Argonne mechanical engineer Steve Ciatti takes a crack at some of the more persistent myths surrounding the technology of diesel engines. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne mechanical engineer Steve Ciatti takes a crack at some of the more persistent myths surrounding the technology of diesel engines. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory
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Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
Diesel engines, stink, very loud, and require regular maintenance, and #2 will jell in very cold weather.
I don’t care about the particulate matter; I care about the stink. VW diesels used to stink to high heaven. Are the new requirements doing anything about the stink, or just making it invisible?
Last summer I transported GrandPa's Dodge Ram pickup from California to Virginia. Included in the back was a 1/2 ton of river rock from GrandPa's property as a special gift. So we were pulling some weight.
I remember climbing a fairly steep grade in Wyoming on I-80, at over 7500' at the time. I was holding the speed limit of 75, the overdrive was locked down, and I was passing everything in sight.
That was a mad moment!
I got my first diesel car in 1996, and never looked back. That one, I just sold (315,000 miles) to a friend, who loves it.
My 2nd diesel car has 148,000 miles on it (my daily driver), and I just got our 3rd diesel for my wife - brand new - about 400 miles.
Turbo diesel just won Le Mans...
That's because state politicians stick it to interstate truckers because they can't vote. Buy a diesel car, pay more taxes.
Around here Diesel runs higher than premium gas...DH has a Duramax diesel (very quiet) you can hear a Ford coming for miles....it’s a pain to plug in(and not forget to unplug it in the morning:>) and I don’t like the smell of it but he needs it for different projects. With the price of fuel he takes the Honda most days.
I just spent almost 3 weeks driving a diesel Opal and a diesel Volvo in France and Spain. Overall the experience was good. However:
1. The fuel stinks and service stations provide disposable gloves to keep it off your hands. They need to factor this into the “greenness” of diesel.
2. The combustion in the engines is still quite noisy and sounds like a dieseling Otto cycle engine. They are nowhere near as quiet as gasoline engines, especially at idle and under load.
3. They are certainly much cleaner and the combustion products do not smell as bad as they used to. But, under heavy load, European diesels still emit some pretty good puffs of soot. Again, not objectionable, but visibly not as clean as gasoline.
Mr. Ciatti’s explanation of glow plugs needs some work. Their purpose is not to warm to fuel to reduce viscosity in cold weather. It is to provide an ignition source when the cold engine block absorbs too much compression heat, thus inhibiting a cold start. I’m sure Mr. Ciatti knows this and this is a problem of the author not getting it right.
The VW Jetta TDI diesel is very efficient and gets great mileage. It seems that since diesels work well within a narrow rpm range, they could be matched to a generator to power electric motors on the wheels, eliminating the transmission and any need for large, expensive batteries.
Here in Southern California, diesel is 35 to 40 cents higher...so no "myth" around these parts.
I had a diesel Mercedes about 35 years ago and all of those myths, except the last one (fuel cost), were true. Glad that diesels have gotten better........... but I still don’t want one.
Myth # 6: deisel engines don’t burn. Maybe it was just me, but my deisel station wagon caught fire in my driveway and burned — 1984, Fort sam Houston, TX, at the corner of Frazer Road and Rittiman Road in San Antonio
One thing I haven’t understood since they started coming out with hybrid cars, is why noone is doing a hybrid with diesel. I would think it was a natural to use as a generator. A diesel engine will run forever at a set rpm.
I think that should be "below about -40F" (which is also -40C). I think the author goofed on this one.
“Often this is remedied with glow plugs, which are heated by the battery and help warm up the fuel so it can vaporize.”
In trucks in cold climats they sell #1 diesel instead of #2 which doesn’t gell and has a lower flash point.
If you go into cold climate with a load of #2 all you have to do is add 1 quart of ATF per 50 gallons of #2 and you have #1.
Yes my 93 Dodge 1 ton is noisy, a little smelly but by no means slow. Everyone that I let drive it remarks how peppy it is for a 7000 lb truck. I could probably fix some of the noisy if I stuck a muffler on it. It gets 16mpg as versus my former F250 that approached 11 if the stars were properly aligned with its 5l gas engine. The Dodge will pull anything the Ford always hated a trailer. The chevy b4 the Ford was killed several times (expensive repairs) by trailer pulling. Now if you want to talk slow I have an 81 Mercedes 240D 4 cyl stick no turbo that basically defines slow boat.