I love driving a diesel. The hum, the smell. The feeling I get at idle when I just know she is waiting for a big stretch of freeway, to be humming along, no effort. My car is not fast, but she is lovely. Not hott, but paid for. Not perfect, but perfectly fine.
Oh the diesel. Smell it. Feel the different way it moves your ass as you idle at a stoplight. There is no stomping on the "gas", just a gradual pressure and stimulation that will reveal to you the true nature, the true love of this perfect machine. --------- I had a new car for a while...a Toyota Tacoma (the quintessential Hawaii car). Fo' realz. People are on waiting lists for these trucks. I didn't like it at all and I sold it after a year. I don't have the kind of lifestyle or personality that demands newness. An argument could be made that I avoid new material possessions. It's probably true. If avoidance is related to incoming cash flow then I guess it's totally true.
Diesel: A Primer They are fabulous machines. Because they do not use a super-refined petrol product, they have a different kind of ignition than readily flammable gasoline. (see: spark plugs v. glow plugs). Lots of farm vehicles use diesel because there is little danger of the engines getting hot enough (say, in a waist-high field of grass) to light the grass on fire. Boat engines are often diesel because they need more low-gear idiling than they need bursts of energy (I'm thinking fishing and sailing boat engines here; your Yanmars and Mercedes engines, generally, though the Coast Guard uses some really cool low-noise Yamahas). FYI: Marine diesel is hot pink becuase of an additive to ensure that people aren't fueling up their diesel viehicles with it. It's cheaper and has a higher sulfur content than commercial diesel. But if you have a good hook-up, it is totally worth fueling up with marine diesel once in a while.
But anyway, my diesel. It doesn't give me too many problems, only the same problem over and over. This is the third time. I know, that because it is the third time, I must delve deeper into the engine to solve it. The other fixes were merely stop-gap measures, though no one could have known at the time. What is the problem? My car likes to run so much that it does not like to turn off. I can turn off the battery and remove the key and yet my car makes no mention of it. It simply does not phase her. Sure you can't turn on the lights or the radio but you could totally drive away with it if I left it running outside the 7-11. (of course I would never...Also, I have tried.)
The upside to this whole thing is that my engine comes with a cool shut-off lever and that when I want to turn off the car I simply pop the hood and press (with great force) the lever labeled STOP. STOP.
Too bad the rest of my life isn't like that. I guess I should be happy I'm not getting charged $85/hr for relationship issues. Unless you count Stu.
