FPHE-Jeep
This wasn't really the project I had in mind for yesterday. I would like to finish blocking and removing the wood I cut down in the forest and get it here in the yard, but I'd rather not do it alone, our truck holds too much for me to handle. I'll see if I can put a crew together for this weekend.
Above the device with the rusty plate in the middle is a flat plate heat exchanger or FPHE. The way it works is it removes heat from the engine coolant and transfers it to the fuel. This project took me all day. It probably shouldn't have, but the 2005 Jeep doesn't have a lot of free space under the hood. Perhaps it looks like an ideal location, with its proximity to the fuel filter, it is and I'm happy with it.
FPHE-Jeep-Cab-heater-interface After mounting the FPHE I struggled with time constraints: It was already 4:30PM and I like to get dinner started at that point. We bought the expensive factory service manuals for the Jeep, so I figured I better read about coolant flow in the Jeep 2.8 liter diesel engine before I cut the line going to the cab heater and connected the FPHE.
FPHE-Jeep-Cab-heater-interface The Jeep diesel uses special coolant called HOAT which we already bought for the timing belt job. I'll be changing the timing belt here in the shop. It's not so much a big job, as it is a little scary to do on a vehicle we paid $10K for. Anyway, I am collecting parts for the timing belt job and yesterday was really the first time I spent any time in the engine compartment of the Jeep. While I was in the Cooling System section of the Jeep book I read about another facet of the timing belt replacement that is usually done at the same time as the belt: Replace the water pump.
I had previously figured I wouldn't because what I read on the forums made it look a lot harder than what the book shows. Not being naive, I hope, I'll order the water pump tomorrow. It looks to me like it is right there and the same covers come off for the timing belt as the water pump. So be it.
Kind of cloudy and cold out this morning and I am returning to Holman after going to Vegas for another chiropractor visit. I'll get to try out the FPHE big time today.
Aquarium-heater-Biodiesel I've had this biodiesel sitting in the bioshed for a week. In order to keep it clear and fluid I've put a aquarium heater in it. In the above image the heater is already shut off, it would burn out if not submersed. The hose on the right is the sucker hose for the storage system. Washed and settled, and in this case heated biodiesel runs through a 5 micron filter and either into storage for later use or as was the case yesterday, pumped into the 20 gallon fuel tank of the Jeep. Having successfully installed the FPHE in the Jeep to get the fuel warm as soon as the engine is.
Yeah I had the one project hanging on completion of the other. With the weather fairly warm lately I thought maybe I could put a few gallons of biodiesel in the vehicles. All it would take to plug the fuel filters is for the temperature to drop below freezing during the night. Sometimes this is the best my brain can do, to make do with a problem: Think about the consequences I comprehend, make a plan that I can accomplish and do it as soon as possible while putting the work required out of my mind until the very last minute.
Hey it works for me