Recently in Diesel engine manufacturers Category

The questions I get asked...so who can help this gent? Graham Walker e-mails me to say: "Hi, I found your site while looking for info about the Scania DS8 engine - that great picture in March 2008 of the Vintage Scania. We have a DS8 engine in a Dutch barge (the barge is 1928 vintage but the engine date is not known), and the oil pressure was down to 1.5 bar at 1000 rpm, on 10W/40 grade oil. Is this OK? Screwing down the relief valve bumped up the pressure to 4 bar, but is this necessary?  Any advice from your readers would be very welcome. Even better would be a source for a workshop manual for that engine...! Many thanks for your help, Graham." Well what about it guys..and if you know post a comment up. And I am grateful to wikipedia 'commons' for this copyright picture of an LB80. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Scania_L80  Now click through here for another classic bonneted Swede....

Of course back in 2000, when Caterpillar was still strongly committed to making on-highway truck diesel engines, as well as dual-fuel/natural-gas versions too, it was busy advertising the fact that dual-fuel Cat engines where available in various chassis including ERF and Foden as seen above. Indeed Biglorryblog can recall driving an ERF EC tractor with a CAT dual-fuel engine up at Sandbach one time and a very peculiar thing it was too on two counts. First when it was running on gas it was very quiet. And secondly the transition point from diesel to gas - and in particularly from gas back to diesel as the revs dropped and you slowed down was most marked. Of course nine years ago electronics weren't as sophisticated as they are today so the fuelling control wasn't as fine-tuned and smooth as it is today. Anyroadup that wasn't why I showed you this ad from Commercial Motor in 2000. There's certainly no big deal about a dual-fuel CAT engine in a Foden Alpha - but click through here and you'll see why I'm confused!

Yesterday, as if you all needed telling, was Volvo's 'Capital Market Day' in Eskilstuna, Sweden where Volvo CEO Leif Johansson talked about the truck makers plans and also let slip that the Group had developed its own in-house medium-heavy engine for trucks and buses scheduled for launch in 2010. Apparently the first of these new 'proprietary' (at least that's what the Swedes call them) "Group-wide medium-heavy diesel engines will be launched next year" ...But the big question (which Leif Johansson neglected to address) was what will they be used in?

Group wide means shared by Volvo, Mack and Renault... But medium/heavy? Biglorryblog's first thought was that it was a new range of home-brewed medium-duty diesels to replace the Deutz-supplied engines (naturally 'tweaked' by Volvo) which are currently used in the FL range... But click through here, for my blogging co-evil Ollie Dixon (he of Word Truck Blog on www.roadtransport.com) soon put me in my place with an official release from Deutz!

What would good old Rudy have made of it all eh? With diesel engine emissions poised to become even cleaner this October when we adopt Euro-5 Biglorryblog is reminded of just how far we've come by Volvo Trucks which says that while: "Pressure for the development of environmentally-optimised technology is increasing, the answer need not lie solely with electric or hybrid solutions. Tomorrow's most energy-efficient engines are already more than a hundred years old, but all the indicators are that the diesel engine still has a lot to offer!" Of course a cynic might answer: "Well you would say that you make the bloomin' things!" But I'd dismiss that kind of daft chit-chat with a swift kick up the environmentals!

No, the truth is BLB continues to find it astonishing how, over the past 20 years, diesel engineers have made the compression ignition engine, cleaner, leaner and quieter than ever before. Now click through here for a concise hoistory of the diesel engine - and where experts think it's going tomorrow.

Well here it is... The new 16.4-litre Scania V8 which was launched last month at the Intermat 2009 Show, and just one of the new range of low-emission industrial engines from the Swedish truck maker that meets Stage IIB and Tier 4i regs. OK so it's not in a truck... Yet.

But the smart money (including Biglorryblog's own shiny new penny) is that we'll see this new monster vee-bomber launched in a Scania tractor before the Autumn is out, replacing the current Euro-4 15.6-litre V8 with its maximum 620hp rating along the way too. Meanwhile, looking at the spec of the industrial version shown above... It's pretty impressive. For starters, in industrial guise the latest Swedish vee-bomber is rated at 550, 650 and 700hp, shoving out 2,632, 28722 and 2938Nm of stump-pulling, throbby torque respectively too. Now click through here for more...

Following my recent blog on the long-awaited new 700hp+ Scania V8 which is due to break cover later this year - it's already been overtaken... By a V12 rated at, wait for it... 830hp! And I have my 'Wandering Cloggie' and all round crazshee guy Tim de Jong to thank for this world exclusive! "Hi Brian," he says. "Somewhere far away in The Netherlands I recently spotted these two secret Scania's. Volvo is up for 700hp now, so ther good folk at Södertälje have had to retaliate. And they have... And how!"

Tim continues: "Look at the way Scania has tried to disguise it's new 'BIG banger' in old 4-series cabs - but the drivers just couldn't resist show off their pride! And as your loyal spy is always keeping a keen eye out, it was fairly easy for me to catch them! Don't know where this horsepower race ends, but I do know that apart from Euro environmental requirements, power IS everything. No more drooling over a V8, this truck goes straight for the V12. I will soon record the sound of them for you. It must be pretty awesome, don't you think? Crayshee Dutch, anyone? Cheers, Tim."

Now click through here for more on the forthcoming V8... Though frankly I can't see why you'd be interested after Tim's scoop!

I don't know about you but Bigloryblog can't get enough of detailed cutaway drawings of trucks or diesel engines and other bits of mehcnical gubbins...so I have that Towering Titan of Truck Tittle-Tattle (AKA Nigel Hanwell PR maestro at Volvo Trucks) for answering a recent request for detailed shots of the latest Volvo D11 diesel engine (offered in the FM). And you can click through here for a view of the other side (also cut-away).... 

Som engine eh...? I have Jerry Burley to thank for sending me these shots. As he says: "One 6x4 Benz prime mover? What's Dennis up to then?" Actually it's probably not THAT heavy..although clearly it would hurt if you dropped it on your big toe. Anyroadup what you see here is the Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96C turbochargd two-stroke diesel engine emerging (I assume) from the company that made some of the first versions---the Aioi works of Japan's Diesel United Ltd---where these pictures apparently come from.

It's available in six-14-cylinder versions and offers a max power of 108,920hp at a frighteningly-fast 102rpm and a max torque of 5,608,312lbft at the same revs----and just imagine it under a Scania Topline cab. However, you're more likely to find it driving a very large container ship! Actually forget what I said about it being a lightweight....According to JB the 14-cylinder version weighs 2,300 tons (the crankshaft alone--picture above---weighs ionj at 300 tones). It's 89ft long, 44ft high and fuel consumption...well let's not worry about that shall we? Except to say that at its most efficient power setting you're looking at 1,660gals of heavy fuel oil per hour.....

Meanwhile, here's a shot of them installing the 'thin-shell' bearings.. The crank rod journals are 38in in diameter and 16in wide...Now click through here for one more...

Well I promised you that I'd tell you all about about MAN's truck engine Euro-5 line-up on Biglorryblog - and as the official release date for journalists is today well here it is.So let's start with the DO8 four and six-pots fitted in the TGL and TGM range.

On all MAN's TGL and TGM light/middleweight models the Euro-5 story is the same - i.e. EGR, or add nothing as they put it... MAN says that the price jump from a Euro-4 DO8 four-pot to Euro-5 version will be £1,275 while the D08 six-pot Euro-5 price premium will be £2,261. DO8 power ratings will be from 150-340hp, all with EGR for either Euro-5 or EEV models. Fuelling is by common-rail on the new EGR engine range.

Now let's talk MAN heavies at Euro-5 - and in particular the D20 and D26 diesels, previously offered with EGR at Euro-4. For Euro-5 the smaller D20 10.5-litre continues with EGR (indeed MAN insists EGR is still "the dominant technology" for Euro-5) at 360 and 400hp, while the larger 13 - litre D26 is offered at 440 with EGR - then with SCR at 480hp, and at a new 540hp rating, again with SCR - and pictured above is a typical AdBlue installation on a previous TGA MAN tractor chassis - all very neat don't you think? Meanwhile, as before the mighty V8 continues at 680hp with SCR for Euro-5.

Now for some stuff on that new TGX model with the latest 540hp rating - which comes with 2,500Nm of torque. The 26.540 6x2 will boast the largest XXL cab and the by-now-familiar Tipmatic auto (nee ZF AS-Tronic) as standard fare too. It's aimed at international/long haul operators who want high-horsepower but who are probably reluctant to go for a fire-breathing TGX V8! Click through here for more... And BLB's take on the whole shebang.

It's funny how one thing leads to another for Biglorryblog. Take the recent post I did on the above 'Chinese' Iveco Stralis -- the Genlyon...I didn't even know it existed---or that there was a joint venture company called Saic Iveco Hongyan (SIH) until Iep van der Meer told me. But what caught my eye was a passing remark in an accompanying Dutch press release which mentioned a "...New Cursor 9 engine ...Part of the FPT Cursor range, equipped with the newest generation of common rail fuel injection systems and is locally produced in China. The Cursor 9 is available with 270pk--400pk and satisfies the Euro 3 standard. The engine has been, however, developed for upgrade to Euro-4 and Euro-5, in line with China's transport policy." Now Cursor 8 (there's one below) I know about... And Cursor and 10 and 13 too... So is the Cursor 9 a new power unit?

My man in Iveco says yes there is a Cursor 9 which does indeed feature an all new Common-Rail fuelling system in place of the current Cursor 8's unit injectors.

And although it's being developed first in China it will break cover for Europe in time for Euro-6 (currently the pundits reckon we'll see that happen around 2012 but it's still up for grabs). But why the delay? Click through here to find out...

Only don't be fooled. The 11.9-litre is very much a North American market product for over-the-road 'vocational' trucks and will be manufactured at Cummins' Jamestown plant in up-state New York. It's a low emission engie that's fully EPA10 compliant and comes with the VG single stage turbo and SCR emission contro system. Ollie also reckons it's got the XPI high-pressure fuelling injection which Cummins has jointly developed with Scania....No doubt he'll tell us all about it in his report for Commercial Motor and on his own World Truck Blog. Meanwhile, click through here for more Cummins news from Ollie....

Biglorryblog has his blogging co-evil 'World Truck Blog' (AKA Ollie Dixon) to thank for this story. And I heartily recommend that you visit his excellent blog via this link

http://www.roadtransport.com/blogs/world-trucks-blog/

Meanwhile he tells me that Detroit Diesel has launched the second North American version of Daimler's planned global Heavy Duty Engine Platform (HDEP). The 12.8-litre six-pot will  by the end of 2009. Designated the DD13, it replaces the old MBE4000 12-litre lump next year. And all you engine pedants will know that the MBE4000 has the same block as the OM457 12-litre engine used in the Axor in Europe.

The DD13 joins the previously-launched DD15 and in the near future Ollie tells me that we'll also see a 16-litre DD16 model. However, he says: "It remains to be seen how much of the latest DD13 engine will be replicated when Mercedes-Benz launches its European version of the HDEP range, likely, CM hears, to arrive some time during 2010. Given the current parlous state of European truck order intake, the OEMs might welcome the early adoption of Euro VI as a stimulus to falling demand, a fact that has led some observers to speculate that Merc's HDEP may be launched in Europe in Euro VI guise."

Now click through here for more details...

EMERGENCY! CONDITION RED! JOURNALIST DOWN!  Biglorryblog's favourite cloggie Iep van der Meer has coming to a grinding halt! Why? Because he's doing his Truckfest report and he urgently needs to identify the engine in this chrome-laden Peterbilt 'Double Eagle' sleeper that was on show at Peterborough.

So what is it? Cummins? Cat or Detroit Diesel?  So for an "in case of emergency" pie  what is it? And a speedy response is required BLB anorak army! Iep's story is well and truly parked-up until he has the answer.....

I read with some wry amusement that Bromsgrove-based Waldrons Transport "Disregarded the debate over the different technologies used to achieve Euro 4 emissions limits, when choosing its latest truck." About time somebody did reckons Biglorryblog.

However, all is not what it seems dear BLB readers as this story is based on a press release from Mercedes and naturally they've put a little bit of 'spin' on it. For example, while it's perfectly true to say that Waldrons was driven by a simple desire to have a V8 in its new truck----naturally the PR people at Mercedes can't help mentioning the fact that while "Two truck manufacturers champion the rival EGR system, which needs no additives, it's only in their six-cylinder engines---and neither has yet produced a Euro-4 V8 that can run without AdBlue. And as Waldron's insists on V8 power for its top-weight tractor fleet, EGR is simply not an option."

Or to put it another way, seeing as Waldron's wanted a V8 they had a simple choice. A Scania with SCR or a Mercedes with...errr...SCR.

And in the end they went for the V8-powered Actros 2555, which like all Euro-4 and 5 Mercedes trucks, uses Selective Catalytic Reduction and AdBlue to clean its exhaust emissions. However, BLB can't help wondering what would have been the outcome if Scania had got its eagerly-awaited EGR V8, which it's promising to have in time for Euro-5, ready now. And there's also talk (though for the moment it IS only talk) of MAN's mighty 680 V8 'Big-Banger' getting EGR for Euro-5. We'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile click through here for a bit more on Waldron's very smart Actros---with some nice Kelsa bling in the front guys!

What do the following have in common asks Biglorryblog? A Moxy off-road dumper truck...

With an SMV forklift..and dig that crazy raising cab on it...

With a pilot boat. Confused? If you want to know the answer click through here....

I never cease to be amazed by the long-term 'stickiness' of some of Biglorryblog's postings which still seem to attract comments months, even years after they first appear.. For example, back in 2005 I wrote a story on BLB about the fact that Cummins was to build a 13-litre lump in China---and I went on to speculate that this was possibly what happened to the legendary 'Project Dakota' engine of the same capacity that was very nearly launched in the States as the successor to the ISM....but fizzled out at the last moment. And the story was duly put up on TNN my good mate Gerald Woodgate who also co-hosts BLB with roadtransport.com.

Anyway earlier this month I got an e-mail from Gerald to say someone had posted a comment on the story...and here it is: "As a European Cummins employee, and also a part-time LGV1 truck driver, it's disappointing to no longer be able to drive a 44-tonne vehicle from Euro 4 onwards powered by one of our industry proven engines. The 13-litre engine bares some resemblance to Dakota in certain areas, although what I can say is it also resembles the ISX/Signature [pictured above] in others. It's a shame this engine isn't as yet available in the European truck market, it's a great engine, with plenty of grunt, taking over where the ISM finished. Watch this space..."

Now click through here for Bigloryblog's thoughts on the above...