by Jake Schell

Best of the Truck “Did You Knows”

The “Did You Know” blog posts from the Mitchell 1 Truck team focus on useful information for truck technicians. They’re interesting and informative nuggets covering a wide range of topics. In 2014, the team wrote about everything from frozen DEF to pressure specifications. We’ve picked out some of the most popular posts from 2014 and bundled them here so you can quickly check them out.

We’ll be adding lots more of these in 2015, so be sure to come back here often. Click the blue links or the thumbnails to read the full posts.

Piston Rings – Think You’ve Seen Them All?

Most technicians are very familiar with compression and oil control piston rings, which are fitted into grooves on the outside diameter of a piston. In many diesel engines, however, piston rings aren’t just found on the piston. There is a type of piston ring that actually fits into the upper part of the cylinder liner itself. This unique type of piston ring is known as an “anti-polishing” ring.

 

Fracture-split Connecting Rods – No, That’s Not a Broken Part

Actually, fracture-split connecting rods are a technology used in some of the very latest engine designs on the market

 

Hino High Voltage!

Need to service a Hino hybrid? Some special care is needed. The battery used in the Hino 195h COE consists of 40 modules connected in series. Each module has six cells, each producing 1.2 volts for a total of 7.2 volts per module. Total battery voltage for the 195h is 288 volts.

 

Picking the Right Oil for Natural Gas Engines

Did you know that natural gas engines require oils with different properties than diesel engine oil?

Using diesel engine oil in a natural gas engine will cause valve torching, piston scuffing and a reduction of spark plug life. In other words, a whole lot of bad stuff.

 

 

My DEF is frozen! What to do?

It’s good to know what happens if Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) freezes. DEF is a mixture of 67.5% deionized water and 32.5% purified urea. This ratio is critical because it provides the lowest possible freeze point for the fluid, at 12 degrees Farenheit (-11 C). If DEF freezes, the correct ratio of deionized water to urea ensures that the fluid will not become overly concentrated or diluted as it thaws out.

 

Under Pressure?

Service information and data sheets refer to psi, psia or psig to denote pressure specifications. All of these refer to units of measure to indicate pressure on a surface. However, psi is not adequate for understanding the true value unless a suffix is added.

 

•  Read all the “Did You Know” Truck blog posts