• OpenStars@discuss.online
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    5 months ago

    Not always. okay fine so always

    They also jack up the trucks by putting on wheels that are themselves taller than the fuel-efficient cars that they drive over like pavement.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Fun fact: they have to modify the emissions system of the truck to do it, violating Federal law (the Clean Air Act).

          If you try to “roll coal” in an unmodified diesel (in proper working order), the “best” you’ll get is a light haze of soot, not a black cloud. This is because the manufacturers do actually try to design them to be efficient, and every bit of soot represents unburned fuel that didn’t get converted into propulsive force.

          • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Yup, they remove the particulate filter and DEF system to get those clouds. Arguably, those systems do hinder efficiency in the system, but at the cost of pollution.

            I have a 2020 Ram 2500 for a work truck, and I’m constantly amazed how quiet and efficient this thing is for 8000lbs, even with all the emissions stuff in place. I wouldn’t remove any of it because I’m not about to be part of the problem as best I can, but it seems like manufacturers are starting to figure out a balance.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              It’s not just that; they also modify the ECU tuning and maybe even swap out fuel injectors themselves to dump in lots of extra fuel that there isn’t enough air to burn. Even without particulate filters and DEF, Diesels don’t naturally produce anywhere near that much soot. You’ve got to deliberately force them to be that bad!

              (Source: I have a '98 VW TDI—made before DPFs and DEF were things—that I’ve modded for more performance, and even in the worst-case scenario of flooring it while running dino-diesel, it barely produces a haze. On B100 biodiesel, it’s even cleaner.)

              Bottom line is that if a Diesel is producing lots of visible smoke, it’s either really, really old and shitty (think pre-1980s non-turbo indirect injection), or it’s severely worn out, or somebody made it do it on purpose.

          • OpenStars@discuss.online
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            5 months ago

            violating Federal law

            Ngl, that sounds like a “feature”, not a bug, given that we are talking about Texans here. I’m not even being pejorative, that’s literally a thing they often proffer as worth being proud of, Remember The Alamo and such.

            And yes that is a fun fact - thanks for sharing it!:-)

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yep. As a Prius driver, they do it to me all the time, because apparently paying less for gas than they do makes me a communist.

          • OpenStars@discuss.online
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            5 months ago

            Hehe, if I was there I would wear a mask everywhere I went, just to fuck with people:-).

            Even/especially inside of a vehicle.