THE Automotive Diesel Fuels Division is working, first, to clarify the issue of automotive diesel fuel specifications, and second, to determine those properties of analyses which influence engine operation and engine deposits. Primary membership on the committee is made up of engine men representing the four primary types of automotive diesel engines, namely: direct-injection or open-chamber; swirl-chamber; energy-cell; and pre-combustion chamber. Likewise represented are the petroleum industry, colleges and Government agencies participating in the tests; petroleum men to obtain and offer for sale the four selected reference fuels; and an instrumentation and procedure group set up to find ways and means of standardizing procedure and instrumentation.
Results reported in this paper include the influence of cetane, volatility, viscosity, and gravity of diesel fuels as they affect cold starting, smoothness, low-temperature starting, smoke, power output, fuel consumption, smell, and engine deposits. Four reference fuels were used in these studies.