RFCRD wrote:
About 3 weeks ago, was watching a CSPAN broadcast of oil industry exec's testifying on Capitol Hill. They were crying the blues about this mandate and the effect it would have on not only diesel fuel but also gasoline markets. If I remember correctly, they said to expect at least a 30 cent/gal increase in gasoline this Spring from the June deadline. Did not mention what would happen to diesel prices.
I work at RTA in Cleveland which must purchase ULSD for their fleet and pays a premium for this product. I can tell you (and other CRD owners) that if we expect ULSD to be the salvation for our EGR valves, we will be dissappointed with the results. It will help but won't cure the problem. Out of roughly 200 buses with Series 50 "clean diesel" motors, we tow in @ 3/day with EGR failures running this stuff. Detroit Diesel has basicly washed their hands of the problem. The last 47 '06 buses came with Cats (no EGR valves) using particulate traps. Idle these more than a few minutes and the traps plug enough to throw a CEL.
The way the oil companies play this country for the fool makes me mad enough to chew nails at times. It's been amply documented, by the GAO and other government and public agencies, that over the last 10 years these guys deliberately shut down 50 or more refineries for no logical business reason other than to keep supply tight and prices high. And then, with record profits in their coffers due to last year's disasters, have the gall to demand further govt subsidies and tax breaks for building new refineries or reopening existing ones. We even allow them to sell 25% of the output of the Alaska pipeline to China and Japan, oil that was supposedly meant to reduce our reliance on foreign imports, for the simple reason they can get a higher price for it. In a way though, I can't really blame them, they're going along with what seems to be the prevailing moral code that's developed in this country over the past few decades - as long as you make yourself rich, it's okay to screw everyone else.
At our last town hall meeting, the Freightliner CEO even alluded to the fact that the introduction of the '02 EPA engines was pretty much a cluster. He admitted that there had been quite a few operational and reliability problems. The general feel I got from his comments was that the engine manufacturers pretty much half-a###d the designs and didn't really do extensive testing, as if expecting a business-friendly administration in Washington to make the EPA back off the regs or delay them at least. When that didn't happen, probably due to the lawmakers dealing with 9/11 and it's aftermath, they got caught with their pants down. By contrast, after getting hammered like this in '02, this time around the engine gurus were burning the midnight oil to ensure the '07 engines were ready to go. He even alluded to the fact that at least a couple of the '07 engine designs in testing were getting better fuel economy with ULSD than the '02 engines on current #2 diesel. The Series 50 Detroit and MBE 4000 engines are most likely going to be replaced by a new '07 MB design in the works.
Any way you cut it, we're expecting a lean year come '07 at the Cleveland plant. Orders are full right now, everyone probably buying up as many trucks as possible before the price increase for the '07 engines hit. And after that, a long dry spell until the customers have no other choice but to finally order new trucks.
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