Hi, I guess you don't live in Europe. I just read in the local paper that over 50% of the automobiles sold to date in 2002 in Spain were Diesels. Also, due to the life style generally seen in Europe, many of these are used for relatively short runs. Some are actually designed as 'city cars.'
Many expect that they will get more total mileage out of a Diesel, not less as the engines are generally heavier duty, built stronger to withstand the higher compression ratios used by a Diesel engine. In very broad terms, a gasoline (petrol) engine uses a spark to fire the compressed fuel/air mixture. The Diesel engine uses higher compression ratios, than those of the gasoline engine, to superheat compressed air. The fuel is then sprayed into this hot air and it spontaneously ignites. Otherwise they both are classed as internal combustion engines and basically work the same. In my opinion there shouldn't be any significant difference between them in wear. A Diesel does run cooler since they are more efficient and they possibly take longer to get to operating temperature and therefore maybe would have increased wear in short runs for this reason, but I don't think one would ever see it in the real world. The Diesels in the VWs are generally known to outlast the vehicles - for this reason they are fairly easily available in junk yards for co-gen projects. Regards, Derek -----Original Message----- From: rucksackn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 02:12 To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: [biofuel] Diesel engines vs. gasoline engines I live in city of about 130,000 people. I'm looking at buying a diesel and using biodiesel for fuel. I have a question though about the praticalities of owning and using a diesel in an urban environment. I wasrecently warned against buying a diesel engine-based vehicle if the vehicle's primary use is mainly short trips (i.e. in a city). The main reason given was that diesels are meant to be driven long distances (i.e highways). To drive a diesel in-town on short trips, is to basiclly have a vehicle that dies out sooner than a gasoline powered vehicle. My question is whether accelerated deterioration would be linked to carbon build-up within typical diesels (my understanding is that biodiesel eliminates this build-up) Does anyone know or can explain the differences between the two types of engines and tell me whether there is any merit to this caveat? Are there any other considerations needed to be kept in mind when thinking diesel within the urban framework? Thanks Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
