Diesel VS Gasoline vehicles

Category Archives: Diesel VS Gasoline vehicles

Advantages Of Diesel Engines

If you’ve owned a diesel powered vehicle in the past or if you own one now, you no doubt appreciate the qualities this engine provides you with. More torque, better fuel economy, and easier maintenance are but a few of the attributes of owning diesel powered vehicles.

However, there are some motorists that still complain about the engine’s weak power, especially when accelerating from a full stop. What you may not be aware of is the fact that a diesel engine can be tweaked to give more power without harming the fuel economy.

Diesel engines use air compression to create combustion versus the fuel/air mixture that is required by gas engines. This attribute means that diesel engines don’t require spark plugs and therefore don’t need to be tuned up.

Diesel And Gas Prices

Over the years, the prices of both gas and diesel have experienced some drastic changes. Many years ago, the price of gas was around a dollar or a little more, nothing like it is today. Back then, gas wasn’t high in price although the demand for vehicles wasn’t what it is today either.

As the demand for vehicles grew, the demand for fuel grew as well. Other actions and events have played into the equation as well, resulting in the rising costs of fuel. Fuel is something we all need to run our vehicles, as we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without it.

Diesel Engines And Well Known Gas

In passenger cars, the diesel engine has never really caught on. During the middle to late 70s, diesel engines in passenger cars did notice a surge in sales due to the OPEC oil embargo, although that is the only real significant penetration that diesel engines have made in the market.

Although diesel engines are more efficient, there are eight historical problems that may have held them back. 1. Due to the higher compression ratios, diesel engines tend be heavier than the equivalent gasoline engine. 2. Diesel vehicles and diesel engines tend to be more expensive than gas. 3. Because of their weight and compression ratio, diesel engines tend to have lower RPM ranges than gas engines. This gives diesel engines more torque rather than higher horsepower, and this tends to make diesel vehicles slower in terms of acceleration. 4. Diesel engines have to be fuel injected, and in the past fuel injection was very expensive and less reliable. 5. Diesel engines tend to produce more smoke and smell very funny when compared to gasoline engines. 6. They are harder to start in cold weather and if they contain glow plugs, the diesel engines may require you to wait before you start the engine so that the glow plugs can heat up. 7. Diesel engines are much noisier than gas engines and tend to vibrate quite a bit. 8. Diesel fuel is less available than gas.

Diesel Engines Forgotten Treasures

There are very few engine configurations that promise increased fuel economy and power. There are few engines that offer this in addition to reliability. Today, those across the ocean are enjoying the fruits of diesel technology revolution.

Diesels have experienced a great history here in the

United States. In 1980, General Motors modified their 350ci gas V8 to run on diesel fuel. The result however, wasn’t that god. These engines offered better fuel economy but little else. They were very slow, and not very reliable.

Mercedes Benz on the other hand, had better luck in the 1980s with an array of vehicles available with diesel engines. These great vehicles offered amazing durability although they were rough, noisy, and smoked quite a bit. Volkswagon offered diesel as well, although they had a habit for spewing blue smoke from the tail pipe.

Diesel Fuel Quality

The designs of diesel engines striving to increase performance have made a lot of advancements in engine fuel delivery to the combustion chamber. The diesel engines of today are much quieter, smoother, and also more powerful. The quality of diesel fuel on the other hand has not advanced at the same rate as the improvements of engines.

As soon as it is produced, diesel fuel begins to deteriorate. Less than 30 days of refining, all diesel fuel, regardless of the brand, goes through a natural process called oxidation. This process forms varnishes and gums in the fuel by causing the molecules of the fuel to lengthen and start bonding together.

Diesel Or Not

Diesel is often looked at as being smelly, noisy, and many think the only place for it is in a tractor. The truth to diesel vehicles is that they are slow, noisy, smelly, although they are cheaper to run than gas.

Diesel engines aren’t as powerful as gas engines, as gas engines produce more horsepower than that of a diesel engine. Diesel vehicles however, offer more torque than gas. Therefore, it is a very thin line as to which one is better.

When it comes to power, diesel is the more expensive of the two. Diesel powered vehicles are normally more expensive to buy than gas, and the parts are a lot more expensive than gas vehicles. The diesel however, is more reliable due to it being less complicated internally and heavier to build, therefore it normally lasts longer than gas engines.

Diesel Passenger Vehicles

Both diesel cars and light trucks are receiving a lot of attention in the United States as a near term strategy to achieve fuel economy and climate change goals.

The renewed interest in diesel as of late stems from its potential to improve passenger vehicle fuel economy. The best diesel passenger vehicles of today are more efficient on fuel than their gas counterparts, helping to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent or more.

There are some auto makers that are talking about re-introducing diesel into light duty markets as a solution for reducing global warming pollution from both cars and trucks. Another important reason is that the higher efficiency of diesels will provide a quick fix for manufacturers who are struggling to meet federal fuel economy standards for light trucks.

Diesel Vehicles

As you probably already know, diesel engines get better fuel economy than gas, simply because they don’t need to burn as much fuel as gasoline engines to get the same amount of power. Diesel engines are built heavier than gas engines, to help sustain the added stress of the much higher compression ratios.

Diesel engines don’t have an ignition system either, so you’ll never have to tune them up. The exhaust systems will last longer as well, as the exhaust on a diesel isn’t as corrosive as an exhaust on a gasoline engine.

With diesel engines, it isn’t unusual to see them with 400,000 or even 500,000 miles. There are some out there that have even went beyond 600,000 miles!

Diesel Versus Gasoline

A diesel engine will go much farther on a gallon of fuel that the standard gasoline engine because of their designs, and due to the higher energy density of a gallon of diesel fuel. But, it also takes a bit more oil to manufacture a gallon of diesel than a gallon of gas, with the production and refining processes for diesel producing more gases that trap heat.

Therefore, when you consider the relative merits of deisel and gas cars, try knocking the MPG estimates for the diesel car down by 20 percent. A diesel vehicle will cost you a bit more, so you’ll get more bang for your buck from a gasoline vehicle.

Diesel Versus Spark Engine Ignition

As you may already be aware of, diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines of the same power, resulting in much lower fuel usage. For an efficient turbo diesel, the average is 40% more miles per gallon. The higher compression ratio with diesel engines help to raise efficiency, but diesel fuel also contains around 15% more energy per unit volume than gas.

Diesel engines that are naturally aspirated are far more massive than gasoline engines of the same power for two reasons. First, it takes a larger capacity diesel engine than a gas engine to produce the same amount of power. Essentially, this is because the diesel can’t operate as quickly. The rev limit is slower, because getting the correct fuel to air ratio into a diesel engine fast enough is more difficult than a gas engine. The second reason is due to the fact that a diesel engine needs to be stronger to withstand the higher combustion pressure needed for ignition.