Would a widespread shift to diesel-powered cars make problems (in the fuel supply)? Diesel cars have been proposed as a solution to the rising cost of gasoline. A diesel car can run about 15-20% more efficiently , than an equivalent gasoline engine. A diesel-electric hybrid could be more efficient than a gasoline hybrid. Plus, you can reduce the pollution caused by cars idling in traffic-a diesel emits fewer GCs while idling (or none, with a hybrid). The question is: if (all of a sudden) the US consumers starting trading in their gasoline vehicles (in favor of diesels), what would this do to the refinery situation? Is it difficult to switch production? Would a switch to diesel actually help or hurt the situation? I have the feeling that there would be chaos, for a few months.
I have no answer, but I’m interested in the answer because I’m considering buying a diesel car right now and would like to see what others have to say on the matter.
(so, in short, a bump)
I’m considering an older Toyota pickup, 4 cylinder, that I can drop an aftermarket diesel engine into.
I don’t figure I can go wrong with this, from what I hear.
Trucks use it. It is available everywhere. Plus you can run on grease if you want to. It would take a long time before enough cars would put pressure on the gas corps.
I drive a diesel mercedes, and I love it. I run b20 biodiesel that is available at the pump here…less emissions than dino diesel and about the same price. I’m going to switch to B100 here soon.
People think running a diesel on veggie oil is easy, it’s not and it takes dedication and maintenance. But pump bio works well in most cars without to many modifications.
My benz is gets about 30 mpg, and is one of the few cars i can actually fit my legs in without my knees hitting the steeriing wheel.
Diesel cars are quite popular in the UK and Europe and recent developments in engine technology have improved performance and economy and have reduced engine noise.
There are a different range of environmental concerns to be considered though - diesel exhaust contains more particulates than that of a gasoline engine - and this can be a direct health hazard to humans.
I’m not sure to what extent refineries could tailor their output.
What are the benefits and drawbacks to driving a diesel car, both economically and environmentally (if you don’t mind me asking)?
Mind giving the specifics? I’m going to be in the market for an cheap, itty bitty truck in the next year or two, and the possibility of extra power/efficiency intrigues me.
Here’s my plan.
I buy an older Toyota pickup, with a 4 cylinder engine and 5 speed. These trucks have a very good reputation to say the least.
Since I need one for an engine swap, I can buy one with a bad engine or transmission, and keep my costs down even further.
Then I drop in one of these. Labor costs should be low since the engine mounts are all the same, and this unit already has a flywheel and clutch in it - all parts you’d typically look at closely in an engine swap.
At the end of it all I should get a pickup that gets ~35 mpg, pay next to nothing for it, and have it last for a couple hundred thousand miles.
I think diesels have a lot going for them. Reliability, ease of maintainence, good torque. The hybrids these days getting 45MPG don’t look so great next to a 1996 VW Passat TDI that got 50MPG. But the newer TDIs have lower MPG ratings, I’m not sure why.
The older non-turbo diesels aren’t a lot of fun though, I’ve drove a 1988 Ford F-150 diesel and a ~1988 VW Jetta Diesel, neither were great performers. The Jetta you pretty much drove with the gas pedal to the floor all the time.
Newer diesels use common-rail injection and are generally turbo-charged. They’re completely different beasts to the older style diesel engines.
Great torque, but they run out of puff a little quickly; a good automatic transmission sorts that out.
I’ve got a 2005 BMW 320d, that routinely does 45mpg and is a proper little rocket. All the reviews reckon that it outperforms the petrol version, and I have to agree with this.
Having said that, before I bought it, I took a Merc C220d out for a test-drive, which was a bit tractor-ey. Meh.
As someone who has worked around cars all my life I’m going to say no. I’m not a scientist or even very smart (book) but diesels burn the nastiest fuel I’ve ever seen. It is just nasty stuff. You can dress it all up, like the bio-diesel, but it’s still foul. I work for Dodge and the Mercedes diesels now have scrubbers in the cats (converters)to remove many of the pollutants but they don’t just disappear into thin air.What they (the cats) are made out of is even more exotic and hard to come by than gold, almost. So where is the savings? In our air? In our lives? I am just a simple man, not a scientist. Somebody with brains needs to figure out a way to make a fuel from hydrogen, preferably in a matrix that is similar to the gasoline we now use, so that not every engine in the world has to be scrapped. That would cause even more pollution and damage to the environment. Somebody figure out how to make the fuel and I’ll keep them running for you. Sound like a fair deal?
Who are you asking?
Way back in the '80s my first car was a Diesel Volkswagen Rabbit. The car had absolutely no pickup but was a ton of fun because you had to work the five speed to make it get out of its own way. I understand that the technology has gotten much better since then.
It got about 40 mpg or more, and I never had problems getting fuel wherever I went. Sometimes I would have to drive past a few stations to find one with diesel, but there was always something.
On the emissions question, I understand there is less carbon emissions, but more particulate emissions. Living on a New York City bus route, I can confirm that particulates are an issue (though NYC transit is upgrading the bus fleet to hybrids and natural gas vehicles).
Huh? Diesels burn just about anything. Biodiesel is pretty much just soybean oil…how is that “nasty stuff”. You can make it from corn oil…the first diesels were run on peanut oil IIRC.
Anybody smarter than me. So, just about anyone.
I speak from seeing fuel pumps, tanks, components that hold the fuel. They get corroded and detiorate fairly quickly. I sell fuel pumps for them like hot cakes. How is peanut oil going to be a viable fuel source? Or corn, or anything that requires clean water to grow? Just another problem to consider in my opinion.
Diesel pickup truck driver here. Rattle, rattle, stink, stink. A turbo-diesel is a wonderful thing for those that live at high altitude. That said, I can’t imagine they are for everyone.
Spark ignition cars have evolved to be fairly idiot tolerant; Diesels not so much:
You need to make sure you don’t carry a load of warm-weather fuel into the dead of winter…or you need to use some anti-gel additive. You need to wait for the glow-plugs to cycle, and you need to notice when one dies (you get extra smoke on start-up). The high compression means you need a good battery (or 2) , and need to maintain it and it’s connections. You need to carry around a spare fuel filter, and know how to change and prime it if you get some bad fuel. You need to drain the water from the separator now and then. You might need to plug in a engine heater at night. Depending on the engine, keeping up with the oil changes, and using the correct oil (anti-foaming) can be critical. You need to know if you can use starting fluid or not.
Now none of this is rocket science, but you need to know this stuff, and need to care about it. Many of today’s drivers can’t or won’t…It’s not that all the drivers in the old days did either, but expectations of user-friendliness are higher. Dad and I never could teach mom how to make our old carburated cars start right up. She’d pump on the gas and flood them, and grind and grind on the starter. It would have been hopeless if we’d had a diesel.
So, suppose we are able to make lots of diesel-engined cars, and get V-8 engine drivers to accept a smaller diesel engine. Would we be able to lower our oil consumption significantly? Or would the refiners have massive problems, shifting from gasoline over to diesel? It seems to me that energy conservation is something that people won’t do unless forced to do so.
They get corroded and detiorate fairly quickly if you use bad fuel with water in it. Water does tend to corrode things but we kind of need it to live.
My benz has probably close to 400k on it, and it’s on the original tank and the orignal fuel pump. the rubber fuel lines have been replaced, but other that it’s pretty mcuh stock.
I was talking to a guy the other day who’s benz had just over a million miles on it, but he did have to rebuild the motor at 750k…
Pollution wise, they do better in some areas than gas, and worse in others when burnging dino fuel. But when burning biodiesel, it’s a different story.