Hold the Mayo
If you’ve ever experienced cold-weather-related problems with emissions-controlled diesel engines, these photos probably don’t look unfamiliar. If you’re not familiar with these problems, what you’re looking at is what some folks describe as “mayonnaise”, which is great on a ham and cheese sandwich, but not so great when it’s building up in your breather hoses, valves, and crankcase ventilator filters.
How’d that mayo get there anyway?
Crankcase blow-by is a vapor mixture of oil, water, and a few other “flavoring” components (NOx, sulfur compounds, and so forth) that are introduced by oil and fuel additives as well as the combustion process itself. When this vapor, under pressure, comes in contact with cold surfaces such as hose walls and filter surfaces, the water and petroleum vapors condense, the “flavoring” components act as emulsifying agents, and the air turbulence acts to whip the mixture into a semi-solid emulsion. (If you were going to make edible mayonnaise, you’d use oil, vinegar, an egg yolk as the emulsifying agent, and a whisk to provide the required turbulence.)
This can result in engine behavior that is rapidly becoming a favorite of heavy equipment operators everywhere: de-rating. Engine RPMs decrease in an attempt to let the engine clear itself and the piece of equipment becomes, effectively, worthless. If the “mayonnaise” buildup occurs toward the end of a workday, the operator may not immediately notice any loss of performance, but when an attempt is made to start the engine the next day, the engine either won’t start, or worse, it will self-destruct.
How do I stop my engine from making mayonnaise?
Heat. You’ve never experienced these problems in the summer months, have you? Nope, didn’t think so. But winter’s a different story. We’ve developed our IntelliThaw® heating jackets and IntelliHose® heated hoses with ThermEvolve® technology to prevent the problems associated with emissions-controlled diesel engines operating in cold environments. We have IntelliThaw heating jackets for some common crankcase ventilation components ready for ordering, and are constantly developing new ones. IntelliHose heated hoses are designed to your exact specifications; just tell us what hose you want to use (manufacturer and model number) and how long you want it, and we’ll take care of the rest.
What if there’s not an IntelliThaw or IntelliHose kit for the part I’m having trouble with?
Pick up the phone, give us a call. We’re working on new designs all the time and we can probably start working on something for you too... even if it’s not an emissions control component.
Help spread the word. Give us a call and talk to us about the cold weather problem you’re experiencing and we’ll send you one of these nifty hats. Together, we can stop mayonnaise in its tracks.
The mayo gallery
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