thebishman

Thanks for the answer.

I was mistakenly under the impression that the Ad-Blue system would incrementally decrease the NO2 /NO3 levels enough for the diesel range to be sold in all 50 states. Never realised it would decrease them that much from the already 'clean' diesel levels of '08.

Bish

gordongl450

Another viewpoint.

Remember that the regular CDI was very clean and met emissions standards for 42 States. That's pretty good.

I would say that Mercedes is NOT doing Ad-Blue to make the truck cleaner in those 42 states. It's doing Ad-blue because it wants to sell trucks in the other 7 States which include the markets of California, Pennsylvania and New York. It's about business for them, not being "tree huggers."

So the Ad-Blue system, it's complexities and no spare tire is a "loss" for people in 42 States, but a "gain" for people in the other 7 States because now they can purchase the product. Overall, it should be good for business for Mercedes and that is good for all of us in the end.

And if it is good for the environment, that's a plus too.

But it's a business decision, not an environmental decision in my view.

StevethePilot

The best motivator for any company is the bottom line. It makes a lot more sense than anything else. By example, I was watching the latest "Dirty Jobs," which was called "brown before green," about a couple of companies doing "green" stuff, and how the places that were doing cleanup effectively and recycling effectively weren't doing so out of any sense of volounteerism or honor but because they could make money doing it. Its the forcing of these unwavering standards, without the science behind whatever benefits are claimed, that has created this environment where now the consumer must make sacrifices of both convenience and money - that's what bothers me.

Jury's still out on that one. Maybe it is, or maybe it's political.

STP

gordongl450

Steve,

I agree with you totally.

You can't take capitalism out of the USA. It is what motivates the entire country. It is our engine.

Unfortunately, our politicians don't understand this. They think that small business and corporations will continue to exist even if they don't make any money because they are going to "feel so good" about keeping people employeed and providing health care. Forget it, they'll close.

We are in deep trouble, brother.

thebishman

The AD-Blue system will also allow larger diesel engines to meet the future EU (Bin 5?) regulations that are a few years away, so its also about meeting the needs of a huge diesel market there. Honda's approach is to have a very specialised catalyst clean up the NOX emissions, but I believe that it is only efficient in smaller diesels.

Bish

oknish

So is Distronic available on 550 outside of US? I believe most of us are under the impression that there is no Distronic for 550 at all.

I would love to know this too.

mortenmol

We can get the GL550, but it doesn't look like the one in the US, it looks like the other GL's.
Since the Star on the front is much bigger on your 550, it could be that MB havent' got the distronic star in "oversize"

I am looking to ad the wider wheel arches from the 550 to mine. Was considering the front as well, but this would be a problem with my distronic

GL Fahrer

CDI is BIN-10. This is not clean enough for the CARB states (which means that it cannot be sold in 12 states in 2009)

Bluetec (without Adblue) is BIN-8. This is >60% cleaner than the current CDI, but is still not clean enough for CARB states.

Bluetec (with Adblue) is BIN-5. This is >80% cleaner than the current CDI and is certified for sale in all 50 states.

oknish

That makes sense, morten. And, yes, the consensus has been that MB hasn't designed Distronic for the oversized star. Yet, I hope

mortenmol

I did, don't know how good the quality is, recorded it with the iphone and there wasn't much light. If you can't see it, I'll try again with a real camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIjjaGkXLtA

Nevada Jack

This question is in relation to the iPhone. As far as I know the iPhone has no TV capability (at least in the US) so how did you get this recording?

mortenmol

http://www.iphonevideorecorder.com/ you just have to jailbrake it. It can record in decent quality, and I'm trying to get youtube to upload the other video.
The iPhone is available i Denmark from the 11. th of July 2008, had mine from the US since october.

Nevada Jack

When the iPhone update to 2.0 is released this weekend, will the "jail break" phones cease to operate like in the past with iPhone updates? If they release it in the app store then I may be interested, but I do not want to lose my data and have a problem with the phone.

mortenmol

A shot with better light:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO_cPL0_IFo

PwnageTool (mac) or WinPwn (windows) should be updated to cope with firmware 2.0 very fast after the release!
Stupid that apple hasn't included a video recording app.

Nevada Jack

Thanks, I will keep this in mind and check into it after the 2.0 update.