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Best Gas Mileage of all Motorhomes!


Bob W.

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My Tuffy here has all that and does all that JD, and that's in ill old Marshall Michigan. Their mech is ex Marine corp diesel guy. Not as rare a breed as you think unfortunately. Being that we engineer parts for diesels at work we also have a cult following of disel owners here at the shop. Sorry to burst your bubble, our vehicles run just fine and quite cheap...we have all the tools mentioned we also have a CNC and can make whatever we like, an electronics lab etc...Vag com, CAN, etc. all of it.

I'm sure there are many good mechanics throughout the country with the expertise to work on just about anything. They are still in the minority though when we talk about people with repair shops, open for business to the general public. Innovative and skilled people do seem happy working in public repair shops open to the general public. And from what I've seen in the northeast - they get scarcer all the time. 20-30 years ago many shops did repairs "in-house" - including injection pump and injector work, cylinder head rebuilding, in-place crank turning, carb, alternator, hydraulic pump rebuilding, etc. Now - it's rare to find any shop that does not just remove components and send out elsewhere for repair.

Generally speaking - diesels have always had a huge disadvantage in the USA as compared to the rest of the planet. We have a gasoline culture. From what I can tell the bulk of the mechanical problems with light-vehicle diesels in the USA were due to owner/mechanic ignorance and cold weather. It is a shame since so many good diesel vehicles were sold here and failed miserably. Among them . . Checker cab (taxi cab usually) with a Perkins diesel in the 70s, Jeep CJ with a Perkins diesel in the 60s, IH Scouts with Nissan diesels, Mercedes, Isuzu (cars and trucks), Dodge full size truck with a Misubishi six cylinder diesel in 1978, Dodge mini-truck Ram50s, VW, Volvo, Toyota, BMW, Chevy LUV, S10, S10 Blazer, and full size trucks, vans, and Suburbans, Ford Escort, Ranger, Bronco II, Escort, and Continental, and I'm sure some I'm forgetting. I'm not couning Ford trucks and vans with Internatinal Harvester diesels since Ford never offered any in light trucks (1/2 ton or less).

Now go to any commonly known autoparts store and try to gets diesel related parts for ANY of the vehicles I just mentioned. The seach will have low sucess and what parts their are will be expensive. And for repairs? Same ;problems on average. I've read news stories in the USA about how GM via Oldsmobile ruined the success of the diesel in the USA and I don't believe it. Yes the Oldsmobile 4.3 and 5.7 diesels were probably the worst of the bunch but there were many more good ones.

I'm aware that since I worked in a diesel repair shop for many years - in just one side of the country - I usually saw the problem vehicles and not the good ones. That being said, two of my bosses had diesels we maintained and just about every grease-monkey in the shop owned a diesel or two. I also tended to see problems that were common to the cold northeast that did not exist in warmer areas. I've also owned most of the diesel vehicles I've mentioned and still have over 20 diesel cars and trucks from the 60s up to early 90s.

And yes - in general - diesels from the 60s-90s are much more expensive to maintain for a person who is sending the work out to get fixed/maintained. Are there exceptions? I'm sure there are many. I think one of the biggest problems with diesels in the USA was lack of knowledge and incorrect expectations. One big one is the idea that diesels have more power and torque then gas engines. Not true. In fact, diesels always have less power then an equal sized and aspirated gas engine. Many people in USA buy by cubic inches (or now liters). When GM came out with the 350 diesels - owners freaked out when they found the engines to have equal power to a 307 gasser. Same when the Detroit -Diesel designed 6.2 liter came out in 1982 for Chevy and GMC light trucks. A 379 cubic inch diesel engine that only had the power of a 305 gas engine.

Now just about all diesels are turbocharged and have electronically controlled injection. Modern diesel fuel has approx. 5% less BTU energy then it did 10 years ago. The price disparity between a gas and diesel version truck is huge and no longer $1800 as it was mid 80s. And yes - as compared to gas engines -for newer rigs - on average parts are much more expensive for diesels.

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I think most of what you say is bs yes. Any and all listings. Particularly any real life measurements they all turn out to be based on weird crap and have no relevance to the world.

Like the 18 mpg vixen. Or the 125 watt solar paneled refrigerator. Or the two pounds of propane a day refrigerator. Its all kind of a fantasy twisted to be exagerated. Its a pathological thing. Yes that's my opinion.

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I guess . . . coming from you . . . a guy who thinks there are diesel engines with "port injection" . . I should take your insults as compliments. You obvisously lack "hands on" knowledge.

In regard to propane use in refrigerators - I was citing specfications direct from Dometic on their newest and claimed to be highest efficiency propane fridge they've ever sold. Dometic model 400. It's a big one and I was comparing to my DC Sundanzer chest refrigerator. Uses 1/4 a gallon per day at 77 degrees F ambient temp (around 1 lb a day). Usage goes way up if air temps rise well beyone 77 F. Maybe you need to contact the Dometic/Servel people and tell them YOU say they are full of BS also.

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Ok, just making sure no one is calling me a liar on mpg on a 1998 or its injection method which is electronic and not common rail. The OM606 is one of the best motors Merc ever made and to me it's old, but not sure if you guys consider it old. same to be said of the 2000-2003 ALH tdi. I have 0 experience with antique USA made diesels nor would I want to from reading this. I'm strictly a German guy when it comes to diesel cars. My filter changes are crazy easy; they are paper filters that go in the top of the motor and not required but every 10k. I can't say our old beetle ever did better than 47 mpg though.

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Ok, just making sure no one is calling me a liar on mpg on a 1998 or its injection method which is electronic and not common rail. The OM606 is one of the best motors Merc ever made and to me it's old, but not sure if you guys consider it old. same to be said of the 2000-2003 ALH tdi. I have 0 experience with antique USA made diesels nor would I want to from reading this. I'm strictly a German guy when it comes to diesel cars. My filter changes are crazy easy; they are paper filters that go in the top of the motor and not required but every 10k. I can't say our old beetle ever did better than 47 mpg though.

I still have a pair of 1992 Jetta 1.6 liter diesels. My wife commuted to work in one. Dirt road, low speeds over a steep mountain and consistently got 38 MPG with it. Our 2.2 liter AWD Subaru Impreza gasser gets 22 MPG on the same trip. The VWs have gotten a high of 48 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH. That is at an altitude of 2000 feet and lots of mountain grades. Any vehicle I've taken to our place in northern Michigan gains 2-3 MPG due to the low altitude and lack of mountains. I'm sure the Jettas could break 50 MPG in Michigan.

When comparing old to new? My 1992 Dodge 4WD extended cab truck with a 5.9 Cummins can get 19 MPG on the highway and used to get 20 MPG with the old diesel fuel. My neighbor (dairy farmer) has two modern diesel trucks. His 2005 Chevy Duramax has never gotten better then 15 MPG empty on the highway. His newer Dodge Cummins (electronci controlled injection) gets a best of 17 MPG. Both his trucks have much more power then my 92 and less emissions. But with commuter-type fuel mileage - my 92 beats them. My dairy farmer neighbor works during weekdays 30 miles away for the conservation department.

He does not own a car and commutes with his trucks and keeps a log of fuel use.

Note that mechanically injected diesels were used in the USA up to the middle of 1994. Not exactly "antiques."

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Since this conversation has switched to diesels can anyone give me some tips on getting the alternator out of a 99 Jetta tdi 1.9

It looks to be completely surrounded and most of the darn hoses there are AC lines that I can't remove. Not home to do the job until Tuesday but sure would like some ideas.

Linda S

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Similar to removal in a beetle, everything comes out and hoses destroyed in the process are replaced. I did my starter motor myself, took one look at the alternator when it went bad and had that one done by the shop. Costs me quite a few hours also.. The front bumper had to come out along with fan shroud to get it out in the 2000 beetle. I think the Jettas is similar. The alternator was the most expensive thing I had done that I didn't do myself in that car if memory serves just because of the pita it was.

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I still have a pair of 1992 Jetta 1.6 liter diesels. My wife commuted to work in one. Dirt road, low speeds over a steep mountain and consistently got 38 MPG with it. Our 2.2 liter AWD Subaru Impreza gasser gets 22 MPG on the same trip. The VWs have gotten a high of 48 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH. That is at an altitude of 2000 feet and lots of mountain grades. Any vehicle I've taken to our place in northern Michigan gains 2-3 MPG due to the low altitude and lack of mountains. I'm sure the Jettas could break 50 MPG in Michigan.

When comparing old to new? My 1992 Dodge 4WD extended cab truck with a 5.9 Cummins can get 19 MPG on the highway and used to get 20 MPG with the old diesel fuel. My neighbor (dairy farmer) has two modern diesel trucks. His 2005 Chevy Duramax has never gotten better then 15 MPG empty on the highway. His newer Dodge Cummins (electronci controlled injection) gets a best of 17 MPG. Both his trucks have much more power then my 92 and less emissions. But with commuter-type fuel mileage - my 92 beats them. My dairy farmer neighbor works during weekdays 30 miles away for the conservation department.

He does not own a car and commutes with his trucks and keeps a log of fuel use.

Note that mechanically injected diesels were used in the USA up to the middle of 1994. Not exactly "antiques."

Your sweet spot in any newer by your definition diesel will be those model years 1997-2003. After that emissions ate any advances in economy. The two best mpg diesel vehicles in the United States were the e300td (om606) and any ALH Volkswagen tdi (1999-2003) all years. After that the EPA came after them.

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Since this conversation has switched to diesels can anyone give me some tips on getting the alternator out of a 99 Jetta tdi 1.9

It looks to be completely surrounded and most of the darn hoses there are AC lines that I can't remove. Not home to do the job until Tuesday but sure would like some ideas.

Linda S

I had to remove and fix the alternator in a 2000 with the 1.9 turbo diesel. It was tight but not as bad as some others I've had to work on. At least the VW alternator does not have a vacuum pump attached to the back like many Isuzu and Nissan diesels have. Take off the serpentine belt and adjuster, take off the cooling fan nearest the the alternator, and unbolt the AC compressor and drop out of the way with lines attached (no need to unhook and loose the R134 refrigerant). You'll probably need some Torx wrenches. It's the sort of job that takes you and hour or two the first time and 15 minutes the 2nd time. I had to put a cam belt in my newest Subaru recently. Took me an entire day the first time. Wound up taking it apart again a few days later and the entire job took me two hours. I had to take back apart because I used the timing marks Cloyes supplied (and they were wrong). I should of timed it by eye the first time.

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Since this conversation has switched to diesels can anyone give me some tips on getting the alternator out of a 99 Jetta tdi 1.9

It looks to be completely surrounded and most of the darn hoses there are AC lines that I can't remove. Not home to do the job until Tuesday but sure would like some ideas.

Linda S

It is a right pain you'll have to drop the A/C compressor no need to disconnect the lines but it has to be out of the way. It 's tight but it will come out the bottom. It will take you 2 or more hours but cheaper then VW. When you get the new Alt. drive the mounting bushings back in both ends (outwards) or you'll be fighting it for another hours trying to get the alt. back where it belongs.

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ALH VW's were mechanical pumps up to the PD engines in 2004 (blame VW not the government). I loved my TDI it was great, fun to drive plenty of power fantastic mileage but it also was the most expensive car to maintain I ever owned That s why I replaced it with a Toyota Tacoma when I retired and wasn't driving a 100 miles a day.

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There are no owners in the us on the bmw forum

You must be hanging around the wrong BMW Forums. Or not reading them 3 times. Here are a few recent examples for you:-

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=626498

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1907596&highlight=524td

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=248563&highlight=524td

And of course there's the 524td Yahoo Group. I think the must own one or two. :)

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Ad In the world there are many 524 tds.


In america it was sold one year. It is very rare.

The rev limited thread does not have one owner in it, it has someone who imported a diesel 3 series from germany.... and then he asks have you ever seen one.... and then no one answers that has ever seen one.....

Ill lookk through the other threads and see if you read them once for you

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The for sale post actually lists that there were 1500 made for the us market. So its extremely unlikely to have ever seen one.
At this ppoint there are probably 100 or less.. my point well made at this point is that its strange to have so many people that owned one when there's. Almost none. There are way more deloreans out there.

my point was its a rare car, for maineah to own one and jd to have driven one or whatever. Whereas nobody on the bmw forum has owned one or seen one. My point is pretty well made and self evident.

Is your point that its a very common vehicle? Or... do you not have a point? If so we need you to work with us so we can have your posts that dont seem to have any point in a special place in the forum for people who like to discuss things that dont have a point......

I dont know how many there are, its rare. Do you understand? Its common in europe. Do you understand? If so thats where were at. Do you have other questions? do you want to contradict any of this?

its not the same as a mercedes 300 td your friend had it got about 5-8 mpg more....

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ALH VW's were mechanical pumps up to the PD engines in 2004 (blame VW not the government). I loved my TDI it was great, fun to drive plenty of power fantastic mileage but it also was the most expensive car to maintain I ever owned That s why I replaced it with a Toyota Tacoma when I retired and wasn't driving a 100 miles a day.

wow even more expensive than your 524 BMW? :-)
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The rev limited thread does not have one owner in it,

Read 3 times. 'Einstein57' owns one.

You said that on your 3 BMW Forums nobody owned one. I merely pointed out that someone (in the US) on each owns one. Or maybe they're all lying and don't know what they own and are trying to sell?

Never said they were common. Never will.

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ha well first off no he does not.

He has a 3 series. what would be called the bmw 324 was never sold here in the us. and he doesnt have that either he has some diesel e30 thing he made from spare parts that would be like a bmw 324.

of which there are maybe none in the us. But I drove one in the 90s and it only got 35 mpg.

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wow even more expensive than your 524 BMW? :-)

No I sold it before it had a chance. I drove the VW for 220,000 miles two timing belt changes (the kits were not cheap) exploding alternator pulley, complete alternator a year later, cooling fan, clutch twice, (Sacks pressure pate failed at 35K) turbo rebuild 190K, starter and lots more. comparing it to my old Tacoma that had a clutch at 209K and normal service in it's 285K miles of ownership yes it was expensive.

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I hate my bmw its been for sale for 4 months. only on a sunny day for a date or something.

Dont get me wrong it handles great its a great sports car but I think ive outgrown sports cars. I think mid life crisis is over, miatas and bmws and civic exs im done with them.

just toyhomes for me.

constant toothache. For the miles its run which is like 5k miles since ive owned it its been up there as the most hassle ive ever owned.

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Oh and I personally have only owned one diesel car. And Ive owned a ridiculous amount of cars if you include cars I just sell.

It was a mercedes 300 sd like an 84. I hate diesel cars. There are none that apeal to me as far as the ones they sold here. just the vixen actually.

europe and asia have interesting diesel cars. like the diesel smart car, I would buy that all day. tow it with my toyhome.

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My beetle saved a ton in gas but was almost identical to Maineah's experience. I too had the exploding pully,(which i got for $15 delivered) went through one water pump kit (VERY expensive) a starter that I did myself but cut the pooh out of my hands and probably lowered me one notch deepen in the afterlife for swearing, and an alternator that I had done by an "autolab" service shop that cost $600 in labor so that they could learn how to remove a bumper. Also had to repace radiator, mounts and that bumper after wife hit a racoon. I bought it for my wifes 120 mile a day commute. When it finally was pancaked by a fallen tree in a windstorm it had cost me $4000 in parts and labor.

Wifes other car prior to accepting a job that was 60 miles away was a 2002 Buick rendezvous which got 21-24 MPG.

According to my logs the beetle was driven about 120,000 during our ownership and was also purchased during the recent Gas crunch. The rendezvous would have used $20,000 in gas alone to do that many miles during this time, but the Beetle only consumed $10,212 in diesel. Total Fuel Savings was almost $10,000 over 4 year lifespan. Now lets look at oil changes. The TDI only was given them every 10k. The Buick would have needed one every 3k.

Buick would have needed 40 oil changes, vs the Beetles 12. Lets just say oil change was $30 a whack. $840 dollars saved in Oil changes.

So, I saved $6840 total by driving that car; which oddly enough was about exactly what I paid for it.

I will forever be a diesel fan because of this. Free car essentially. People like to wine and complain about service cost on diesels but I don't see anyone marveling at the awesome MPG they get (if you get the RIGHT one that is; a German one.)

I hope you all have enjoyed one of my diesel experiences...My current diesel the Mercedes has run almost 1 year now and is to date the cheapest vehicle I have ever owned. The few things that I needed to fix i was able to get parts online ridiculously cheap for and its oil changes are not too bad either but worse than a tdi VW due to the larger volume of oil required. The car also only has one windshield wiper; its nice not to have to change two or pay for two for that matter. I love it.

Now I will wait for JDE to chime in and tell me that diesels are horrible buys and those that buy them fools.

I will agree with him if we are talking bought new; but a nice used diesel will make its owner rich.

:)

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ha well first off no he does not.

Guess old Abe was right. Even BMW Forums can have misleading information, it seems!

"HELP!! Does anyone have a 524td or know someone who does?"

"Einstein has one."

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=252197

"Any 524td owners?"

"nigel/einstein57 has one."

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=230619

Must be a different Einstein! :)

I'm no Beemer Guru, but isn't this a 5-Series in Post #10?

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=248563

It sure looks like this one (to my untrained eyes):-

http://www.carstrucksvans.com/524td.html#5

Very tasty looking and was down to $4500 last November. Not sure if it's still for sale. If it was a Touring (need it for the dogs), I'd inquire. :)

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Sure a lot of wasted bandwidth on the mpg of things that aren't Toy MH's.

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Actually my wife's could. The kids leave so many crumbs and wife always has 20 things in back , so badly that we have mice attacking it. My car just has ketchup and Taco Bell packet detritus, but I am on a diet now and the vehicle is slowly becoming clean again. My toy home gets destroyed on trips then psychotically cleaned over and over. Right now I have my car pretty clean. If I fall off my diet though... Watch out

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I'm no expert on modern Volkwagens and our pump shop was not authorized to work on automotive rotary Boschs (built under USA Stanadyne license). That being said I've seen quite a few late 90s Volkswagens and a few Audis with electronically controlled Bosch VE37 pumps. I know my pair of 1992 VW Jettas are pure mechanical and no electronic controls. GM went to electronic in 1994 for diesels. Ford changed to it in mid 1994 (early 94s are mechanical). I'm not sure what year VW started using the electronic VE37s but I know they were used in Europe late 80s.

ALH VW's were mechanical pumps up to the PD engines in 2004 (blame VW not the government). I loved my TDI it was great, fun to drive plenty of power fantastic mileage but it also was the most expensive car to maintain I ever owned That s why I replaced it with a Toyota Tacoma when I retired and wasn't driving a 100 miles a day.

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Now I will wait for JDE to chime in and tell me that diesels are horrible buys and those that buy them fools.

I will agree with him if we are talking bought new; but a nice used diesel will make its owner rich.

:)

You seem to love hyperbole. I never made any blanket statements anywhere close to all "diesels are horrible buys." I've also seen people buy used diesels and go broke trying to keep them going if not doing their own repairs. Especially electroncially controlled GMs during the mid to late 90s. At that time even GM dealers did not have good fixes and blamed all the high prices woes on Stanadyne Corp. After that Ford had a miserable time with diesel problems with IH diesels and after a law-suit - gave up and designed their own diesel engines.

Note I'm referring to mostly trucks and SUVs and not cars. The high majority of sales in the USA for diesel vehicles was for trucks. Diesel cars in the USA have never been sold in great numbers as compared to trucks and SUVs. From the diesel cars I DO have experience with - I can think of very few bad ones. Probably the worst was the series of GM cars with Oldsmobile 4.3 and 5.7 liter diesels. Then the diesel Ford Escort and the BMW powered Lincoln. Generally speaking as I stated before (and you disputed) - parts/maintainence is substantially more expensive for diesels in generals. Yes you can post something anecdotal about a hceap filter for one model car you had. I bet for every one "cheap" story you've got, I can post ten more to the contrary.

I suspect I own more diesels then any other person on this forum (or at least close). At present I have - two 1992 VW Jetta diesels, one 1985 Isuzu P'UP diesel 4WD minitruck, two 1981 Chevy Chevette diesels, an early 1994 Ford F250 turbo-diesel, a 1992 Dodge W200 turbo-intercooled-diesel, three 1983 Chevy K5 Blazer diesels, a 1989 GMC diesel Suburban, a 1982 Chevy K10 diesel 4WD pickup, a 1989 Chevy K5 diesel Blazer (very rare), two military 1986 K5 Chevy diesel Blazers - and those are the ones that run. Have many more in my junkyard. Besides the highway rigs, I have a 1956 Allis Chalmers HD6 diesel bulldozer (Buda 344 diesel), a 1960 John Deere 1010 diesel bulldozer, a Massey Ferguson 35 diesel farm tractor (Perkins diesel), two International Harvester B275 diesel farm tractors (British diesels), a 3414 International Harvester diesel wheeled backhoe/loader, a 1966 Pettibone diesel backhoe/loader (Detroit Diesel 3-53 two-stroke), A 1964 Ford 4000 industrial diesel tractor, an Oliver OC46 diesel crawler loader (Hercules 3 cylinder DD130), and a 1966 Case 580CK diesel wheel loader.

When I hear your comments - I wonder . . how broad is your experience with diesels in general? You may have done fine with your diesel light-duty cars (I'm assume and don't pretend to know what you've had in total). I worked as a professional mechanic from the perspective of seeing mostly problem vehicles. I also live in an area where winter temps get down to minus 30 F and that leads to many diesel problems. Granted that cold weather causes indirect problems like owners ruining engines with ether starting, burst glow plugs, crack precombustion chambers, gelled fuel,etc. I do know that from reading info from Ford and GM - they claim the biggest problem with the failure for diesels to "catch on" in the USA was ignorance. And collectively I know that is true. I also know there are exceptions. Europe was and probably still is different . More of a diesel -informed culture. Same with the knowledge base of repair shops.

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Seems you only like old diesels by your collection. As mentioned my two are 1998 and 2000 (new by your standards?) and cheap and economical as heck. And they get far better mpg than American or heavy application. I'm no junk yard dog but I work for a supplier to all you mentioned. Parts can be expensive but at 47 mpg when driving 120k over 4 years your statement on cost is just not true. Also, Gelled fuel from cold won't hurt a diesel it will just stall it. Sheesh. Maybe I don't own a junkyard but I'm no slouch to diesel tech. I work for BorgWarner pal.

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Seems you only like old diesels by your collection. As mentioned my two are 1998 and 2000( new by your standards? )and cheap and economical as heck. And they get far better mpg than American or heavy application. I'm no junk yard dog but I work for a supplier to all you mentioned. Parts can be expensive but at 47 mpg when driving 120k over 4 years your statement on cost is just not true. Also, Gelled fuel from cold won't hurt a diesel it will just stall it. Sheesh. Maybe I don't own a junkyard but I'm no slouch to diesel tech. I work for BorgWarner pal.

Yes, gelled fuel iteself does not hurt an injection pump. That's where the high price of ignorance comes in. I've seen trucks quit to do gelled fuel or ice in their water-traps and then someone would try things like loading it with ether and wind up with a cracked head or broken top piston rings. I saw several GM trucks get engine swaps (converted to gas) when they suffered from poor cold starting and all they needed was a better grade of glow plugs and/or some controller tweaking. I've seen people burst their glow plugs in cold weather and have the glow plug tips get stuck in their pistons. That was a big problem with just about all the IDI diesels until the glow plugs got redesigned and the new "self limiting" temperature coefficient plug came into vogue (mostly made by Bosch and Beru of Germany). I've also seen many rotary pumps wear out prematurely due to winter-grade diesel fuel cut with 50% kerosene. It was a huge problem with our military since they use "thin" JP8 diesel all year around. Also now a problem to a lesser degree with summer ultra-low-sulfur diesel when used in mechanical pumps. In addition, many diesels in the 80s called for straight grade oil and not multiviscosity. That led to lack of lube in some when started at 0 degrees F with 30W Delo or Rotella in the engine. Multis for diesels used to be taboo due to the polymers used that plugged piston rings. Standard was 10W in the winter and 30W in the summer. That changed around 1990.

Our military still has a high failure rate with rotary injection pumps and has been looking for a new alternative. GM diesels used in the military are still mechanically injected.

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Seems you only like old diesels by your collection. As mentioned my two are 1998 and 2000 (new by your standards?) and cheap and economical as heck. And they get far better mpg than American or heavy application. I'm no junk yard dog but I work for a supplier to all you mentioned. Parts can be expensive but at 47 mpg when driving 120k over 4 years your statement on cost is just not true. Also, Gelled fuel from cold won't hurt a diesel it will just stall it. Sheesh. Maybe I don't own a junkyard but I'm no slouch to diesel tech. I work for BorgWarner pal.

I've got plenty of gas vehicles. I really liked diesels until the fuel price disparity came into play. Diesel used to be cheaper then regular gas. Now it's a lot higher. Today reg gas is $3.65 and diesel is $4.36. That is a huge difference. When a gas car can get over 30 MPG, I find it hard to justify a diesel for cars. Trucks being worked, yes.

Our cars and trucks are mostly drivers - not part of some esoteric "collection." We just switch around a lot. Also have a "rustbucket" winter fleet in AWD or 4WD and rust-free non-winter use only cars and trucks. In gas, we've got a 1978 Toyota Chinook, a 1986 Winnebago Phasar, 1979 Datsun 280ZX, a 1972 MGB, an unrestored 1964 Sunbeam Tiger, a 1965 Chevelle SS, a 1950 Ford pickup, a 1979 K5 Blazer, three 4WD Geo/Chevy/Cami Trackers, a 1995 Subaru Impreza, 2002 Subaru Impreza, 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan AWD, two 1999 Kia Sportages, several 80s 4WD Subaru 4WD wagons, a 1969 Dodge Power Wagon, etc.

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47 was the Beatle Derrick read thrice post once. Keep up soldier, and before you challenge the vw alh stats you'll be calling Maineah a bigger liar than me. Haha. As to gelling I just add cetane like most folks do. Also Derrick the EPA page on the Mercedes is in summer mode...

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