I really enjoyed meeting a pile of folks this weekend in Argos and my thanks go out to ALL that made it happen. There were folks from all over the country there. We had a birthday girl and also a birthday boy the other night. Both hitting a new decade mark. I loaded up with Lemler wood chunks and had full intentions of using all the bags up on the way home. Truck was running perfect and I got down the road around 20 miles and had to slow down to 25 MPH in some dink town. Then BANG under the truck. I ignored one bang and started plugging away again and a block or so down the road, BANG again. My truck farts when I’m downshifting on gasoline. I was also concerned about the plastic intake manifold on it. What I think is going on is the catalytic converter is glowing after a stretch of highway and then when I downshift in town there is unburned woodgas with air going past it and it get’s ignited there and BANG !!! … The computer does not control the woodgas like it does the gasoline injectors. Looks like I will need to neuter the cat conv … The gasifier smoked all the way home even though I wasn’t pulling on it. This may have something to do with the percentage of pine wood in the mix. Again the truck ran great on it and if I had been on open highway I would have just burned up six sacks or so as there would have never been a time for unburned gas to get to the hot cat conv …
Regardless I hope everyone has or will make it home OK !!
Thanks again !!
Mike L
Darn it Mike, Hate to hear you had problems. I think you may have figured out what the problem was. I hope so for your sake. I guess you might have to order one of those JC Whitney catalytic Exhaust test pipes. They are for those of us that think our “Cat” May be blocked. Of course you only leave the test pipe on long enough to test your vehicle. As soon as you have figured out whether it is clogged up or not, you either put the old (if good) Cat back on, or spend your life savings and buy a new one. I am pretty sure how long my test would take. Like I said, hope that is all it is.
Lots of luck with it.
Chris T
Hi Chris T, It may be my EGR valve as well. I notice when I downshift on gasoline there is quite a racket in the muffler. I don’t get any EGR codes though. I’ll get it figured out when I have time … Mike L
Hi MikeL
Sounds like you’all had fun!
How are you sastified with your drivable power now that you have put some miles down?
Sure glad it was you not me showing up in all of those pictures going up.
I can hardly wait till next Sunday eveing late to be able to download you’all singing.
Best regards your friend
Steve Unruh
PS want me to send you my “rat” digging dog? She’s a big Weimaraner so the catching dirt she flies out is really hard to get put back.
Hi Steve U, I found out what actually happened today as I was repairing multiple things. The pipe going between my cyclone and cooler had torn open on some of the bumpy roads. This meant I had an explosive mix in all the pipework all the way to the engine. I had a biker guy notice that the fitting at my mixing valve had popped out. I re-taped it right there but I noticed when I got home that the whole works had changed position and the air conditioner compressor had worn through one of my elbows … I just knew I had to stop running the wood gas or maybe lose the whole plastic intake manifold. Wayne puts a spring on his air cleaner lid to cover for such things but I am into OBD2 land now. I added a quart of oil today and fixed all leaks and am ready to roll again on my typical 10 mile each way trips . I also found out I didn’t have a spare tire on the trip. I paid the local guy to put a tire on my rim and also told him to put a new valve stem on as it was over 35 years old … Well the old valve stem was still on it and NFG !! … I will check the tire now in a few days. AND ON it goes … I have to e-mail Tom Collins from the house. He is making more progress which I am happy to hear … It was a short meet but better than no meets … I am charging the battery on the trailer now as we did a bunch of flare play there so it got a bit run down. I finally used Jim M’s blower and had fire back into it a few times … It held up well and I got to stomp on the blower outlet a few times while playing … It had fire flying out of it but it was after dark when you could actually see it … Mike L
PS … Tomorrow is Tuesday … I HATE Mondays … Beware this full moon coming up … People are bent … Roundup being sprayed everywhere and the aerial circus and scalar crowd is at it too … Lots of micro severe stuff. I had to detour just as I was getting near home as there were a hole pile of power poles across the road and also in the next town . The firemen said it wasn’t a tornado but just some kind of microburst … Last night Montfort got hit hard and folks had to go without electricity and their TV sets … We had a peaceful 1 inch here and I slept nkd through the whole thing … I was wore out from the trip and home reunion afterwords … Thanks Sue … ahhhhhhhh
PPS, I also thank God for a wonderful trip … What a great bunch of folks !!!
Gary G, This is George in Youngstown and I was wondering if you give any Simple-fire or charcoal lectures with your job? If so please post about it or call 330-482-3897 so we can drive over and attend. Also let me know if you will be able to charcoal up some OSB to determine if it is OK as charcoal base or for use in the gassifier. George & Max