Meeting Report - Sep. 2018

The September meeting was held at West Babylon FD where tables were set up in the main apparatus bay, trucks having been moved out and bunker gear racks moved aside. While the members assembled a rain and lightning storm rolled in from the west - some members who had come from that direction reported it had followed them out. Lights flickered a few times but did not go out. Dinner of swedish meatballs and chicken francese was served and all members ate hearty.

Click read more here or below for the minutes, or click on the picture to see pictures from the meeting.

The president, Bill D’Alessandro opened the meeting and led the pledge at 7:46pm. Nate Berry of FRC read the minutes of the meeting at Wantaugh FD on July 30 and they were accepted. The treasurer, Barbara Connelly reported the treasury is doing great and there are currently 133 members but she had to leave early so the rest of the meeting was conducted by Bill and Vice President, John Manetta. Before leaving, Barbara urged everyone to sign in so they could be sure to get a certificate of attendance for this class and if they hadn't already picked up their member shirts to do so and sign for them.

Bill distributed raffle tickets during the presentation.

Our guest speaker was Christopher Peace who gave a very informative talk on the Duramax 6600 engine and the particular service issues related to the emissions systems deployed on these engines over the years. A printed reference of all the slides in the presentation was provided to all attendees. What follows below are just Nate's notes as he struggled to keep up with the discussion (which he fully admits went over his head most of the time).

• In 2007 and in 2010 the Duramax had major changes due to emissions rules.
• Went over all the components that were affected by these changes like EGR system and associated sensors.
• Discussed the various fuel pumps used over the years and the specific issues with each.
• Solenoid vs Piezo injectors - piezos are supposed to be faster which allows for finer fuel injection control but for 2017 they've gone back to solenoids.
• Injectors are specific and the ECM needs to know which one is where on the engine.
• Discussed where high voltage PPE equipment is required for service on hybrid systems.
• DPF (Diesel particulate filter) system at the end of the system and the regen cycle - note: ash needs to be manually removed it cannot be burned. Common problem is not driving the engine as per the idiot light (sometimes two regens may be required) or servicing this properly (on schedule).
• note:The scan tool percentages are notoriously not accurate which might explain why a system might report 40% immediately after a cleaning cycle in answer to a question by Ray of Rescue Vehicles
• SCR system and DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fuel).
• Running the engine low on DEF is a common problem.
• Putting DEF through the injection system (after putting it in the fuel tank) is like running water through it (its 65% water) so it will require replacement of injection system. Same problem if you put diesel into a DEF tank.
• All of these emissions changes have actually helped manufacturers bring HP (commonly 400 HP now) and torque (now about 900) up (this is surprising since Nate assumed they would have brought it down).

Bill mentioned the next training session at West Hempstead starts at 8am.

FRC donated an SPA260-Q20 LED Spectra light which had been returned as an over-order and could not be re-sold. It has a value of $1,500 List. GM donated two very nice tool bags. Some tee shirts were also raffled off but Nate forgot to ask who donated them.