POWER KEROSENE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 3

POWER KEROSENE.

USE AS SUBSTITUTE TVEL. ENGINEER'S ADVICE. (By Tfelegraph. —Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. Motorists who have been contemplating using power kerosene as fuel or ustng kerosene mixed with petrol are warned against making a change of fuel by Mr. J. H. Pennington, lubricating engineer, who says that to get the maximum power out of fuel vaporisation of the whole of the fuel is necessary. Mr. Pennington said power kerosene was refined for tractors, in which the temperature of the engine and induction pipe was kept at high level, making the engine capable of handling fuel with higher end-point or distillation temperature than ordinary petrol. If power kerosene were used in a motor car or truck the whole of the fuel would not be vaporised and the unburnt portions would remain in the cylinders, thinning the lubricating oil on the cylinder walls, and then pass down to the crankcase, causing crankcase dilution. Further, heavy kerosene ends would form carbon deposits, necessitating the engine being taken down more often for decarbonising purposes. "Definitely it is inadvisable to use power kerosene, because the fuel is not refined for the car or truck type of engine," said Mr. Pennington. He added that no power kerosene had been used in cars in the Otago district until recently, although its use was common in hot climates. A message from the North had reported more frequent usage of kerosene as fuel. In the past kerosene had been used where special provision was made and where expert mechanics had supervised its use, and then only to a limited extent.

Kerosene had been cheaper in the past only because it had not carried the tax. of 10.5(1 a gallon which was imposed on petrol, said the engineer. The proposals of the Government to tax power kerosene to the limit of petrol would make it as costly to use. Proposals also to place a mileage tax on crude oil and electrically-driven vehicles would have a serious effect on the growth of the use of Diesel-propelled vehicles.