nut-jobs.

Let's try this logic again,

Animals with sharp teeth and bite people are dogs.
Biting people is very dangerous.
Thus all dogs are dangerous.

Another attempt

People who block roads and slow traffic are cyclists.
Blocking traffic and slowing traffic is uncivilized.
Thus all Cyclists are uncivilized.

Ok ..... now let's pick a target group .. say Libertarians.
and here we go ....

People who use cell phones while driving are Libertarians.
Use of a cell while driving increase the risk of an accident 20 times.
Thus all Libertarians are risky drivers.

This distorted logic is frequently used by the progenitors of our
one party system to divide and conquer. Watch for it.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Louis

This might be because deep down inside the friend feels guilty about not caring as much as you do. After all, why in the world would someone else give you a hard time for doing something that could not possible hurt them?

It's called culture war. Some on the far right think that anyone who rides a bike to work is a far left liberal and it's an attack on their life style. They take it to the extreme.

Originally Posted by Elefantino

I believe that it is every American's God-given right to behave as kindly or as angrily as he or she wishes.

There seems to be more and more of the latter, from politics to the public and everything in between. Then again, no one said freedom of expression doesn't have consequences.

A Libertarian point of view? To be clear a true Libertarian would object to rolling coal as it causes harm to persons and property. Sure you can be a D-bag all you want, that's your freedom of choice but when it affects another person or property then it's not acceptable, crosses the line of expression.