2 questions about Diesel in U.S.A.

[compu_85]

Heh, the VW didn't "figure out" it had diesel instead of gas in the tank... it just couldn't run on gas. On a 2009+ TDI filling the tank with some gas will make the high pressure fuel pump come apart and fill the entire fuel system with metal shavings. The normal dealer procedure is to replace every single component fuel touches, to the tune of $6000+

Leaded gasoline and auto diesel fuel nozzles are the same. High rate truck nozzles are bigger. 2013+ VWs have a device in the fuel filler neck that prevents the smaller unleaded nozzle from going in!

There are no 1988 Cadillac diesels... unless someone was swapping things around. I've seen swaps where a 6.2 or 6.5 is plug in place of the 5.7 gas a Broham would have come with. 1985 was the last year GM sold their "classic" IDI diesel passenger cars, with the 5.7 V8, 4.3 V8, or 4.3 V6. None of the old GM IDI diesels were very powerful, though they could get acceptable fuel economy. A 6.5 TD mounted in a car would probably give acceptable performance, and with the 4L80e's lockup torque converter you might be able to touch 30 mpg!

-J

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by compu_85

Heh, the VW didn't "figure out" it had diesel instead of gas in the tank... it just couldn't run on gas. On a 2009+ TDI filling the tank with some gas will make the high pressure fuel pump come apart and fill the entire fuel system with metal shavings. The normal dealer procedure is to replace every single component fuel touches, to the tune of $6000+

Kind of like the consequences of putting power steering fluid in a braking system; good one MacGyver. Naturally dealers will soak for whatever they can get.

Originally Posted by compu_85

There are no 1988 Cadillac diesels... unless someone was swapping things around. I've seen swaps where a 6.2 or 6.5 is plug in place of the 5.7 gas a Broham would have come with. 1985 was the last year GM sold their "classic" IDI diesel passenger cars, with the 5.7 V8, 4.3 V8, or 4.3 V6. None of the old GM IDI diesels were very powerful, though they could get acceptable fuel economy. A 6.5 TD mounted in a car would probably give acceptable performance, and with the 4L80e's lockup torque converter you might be able to touch 30 mpg!

-J

Some guys shoehorned a Cummins into what I believe was a 1991 Cadillac, along with a Dodge Tradesman grille.

[bgadow]

I used to drive a GMC pickup with the 350 Oldsmobile diesel. I actually liked it; it seemed to have the power of decent 6 cylinder. I didn't own it, though, and I didn't have to pay for the head gasket it blew one day! I did own an early 80's GMC with the 6.2 "Detroit". S-L-O-W, without much pep, and acceleration was very poor. Also, it was weak off the line, and sluggish to boot. Great fuel mileage, though! How else can you take a big-old hunk of Detroit iron, designed in the early 70's, and push it down the road at over 20mpg?

GM was the only one of the American automakers to build it's own diesel engines back then. Chrysler offered a Mitsubishi for a short time & Ford used International engines in trucks; a rare option was a diesel Escort which I'm guessing used a Mazda engine.

My mother had a diesel Mercedes in the 80's. There was only one filling station in town that sold diesel and the pump was way off to itself at the corner of the lot. When that station stopped selling gas in the mid-90's there was a period of 5-10 years where nobody sold it in are little town. Even now, all the little stations that sell it have it over on the side of the parking lot. The bigger, nicer stations do have it at the same pump, though.

Oh, and my mother-in-law once pumped a hafl-tank of gas into my father-in-laws Cummins powered Dodge. It ran enough for her to drive it 30 minutes to me, so I could have some body clean it out before he figured out what she did! Not much power on gas, I remember that.

[Telecolor 3007]

But a 1984 Diesel "Cadillac" woul be a relaible car?
How was the "Mercedes"?

[KentTeffeteller]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

But a 1984 Diesel "Cadillac" woul be a relaible car?
How was the "Mercedes"?

Cadillac Diesel piece of unreliable, underpowered junk. Oldsmobile Diesel engine. Mercedes Diesel engines good, reliable workhorses if maintained. Slow like all other non turbo Diesel engines though. Mercedes mechanics tend to be more likely to know how to fix one over say a Cadillac mechanic. Oldsmobile diesel also didn't have a water separator (a very bad piece of design engineering)

[compu_85]

The Mercedes diesels were quite reliable. Finding ones that don't have 400,000 miles and is generally worn out is getting difficult. As of late, finding good quality replacement parts has become harder... there's a lot of knock off crap on the market.

From what I've read a 1984 Cadillac diesel wouldn't be too bad. Their fuel injection system is not as robust as the VW, and much less than the Mercedes. Finding parts for the GM will be difficult (For example, the fuel injectors). By 84 the 5.7 diesel had also been de-tuned to just over 100hp.

The 3.0 iron head Mercedes 5 cylinder turbos (78-85) are 125 hp, the 3.0 6 cylinder aluminum head is 144, and the 3.5 aluminum 6 is 134 (less hp, but more torque than the 3.0). I have a 91 S Class with the 3.5.

The turbo diesel S Class was sold in the USA and Canada only from 78-80 (W116) and 81-91 (W126). Starting in 91 you could get the W140 300SD (still with the 3.5!) globally.

[Colly0410]

My brother-in-law who's a taxi driver refuses to have a diesel car, he tried one but it cost so much to get through the taxi roadworthy/emissions test every year that his next car was petrol/gasoline. Doesn't get so many miles per gallon as a diesel but less costly to maintain. The annual taxi test is much stricter than a normal cars annual MOT test, slightest defect that would pass or be a minor advisory notice on an MOT test will fail the taxi test...

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Colly0410

My brother-in-law who's a taxi driver refuses to have a diesel car, he tried one but it cost so much to get through the taxi roadworthy/emissions test every year that his next car was petrol/gasoline. Doesn't get so many miles per gallon as a diesel but less costly to maintain. The annual taxi test is much stricter than a normal cars annual MOT test, slightest defect that would pass or be a minor advisory notice on an MOT test will fail the taxi test...

The larger size Toyota Prius Hybrid is getting more popular for Taxi use.
NY and Chicago has many for that use.

[Colly0410]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The larger size Toyota Prius Hybrid is getting more popular for Taxi use.
NY and Chicago has many for that use.

There's a few of these being used as taxi's here as well but they're very expensive to buy. My brother-in-law has bought a second hand Ford Focus petrol/gasoline & it passed the taxi test no problem & he's out earning money..

[Telecolor 3007]

"Mercedes" 300D it's an W123 (a.k.a Cobra in Romania). Those cars where made to last!
In the '90's you could see W110's (manufactured between 1961 and 1968) in use. Diesel, because they ate up less fuel and Diesel fuel was cheaper then gas fuel back then. But the "increase of the standard of living" and that darn "Rabla" ("The jallopy") program in which the Romaninan state subsidize buying of new cars if you scrap and old car made a lot of them history 10-12 years ago you could buy one in working condition an decent looking for 1,000-1,500 U.S. Dollars... try to find one at that price now Bastards... I hope they will end up theyr life in poverty!

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

"Mercedes" 300D it's an W123 (a.k.a Cobra in Romania). Those cars where made to last!
In the '90's you could see W110's (manufactured between 1961 and 1968) in use. Diesel, because they ate up less fuel and Diesel fuel was cheaper then gas fuel back then. But the "increase of the standard of living" and that darn "Rabla" ("The jallopy") program in which the Romaninan state subsidize buying of new cars if you scrap and old car made a lot of them history 10-12 years ago you could buy one in working condition an decent looking for 1,000-1,500 U.S. Dollars... try to find one at that price now Bastards... I hope they will end up theyr life in poverty!

Believe it or not, I paid $1,500 for the one that I'm getting. I could barely believe it

Of course, it is costing me almost as much to get it transported from California to NY.....

[MadMan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dfwPFxPhCY
A friend running his diesel Suburban after sitting in a field for years.

It's important to remember that diesel (at least in America) was a very low quality fuel back in the day. It's been getting steadily better, and combined with tougher emission standards, diesel's a pretty decent fuel in this country, now. I'm only 30 years old, and I remember buses and trucks spewing soot everywhere when they took off from a stop, when I was little. This is a rare occurrence now.

Also, while I don't hate diesel, and I understand (better than most) that new diesel cars are pretty clean, I'm VERY thankful that most of our cars are gasoline. Because I've been to India. Where EVERY car is a diesel. Let's just say, it only took a day for my white shirt collar to become black.

Speaking of putting the wrong fuel in a vehicle... my shop's neighbor has a fleet of 3 Dodge Sprinters. One of them is BRAND spanking new. The idiot they let drive it (mind you, he's the same guy who drives the other diesel Sprinters) filled up the tank to the brim from empty with E85. Miraculously, it still managed to run, but not well. I had to siphon the tank, all 20 or 30 gallons, and fill with fresh diesel. It was perfectly fine, afterwards, thankfully.

I still have about 10 gallons of that useless contaminated fuel. It is probably about 90% E85. My dad put it in some car and it understandably didn't like it that much.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Also, while I don't hate diesel, and I understand (better than most) that new diesel cars are pretty clean, I'm VERY thankful that most of our cars are gasoline. Because I've been to India. Where EVERY car is a diesel. Let's just say, it only took a day for my white shirt collar to become black.

For it to have taken that long you must have taken refuge indoors whenever possible.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

For it to have taken that long you must have taken refuge indoors whenever possible.

Was indoors quite a lot, but no A/C, windows open. Actually, as I recall, that happened when I was in Akola - not a terribly large city. Wasn't wearing white shirt collars while in Hyderabad, which is much more densely populated.

[Colly0410]

Here in England diesel is more expensive that gas/petrol, when I was in Canary Islands a few weeks ago it was the other way round. What's cheapest in USA?