posted 04-08-2004 05:55 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by tangled up in BLUE:
never owned a diesel myself....not sure what the benefits are here.....

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most people think diesels are just dirty, smelly, polluting engines. GM didn't help the way people looked at diesels with their 5.7 (olds 350 modified to make a diesel car engine, charged $4,000 more for them and wouldn't give $4,000 for the car a year later) diesels in the late 70's early 80's.

I did have a 83 el Camino with a 5.7 diesel with 240,000 miles when I sold it without any major engine work. I also had a 81 Olds 98 with 180,000 miles when I sold it. Yes they were worn out and tired, but the elcamino got 29 mpg new and 21 mpg wore out. Drove a VW rabbit wagon to SC and got over 50 mpg

My Dodge Ram 3/4 ton 4X4 extendacab with auto gets 20~21 mpg on the interstate 15 mpg around town, towing my 24' enclosed hauler has gotten 12.3 and worst 10 mpg. I can run 75~80 with the ac on and have no trouble.

but in reality they are well designed EFFICENT peices of mechanical equipment that are much more precise than a gasoline engine, run much cooler, make all the power under 3,000 RPM, last longer.........The older ones run 18~22:1 compression.....tolerances are extremly close to be able to SQUEEZE the fuel to make it fire without spark plugs.

They make so much torque at low RPM that Ford & Chrysler had a hard time getting an automatic to work with the diesels and opted for manuals only in the beginning. Even today the HO Cummins is only available with manual trans.

The over the road trucks are good for a million miles with regular maintenance. My guess is the Navistar & Cummins that Ford and Dodge are using are good for 300,000 to 400,000 miles or more with proper maintenance.

Europe uses diesels since they are more efficent.

People need to drive them differnt than a gas engine, and this was part of the problem with the 5.7 GM diesels. They need to be warmed up, they need fuel system to stay CLEAN and DRY, but if they are taken care of properly they will last a LONG time.

YES THEY SMELL, if not tuned right. YES THEY ARE NOISY, but they are getting better, NO THEY DO NOT POLLUTE as much as a gas engine.

IF the Liberty with a diesel (europe has a diesel PT Cruiser now) can deliver almost double the fuel mileage will be a big help for the small SUV market.

With everyone wanting SUV's and only getting 15~20 mpg and they can get a diesel and get 30~35 (guessing) would that make you think twice?

I remember the enviromentlist complaining about the Excursion when it 1st came out They kept saying the got 12 mpg. They were looking at the V10 model, yes they like gasoline. The diesel in the same vehicle is 18~19 mpg.