Chevrolet s10 4.3

I followed the cables as far as I could up under the dashboard, it seemed like the insulation was still there, so I insulated with hose and repaired the brake light connector, it has worked ever since.

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That’s good news, Jan :+1: I was worried you would have to ask your wife for gasoline money.

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Thought I’d contribute with some guessing games, do you know what this is?

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Condensate tank for your Chevy?

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Hmm, was it that easy?
Yes, the car has been running a little strange for a while, so I tried leak detection with water.

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On the bright side - the test worked :smile:

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I tried today for the first time to start and drive on just gas, since the car doesn’t work on gasoline, there were no problems whatsoever, very easy to start, faster than on gasoline actually.
But I know that when I’ve driven about 10 miles, and then stopped for a few hours. it usually takes longer before the gas is good, what’s the reason?

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Hi Jan, my first guess is water condensation wetting the charbed. Could be solved with a chimney like Tone uses, but that may create irritation on, for example Ica Maxi parking lot :slightly_smiling_face:
A quick opening of the lid, to vent some steam also helps some.

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Plus reversing the blower (if you find the parking too crowded :smile:)

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Tried it now when I picked up a sack of firewood from the lakeside, ran the fan for quite a while before trying to start, no smoke or water mist was visible, but difficult to start, partly because I don’t know how much air I should have.
When I start in the morning, it runs after a few minutes of fanning.
Could a hole be forming in the charcoal, so I need to push it down more?
However, it seems to run well at idle, it was at idle when I was driving the tractor, and also when I put in the firewood.

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Thinking about what you said about condensation on the charcoal, could it be condensation when I only need to fan, I don’t need to relight it, shouldn’t it be too hot for condensation then?

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Good question, maybe the hopper is saturated with “steam” and water, standing still=no or little wall condensation? When running the blower up to temp, steam pressure pushes water down the hearth?
Just some thinking, my volvo behaves the same after a stop, when im running very wet wood.
I’ve also read somewhere that the charcoals reactive surface becomes less reactive after cooling to a certain point, kind of closes its porousity?
This was known on early charcoal gasifiers, as if you used a thin steel rod to crush and mix the charcoal close to the nozzle, start was about 2-3 minutes faster.

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Hi Jan, I have had the same problem with my WK Gasifier 92 Dodge Dakota Truck. Here is what I have out in this problem.
If the wood I use is hard dry wood less than 10% moisture content, it starts up on wood pretty easy. 10 to 20 after shuting down. If I use hard wood with a high moisture content in it 20% or higher. It is more harder to start if I leave my wood gas intake butter fly valves open to the engine. When shuting the engine down after running it, there is a positive built up of gases in the gasifier. Resticting keeps the good gases in the gasifier system at shut down, like in all the piping and filter area for the next start up.
Try shutting your gasifier down after a good hard run. And then opening up your hopper lid and let all the steam and brown smoke out. Close it up, now there is no pressure in the gasifier system. Come back 20 minutes later open your wood gas valve for starting and try starting your engine. It should up on the good wood gas still in the system. It is important to keep the engine running on a higher idle to get the gasifier pulling on the char bed and start making more good wood gases.
Using my blower works good too for start ups. If I am at home and not in the puplic eyes in a parking lot. I try to keep my DOW super steath where I live.

I still can start up on gasoline so I do this instead like Wayne and others do.

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Thanks Bob, I’ll try this, it’s a bit more interesting to drive now when the car doesn’t run on petrol, but my wife doesn’t agree with me, she wants to drive the Volvo now. :grin:

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Tried driving about 30 km (18 miles) today and opened the hopper for 4-5 minutes, let the car stand for about 30 minutes, and tried to start, it didn’t work at all.
Then tried to make some holes in the charcoal to the grate, and started the fan, after a minute or so the car started right away.
I think the wood is quite wet though, if you look at the smoke it looks quite moist, doesn’t it?
Tested a few pieces in a bag, and some showed quite high values.
(Wife didn’t want to go with me today)

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Water vapor evaporates guickly out of the smoke, but the smoke will carry away for quite a distance from the hopper and is very brownish and dark in color compared to the white gray moisture in the smoke.
You mention poking your rod in to the charcoal bed to the grate. Was it loose or tight going through the charcoal. I know if my char bed is tight I will have a hard time starting up on wood gas.
Was the wood in the hopper low or high in the picture? The reason I ask is that is what my smoke looks like when I open my hopper and it is almost empty or very low on wood. My wood is alround 10 % mosture content maybe less.

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Ok, the smoke looked the same the whole time I had the door open.
(I imagine the smoke is brown when I fill and the hopper is almost empty.)
The charcoal felt loose and nice, I only use spruce, so it usually doesn’t get tight.
The hopper was about half full of wood when I had the door open.
That’s strange, it seems to run very well at idle now that the map sensor is broken (if it’s nothing else) no problems with standing at 800 rpm for 30-40 minutes, doesn’t change the rpm at all.
However, I see that the heat in the filter is increasing, I think it’s because the wood is wet.

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Which of these would you make for my engine, or do you have another suggestion?

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Hi Jan, i would lean to the right one, without any calculations, just from my woodgas head, i would say 350-370 diameter, 8 nozzles 10mm tip hole.
Nozzle tip diameter circle 300.
Restriction 110mm to start with.
Nozzle to restriction 120mm.
Reduction zone height, 140, make reduction smaller diameter, maybe 300?
Some guessing from me.
I like big diameter hearths, because less bridging, but i may easier run constipated, and you use much “barrtrĂ€d” so, maybe get it down some?

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Thanks for the suggestions Göran.

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