Re: Why do Diesels last longer than IC\'s?
Time to stoke the fires.
The diesel v. gasoline debate reaches nearly religious proportions, with little in the way of factual basis. A Gardner diesel in a stationary application, turning about a thousand RPM and putting out minimal power may last thirty years. That doesn't mean that a light modern diesel with high specific power output will last any more than will a good gasoline engine.
In a discussion of boat engines, where diesel people won't even speak to gas burners, David Pascoe, an experienced surveyor, argues convincingly that gasoline engines do just as well as diesel.
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/
Some of Pascoe's discussions of torque and horsepower aren't quite right, but the core evidence is pretty good. Comparable gasoline engines run about as long and are a lot cheaper to overhaul than diesel.
I have a brother who is still running a Farmall 300, that is 40 or so years old, gasoline, indeterminate hours, but well up in the thousands, which has had a carburetor problem or two, but no internal problems despite minimal maintenance. Does one engine prove anything?
I have a 13 year old Chev 350 in a boat that also has thousands of hours. It's oil pan has rusted out, but that's all. My neighbor just put in two new diesels.
Proves, I guess, that diesels don't last longer after all.
(I have both, of course. Diesels are louder, smell worse, and generally make less horsepower per pound of engine weight. Why do I like them at all?)
