Would like to learn more about diesels

[widman]

Diesel engine's run at half the RPM as a typical Gasoling engine, so over the course of 100,000 miles they have half the wear travel. (aprox)
Diesels run in deeper water, as there are no electrical obstacles to keeping it running, whereas a gasoline engine gets a few drops of water and dies (one of the biggest reasons for buying diesels here, as I can cross much deeper rivers). If you put the air intake over the roof you can really go deep.
I have never started my Toyota 4Runner turbo diesel below -20 C, but at that temp had no trouble with it - of course I use a diesel fuel additive.
I use Delo 15W-40.
many mornings are around 0 C, I back out of the driveway within a minute of starting, go through town in 2nd (600 meters of unpaved). By that time the temp guage starts to climb. I drive moderately to the river (3 km) and by that time the guage is in the normal range, and I go up the mountain at full throttle with full turbo.
I do exactly the same with my gasoline pickup except it has no turbo, so I climb the mountain in one gear lower.
I get better mileage on the diesel, more power.

 

[Gurkha]

Widman,

What engine do you have in your Toyota, is it the 3 liter diesel or the 4.6 liter one, they both are built by HINO. Toyota makes some super reliable engines, many engines from middle east comes over here as scrap, these engines have done well over 300,000 miles and people put them in old JEEP chasis and drive them around for many more miles without any troubles.

 

[Cyprs]

Thats right, I drive a 92 Cummins Dodge Diesel here in Canada, less moving parts as I mentioned above too = less mechanical failure to me and I have a harsh -40 C or F climate here and my Diesel will start with 0-40 syn in -40F and block heater. Basically, idle few minutes, drive them gentle cold for 15 minutes without overdrive, then work them hard when warm, hard to damage a warm Cummins.

I drove gas work trucks for 26 years, last January I bought this Cummins with 100K miles for 1/4 price of a new gas truck, this Cummins can go another 400K miles which outlasts a new gasser in this area and I get 28 miles per gallon (Canadian) compared to 15 mpg with my gassers, and diesel is usually 20 cents a litre or a buck a gallon less.

Last winter it cost .90 litre for gas in my 41 mpg (Can) Altima, I was buying diesel for .50 litre in Alberta (55 miles away), with 25 miles per gallon on this diesel winter, I was driving this large 3/4 ton truck cheaper than a 41 to gallon Altima using gas. "There are 4.54 litres in a Canadian gallon, an American gallon would be close to 4 litres." In summer I get 10 more miles to gallon than a gasser and pay a buck less per gallon, cant beat that.

I have never heard of problems with this 92 12 valve Cummins engine, only rants and raves as I do my Cummins. Any problem I ever do incur I consider it prepaid in all may savings, I have driven this diesel over a year now, not one part other than air and fuel filter and oil changes. My fuel bill is Thousands less.

I laugh all the way to the bank with this diesel. Never again will I drive a gas work truck, only regret I never drove diesel years ago.


Cyprs

 

[1sttruck]

Another consideration is the basic design, where an inline 6 seems to be standard configuration for the higher output diesels. I guess it balances well and makes for a stiff block, although it does end up being tall. An inline 6 diesel does have a lot fewer parts than a typical V8 gas engine, which is what would be offered instead. Properly designed and attended to a diesel does fine in colder weather. The Dodge Cummins trucks are popular in Canada, and they seem to be the Alaskan state truck.

I like the idea of an all mechanical engine but the 3 stage injection makes for a quieter engine and a lot less pollution, a lot less.

 

[hone eagle]

All good stuff,however I must comment on posts that state diesels are a waste unless towing or otherwise working hard,I have had friends(farmers) say I would ruin my PSD by using it as a daily driver,so i just ask about the 43%of the cars in europe that are diesel and never tow and make plenty of trips to the store for a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine.hummm?

 

[widman]

My 4Runner engine is the 3.0 liter turbo diesel. Only has 71,000 km on it, but I have 280,000 on a 1995 Runner 2.8 diesel, and 457,000 on a 3.6 liter toyota diesel pickup that we torture with 6 drums or more of weight and 90,000 km a year of dirt roads. At the rate it is going it will easily pass a million km. The funniest thing about that pickup (Brazilian built "Bandeirante", sort of the old land cruiser pickup) is that the odamoeter only goes to 99,000 km, but I have all the fuel purchases and maintenance in the computer, so even though the odometer says 57,000 - we know it's on it's 5th time around. It actually has a lot more, as I'm running 10.50 X 31 X 16 tires, so every km registered is significantely more than thestandare 7.50 X 16 that it came with.
I'm getting a 2004 Toyota sith the 2.8 non-turbo this week some time, but will probably lease it out. (It's the only way I can get Toyota to pay what they owe for oil).

 

[416Rigby]

Wish we had more diesel options on vehicles in the US. Unfortunately, the new EPA regs will probably make that very unlikely. A shame, as virtually every diesel I've ever seen lasted for years without problem.

 

[oilpan49]

Good stuff guys! For my use though, a diesel would be very unpractical and a waste of money.

As far as longevity is concerned, how well would a diesel be off on pure virgin veggie oil? I've been doing some research on that and it seems like there are some steps involved to running a diesel on veggie oil. For one thing I have learned, before pumped, the oil must be thinned down. There are 2 ways to do this, you mix it with #2 Diesel or use some sort of heat source to heat it up to 160* Any opinions/comments here?

Secondly, a diesel engine is more efficient as far as MPG's are concerned on veggie oil, myth or fact?

Lastly I've learned is, veggie oil gives a diesel more oooomph as in more responsive acceleration. Here again, myth or fact?

Thanks again guys for all the advice and help. Keep em coming if anyone elses wishes to chime in,,,,,AR

 

[Shannow]

Airborne Ranger,
if you would like to buy my petrol 4Runner, I will be happy to answer your last series of questions.

I want a diesel ute to experiment with but can't get it without selling the 4Runner.

at over $5K for an injector pump, I'll not try it with my good car.

 

[srivett]

I've heard it is an even split when you switch to biodiesel. It has less energy per litre but lubcricates the engine a bit better so you get the same MPG. I have not seen any real tests to verify this but I hope to find out this summer. The word is that my city will have a public biodiesel pump at some point.

Steve

 

[Shannow]

Steve,
biodiesel and straigh vege oil are different animals.

If we had a biodiesel pump in town, I'd be using it.

 

[Palut]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cyprs:
About a year ago our National TV News cast showed a fellow in eastern Maritimes driving his Volkwagon diesel to MacDonalds, BurgerKing etc. with empty 5 gallon pails picking up all the waste vegi oil from fries etc.

He got this stuff for free, he then strained the oil through cloth into another 5 gallon pail and run it in his diesel, claims there is no problems doing this and it run cleaner than normal pump diesel, don't get me wrong, I wont be putting that into my Cummins, "Food for thought"

Cyprs

---

The summer after high school I worked at McDonalds, and part of my job was tending the fryers that cooked fries and chicken and fish. That stuff would be totally unsuitable for any automotive purpose unless its refined or reprocessed somehow.

There are little greaseboxes under each fryer, and when the oil is changed, the grease is drained into the box, and the box is taken out and dumped in the big old grease dumpster thing. If you get distracted for 10-20 minutes, and the grease is allowed to cool, it becomes very thick, like cold gravy. Its NASTY stuff too, despite being run through a filter every day.

 

[Cyprs]

About a year ago our National TV News cast showed a fellow in eastern Maritimes driving his Volkwagon diesel to MacDonalds, BurgerKing etc. with empty 5 gallon pails picking up all the waste vegi oil from fries etc.

He got this stuff for free, he then strained the oil through cloth into another 5 gallon pail and run it in his diesel, claims there is no problems doing this and it run cleaner than normal pump diesel, don't get me wrong, I wont be putting that into my Cummins, "Food for thought"

Cyprs

 

[FowVay]

My personal experience using diesel fuel based on waste vegetable oil is that my fuel economy suffers quite a bit. There is much less heat energy in WVO (waste vegetable oil) and therefore you will consume more fuel to perform the same amount of work.

As for running straight vegetable oil in a diesel.. this won't work for very long. A company named Griffin Industries is the major recycler of restaurant waste grease. They collect the waste and then filter it, dry it, remove the glycerin, dry it again, and then de-esterfy the final product and sell it. It is much more complicated than just buying a bottle of Mazola and pouring it into your fuel tank.

If you want to do a google search you can search for: Griffin Industries or bio G3000

I routinely buy this product and mix it at a 5% solution (B05) to provide lubricity and reduce exhaust emissions. I have run it at a 100% (B100) ratio but this is not recommended by my engine manufacturer (Volkswagen).

 

[Cyprs]

Yeah, I would bet Rotten Ronies and the like would get full value out of that oil prior to dumping, I would never put that "nasty" stuff in my Diesel, by look of the car this guy was driving on this news cast, he didn't have much to lose. He was only using a cloth to filter, I imagine he was cleaning that cloth alot.

Cyprs

 

[Shannow]

Don't be too ready to shoot down waste oils.

They are pretty gross, need filtering, and need pre-heating to get through the injector pump...and only some injector pumps at that.

In the U.K. when the price of diesel exceed that of vege oil, people started walking out of the supermarkets with 50l of oil at a time for their cars.

There's a family in Oz who bought an old school bus, and used only 200 litres or thereabouts of biodiesel, and the rest was used resteraunt grease.

Serious players have their injectors modified, pumps modified, and all sorts of heating systems.

 

[416Rigby]

All the diesel engine info you could want: www.dieselset.com . Enjoy!

 

[buildyourown]

I have always owned diesels. I bought a f350 last year. I would have bought something smaller but the diesel f350 got the same mileage as a import compact truck.
There are few choices in diesel vehicles in the states. There are regs that limit diesels to large vehicles. I'm not sure how these are worded. Obviously VW gets around them. I think they may just limit the number sold and some manufactures think it isn't worth it.
Anyways, with the new low sulfur fuel coming in '07, I believe we will see more. Ford is also reported to have a new Cat that makes a diesel exhaust as clean or cleaner than a gasser. Maybe a diesel Focus in the states in '07????

 

[coyotekid]

Many of you guys will probably laugh at me then!

I'm a sophomore in college, and I drive a Chevy Duramax 3/4 ton pickup. I do pull a trailer, but not that often. I feel that I take excellent care of my vehicles, and I think I know how to treat a diesel correctly.

I try to avoid short trips, but when I have to, I high idle while stopped and never shut the engine down until I've been at operating temp for quite a while. I've installed an oil pan heater for winter starts in addition to the block heater, I use a winter cover, I warm-up then drive in "granny mode" until everything is up to operating temp, and then I always cool down with my self-installed turbo timer.

I run fuel additive every tank, and I do all my own maintenance religiously.

Although many of you deem it isn't practical for me to drive a diesel, I feel like I treat one correctly to the best of my ability.

I really don't appreciate blanket statements about who "deserves" to drive a diesel--it's true that I can get along just fine without one, and I do agree that they're simply not justifiable for everyone out there.

If a lot of you guys traveled to Europe, you might have a different perspective. Many passenger autos are diesels, and they are driven just like gassers for the most part from what I understand. I totally disagree that diesels are meant for use strictly in large, OTR type trucks. My lawnmower even has a diesel!

But, to each his own. I'm going to keep loving diesels though.

 

[coyotekid]

Oh, and P.S.

I agree that totally mechanical engines are probably more reliable, definitely easier to work on, and are longer lived.

However, we're not going to be able to drive them forever--like it or not, they're dying out, and they're going to be extinct before long.

I also agree that the Cummins 12V is one **** of an engine--they're tough, reliable, and capable of beaucoup amounts of power. But realistically, do you really think you're Dodge is going to last for 500,000K miles? In my experience, the engines are still going strong when the rest of the truck has fallen apart around them. I'm certainly not saying my Chevy will last that long either--these trucks have far more things to go wrong with them than OTR type trucks, and they're just not designed for this kind of milage generally speaking. A truck that sees nothing but highway miles is likely to live longer in my opinion.

I know that there are definitely Dodges running around out there with 500,000K + miles on them--but I'd be really surprised if the bodies, transmission, etc. haven't had some major facelifts.

But hey, it's all food for thought--this is a discussion forum, and this is just another discussion, not a ******* match.