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FUEL FEATUREHIGH FUEL PRICES VERSUSDECLINING WORKSHOP PROFIT– PART ONEViewing the world from my desk as anautomotive service manager, I can’t help butwonder why the current crop of vehicle ownersare putting off servicing their vehicles whenfaced with the rising cost of fuel.After noticing this downturn in trade, starting at the end ofMarch this year after petrol prices had soared, I thought thatmaybe we had offended customers, our pricing structure waswrong, we hadn’t done enough advertising, in fact a whole listoff potential problems with the business had crossed my mind.None of these reasons however proved to be the cause of theproblem. After contacting several other respected workshops inmy area and discussing the phenomenon, I soon came to realisethat other workshops in my area were experiencing the sametrading trends.This revelation peaked my curiosity. I rang a number ofcolleagues in different states and asked the same question. Theyall gave me more or less the same answer. I rang a colleague inthe United States, he also said he had experienced a downturnin trade since the steep rise in fuel prices over there. Furtherinquiries to a manufacturer of exhaust gas acquisition unitsrevealed that the downturn was global. i.e. His internationalorders had diminished globally since the dramatic rise in theprice of oil.Was this to be the way the future? Declining patronagealong with declining profit margins doesn’t make for healthybottom lines. Finding a solution to the problem becameparamount.The solution was in fact, the very reason for the downturn.What one would expect to happen is that rising fuel pricesshould have forced vehicle owners to have their cars servicedmore regularly and of course kept in an excellent state of tuneto achieve higher fuel economy thus reducing the amount ofmoney spent on fuel.Unfortunately most vehicle owners these days don’tremember what cars used to be like in the 60s, 70s and 80sbefore the introduction of unleaded fuel. The tetraethyl leadused as an upper cylinder lubricant leaded fuel literallydestroyed spark plug electrodes, necessitating replacementevery 10,000 km or so. Taking your vehicle to a motor mechanicand having the engine tuned was a biannual event that everycar owner use to performed semi automatically. Once unleadedpetrol was introduced, the constant need to tune engines wasbasically eliminated.As vehicles evolved, sophisticated engine managementsystems, and electronically controlled automatic transmissionsbecame the norm on vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers convincedvehicle owners that regular maintenance and servicing were nolonger as important and service intervals were pushed back, insome cases up to three times longer between services. Themodern service policy is to keep the vehicle running withoutproblems up until the vehicle’s used by date.Modern vehicles are now so well made that they can takethis abuse however, by the time the vehicle reaches it’s used bydate the lack of servicing has taken its toll and both the engineand transmission are operating well below optimum capacityand repair or replacement is usually not a financially viableoption. Most vehicle manufacturers would like to sell you a newvehicle, not repair and maintain to the old one. It is easy to seethat current servicing trends are reflect on this ideology.A Change of DirectionTo change a negative into a positive, all was required was toask the client whether they would like their potential fueleconomy checked, free of charge, when the car was beingpresent service. Without exception, all customers petitionedreadily agreed to have their fuel economy checked. This onequestion presented the workshop with the opportunity to makequality and high profit repairs while the same time giving abenefit to the customer in the form of better fuel economy.How to go about it?Basically, the fuel economy of vehicle is not always thedomain of the engine. Faults in other systems on the vehicle canalso contribute to poor fuel economy. These systems andsubsystems can be divided into five key areas.First and foremost is the correct fuelling of the engine underthe appropriate load conditions.Secondly, the engine must be capable of extracting all theenergy available from the correct air fuel ratio. This means theengine must be in sound mechanical condition and using a58 AU T O M O T I V E A F T E R M A R K E T M AG A Z I N E AU G U ST 2 0 0 8 www.aaaa.com.au
FUEL FEATUREquality, clean, correct grade engine oiland of course the ignition system musthave sufficient reserve to meet andexceed all engine ignition demands.Thirdly, the power must be able to beput evenly to the road wheels withoutslippage. This means is a vehicle isequipped with an automatictransmission, the automatic transmissionfluid must be free from contaminationand that the correct viscosity. If it’s avehicle equipped with a manualtransmission; there must be no slippagefrom the clutch.Fourthly, there should be no bindingor dragging brakes.Lastly, the wheel alignment must besuch that the wheels on both axles areparallel to each other and each axle isperpendicular to the centre line of thevehicle.Engine fuellingAs you may have heard me speakmany times about the importance of thecorrect air fuel ratio, at no time could thisone measurement have more relevancethan at the present time of high world oilprices.You can only determine the correct airfuel ratio of engine with an exhaust gasanalyser, regardless of what anyone tellsyou. So-called air fuel ratio meters onlydetect the presence or lack of oxygen inthe exhaust gases stream, they do notmeasure the gases that give you the cluesas to how the engine is performing i.e.CO2, CO, HC and NOx.You must always remember however,that measuring the air/fuel ratio of anengine only determines whether or notthe correct amount of fuel was deliveredto the combustion chamber. It does notdetermine whether or not the fuel wasactually burned.As the prime function of the enginemanagement system is to provide thecorrect air/fuel ratio to the engine underall operating conditions, measuring theair/fuel ratio determines whether or notthe engine management system isfunctioning correctly. This also includesthe fuel pump and fuel pressureregulator.This test is further simplified by usingthe Lambda value instead of the words“air/fuel ratio”. Lambda 1.000 is the termWas this to be the way thefuture? Declining patronage alongwith declining profit margins doesn’tmake for healthy bottom lines.Finding a solution to the problembecame paramount.used by vehicle/engine manufacturers todefine the stoichiometric air/fuel massthe engine is using regardless of the fuelspecies being used. i.e. Petrol, LPG,Petrol/Ethanol, etc.All vehicles with spark ignited engines,registered for use on Australian roadsafter 1986 must conform to ADR 37,37Aand 37B as well as ADR 41 & ADR 79ADR 37 – Emission Control for LightVehicles: The intention of this AustralianDesign Rule is to limit 'Fuel EvaporativeEmissions' and 'Exhaust Emissions' frommotor vehicles in order to reduce airpollution, and to require new petrolfuelled motor vehicles to bemanufactured to operate on 'UnleadedPetrol'. ADR 41 – Mandatory Operationon Unleaded Petrol: The function of thisAustralian Design Rule is to requirevehicles to be manufactured to operateon 'Unleaded petrol' and have certainassociated features. ADR 79 – EmissionsControl for Light Vehicles: The functionof this Australian Design Rule is toprescribe exhaust and evaporativeemission requirements for light vehiclesin order to reduce air pollution.To meet these design rulespecifications, the onboard enginemanagement systems must maintain aLambda value of 1.000 under all engineoperating and load conditions other than“Wide Open Throttle” (WOT) when theLambda value may fall to an optimumengine torque producing value of 0.90.Any exhaust gas analyser that iscapable of accurately measuring anddisplaying Lambda values under allengine conditions i.e. Idling accelerating,cruising and decelerating can be used todetermine the integrity of the enginemanagement system for correct fueling.(NOTE: When determining the trueair/fuel ratio of an engine, it is essentialthat the exhaust system is gas tight fromthe cylinder head to the tail pipe foraccurate readings and that all secondaryair injection systems are disabled.)Next month we look at EngineCombustion Efficiency, Automatictransmissions, and Wheel alignment.For further information about thisarticle, please contact Rob Prudius atCoda Products Pty Ltd02 49622575 ext 11.AU T O M O T I V E A F T E R M A R K E T M AG A Z I N E AU G U ST 2 0 0 8 59
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AAAA REPORTAugust 2008Andrew Schram
Page 8: NEWSHOT STAFFNEW I-CAR CHAIRMANThe
Page 12 and 13: NEWSTOYOTA RANKED FIRSTToyota is th
Page 14 and 15: NEWSWATERLESS ‘ECO’ WASHINGToyo
Page 17 and 18: NEWSHANKOOK ROLLS ONAlready the wor
Page 21 and 22: NEWSNEW EXEDY WEBSITEExedy has reva
Page 23 and 24: LUMEN FEATUREof more than 200 overa
Page 26 and 27: PRODUCTSLED trailer lampsNarva has
Page 28: PRODUCTSNew hoseconnectorsGates has
Page 31 and 32: PRODUCTSSolid, flexible bushingsThe
Page 33 and 34: PRODUCTSKCI EzyWrenchThere seems to
Page 36 and 37: PRODUCTSContinental control unitDes
Page 38: PRODUCTSElectronic Rust Proofing Sy
Page 42 and 43: ENGINE ENHANCEMENTPROTEXRADIATORS N
Page 44 and 45: ENGINE ENHANCEMENTSS INDUCTIONS REL
Page 46 and 47: ENGINE ENHANCEMENTLEADING THE WAYTH
Page 48 and 49: ETHANOL-BLENDED FUELENGINE COMPATAB
Page 50 and 51: ETHANOL-BLENDED FUELENGINE COMPATAB
Page 52 and 53: LUKEY FEATURENEW WALKER CATALOGUESE
Page 54: EXHAUST SYSTEMSPACEMAKER SETS THE P
Page 60 and 61: 4WD4WD COUNCILELECTIONSThe 4WD Coun
Page 63 and 64: 4WD4X4 SUSPENSION SOLUTIONSThe rele
Page 65 and 66: 4WD4WD FUEL INCREASES HPLPG convert
Page 68 and 69: 4WDManufactured from high tensile,s
Page 70: 4WDNEW 4WD/SUV STRUTSPedders Suspen
Page 74 and 75: 4WDNO BARRIER TO AIRBAGSCargo barri
Page 77 and 78: 4WDNolathane has released the Shock
Page 81 and 82: 4WDSAFARI DREAM COMES TRUE FOR SARA
Page 84: 4WDHEAVY DUTY TAURUS LAMPS IN H.I.D
Page 87 and 88: RETAILADELAIDE TRADE EXPO A PART OF
Page 89 and 90: PRTCNEW CROW CAMS GM 6 AND V8CONICA
Page 91 and 92: PRODUCT CATALOGUESWith over 2,000 e
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