The Diesel Conundrum

[960kg]

I haven`t read all the post in detail so will now apologise for any repeats of opinions.

It is all hyp why petrols are supposedly better than diesel.

The government along with the manufacturers and media portray human beings as idiots and sheep just to move the senses of opinion or your wallet to the petrol engine side. There is a world glut of petrol still at the moment so you can all see that it is money or profit driven which end up with these threads.

The diesel engine will never ever go away as it cannot due to the commercial market side of things so when the engines emissions are made safe they ALL will be safer, private and commercial vehicles.

The only trouble with diesel is it burns the wrong type of fuel and this is what should be looked at not changing back to petrol. The diesel, compression ignition engine is a marvellous invention ok so petrol engines can use hydrogen or LPG but so can a diesel engine if designed to do so.

I have the Merc. with a 3 litre V6 diesel engine,no DPF, and also a Zafira 1.8 Petrol. The Merc. has torque like no other and so low down in the revs and will do 38mpg at 80+ or 46mpg at 50mph and you cannot tell what engine is under the bonnet as it is so quiet, better than most makes.

The low powered 140bhp Zafira with it`s 1.8 petrol engine and only 5 gears as it has no torque to speak of and it gets it`s power from the engine revs. make it very noisy at 70mph and what ever i do cannot get more than 30mpg. At the end of a journey i am tired out because of the high revs. and noise.

What i am trying to say is if you want these lower powered noisy petrol motors with no guts then go ahead and desert the diesel club but you will find that regret is the only word you will find about it.

I don`t say this because i own a diesel i say it because this is the First diesel car i have owned in my 50yrs of motors all the others were petrol.

If you put a proportion of two stroke oil in the diesel fuel and use an additive now and again and also fully use it`s power now and again you will have no trouble with smoke or DPF emissions. Diesel engines are fully forged not like a petrol engine and can take quite a beating and stay healthy and quiet.

Hybrid motors i think are best given a miss at this stage let the money earners pay for the the further design of the things at greater expense.

[Desperate]

Do you think the particulate and NOx emmisions and the implications for our lungs is all baloney then, as I understand it there is a fair amount of good evidence that links these issues. I'm not saying I believe all the hype, but there is no doubt the air quality is terrible in some of our cities and much of that is vehicle related.


Desp

[xco]

The particulates from petrol engine cars are smaller than those of a diesel and are deemed to possibly be more damaging to lungs because they ingress more easily......it has been discussed elsewhere on this Forum.

[5cilinder]

Direct injection has particulates , older idi petrols not so much
And yes the smaller the particulate the more cancerous it is

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Desperate

Do you think the particulate and NOx emmisions and the implications for our lungs is all baloney then, as I understand it there is a fair amount of good evidence that links these issues. I'm not saying I believe all the hype, but there is no doubt the air quality is terrible in some of our cities and much of that is vehicle related.


Desp

It's not baloney, but a modern EGR and CAT will stop most of the NOx and a good DPF will reduce the Carbon particle problem. Stop start systems also make a big difference, BUT if you are city based and spend a lot of time short tripping in a city, a petrol engine makes more sense. The safety risk from a split fuel tank is only significant at higher speeds.
That's why I have a Twingo 1.2 (16v) town car and a V40 1.9D for highway and horse box towing.

Bad air quality in cities is caused mostly by trucks, buses and defective cars (Mostly gummed up injectors or worn blocks burning oil).

There is no need to use 2 stroke oil in diesel unless you are using very poor quality fuel that has no Bio content. Bio diesel has been proven to be a far better lubricant and keeps the fuel system clean. Veggie oil is plain bad news.
It's worth using a major brand direct feed injection system cleaner (I use Liqui Moly Diesel Purge) to fill up the fuel filter housing when changing the element, as that will keep the injectors gum free. Gum can be a long term issue IF you use non major brand top of the range diesel.

[960kg]

Originally Posted by Desperate

Do you think the particulate and NOx emmisions and the implications for our lungs is all baloney then, as I understand it there is a fair amount of good evidence that links these issues. I'm not saying I believe all the hype, but there is no doubt the air quality is terrible in some of our cities and much of that is vehicle related.


Desp

My post was aimed at the PO as he doesn`t know whether to go back to petrol!!!

No it isn`t all baloney, the emissions, but the amount is.....the petrol will throw out almost twice as much emissions for a given journey as it consumes almost twice as much fuel than a diesel also most owners use diesels for motorway use so the emissions are not in the towns so much.

Modern petrol maybe be less but we don`t all have hybrids?

Whenever you burn anything you get fumes or emissions Motor vehicles are money makers so it is that that they jump on.

Originally Posted by skyship007

There is no need to use 2 stroke oil in diesel unless you are using very poor quality fuel that has no Bio content. Bio diesel has been proven to be a far better lubricant and keeps the fuel system clean. Veggie oil is plain bad news.

I use Shell Nitro Diesel and 2T to a ratio which give a much quieter engine with no black smoke as the 2T burns much cleaner than just diesel as it has to because of the size of exhaust ports on two stroke engines.

Because of the cleaner burn i also get most bang for my buck...

Mercedes Benz when testing in the Far East took tankers with two stroke oil in as the fuel out there has less sulphur for the lubricating of the high pressure fuel oil pump modern fuels here have also less sulphur so it is not just an Eastern thing it is also Western. I just like to make sure i get the best running.




.

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by 960kg

2T burns much cleaner than just diesel as it has to because of the size of exhaust ports on two stroke engines

.....Eh?

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by phil1968

.....Eh?

There is no real difference in terms of how a diesel runs if you use 2 stroke oil and if you read any of the main research papers it says that apart from improving lubricity it makes no difference. All diesel sold in the EU contains enough lubricity additives and the Bio content has even improved it in more recent times, so lubricity additives are not needed.

Most 2 stroke oil is not Zinc free, it might say low ash, but it's not free of Zinc based anti wear additives. The Zinc in the oil gets deposited in the injector tips and is one of the factors in causing fouling of the injector tips.

If you want to improve the performance of a diesel engine, find out if the injectors are in good condition. A used oil analysis will show fuel contamination and even if it only says a trace is present, try using a direct feed additive like LM Diesel Purge to fill up the fuel filter housing when changing the element. It's money well spent in fuel economy terms, as cheap non major brand diesel lacks cleaner additives. The Bio content will keep the tank clean, but it will not remove gum deposits from the injectors.

PS: Size matters when it comes to air pollution and there is no need to allow diesel or petrol cars into inner city areas if they have engines larger than 2 liters. That will help keep out all those Chelsea wine bar types driving their SUV's, as they kill a lot more pedestrians than normal cars, unless fitted with cattle bars!

[phil1968]

My "Eh?" was actually referring to the bit about "2T burns much cleaner than just diesel as it has to because of the size of the exhaust ports on two stroke engines" lol