Ram1500 EcoDiesel V6 revealed!

[tcartwri]

. Curious who is on top for reliability after all these emmission mandates of Tier 4?

This is the million dollar question as VM motori had to revise their existing emission hardware and tuning to meet the North American Standard.

 

[DeereMann]

This could well be my next p/u. Since the Dakota is no longer made.

I am a huge fan of Jap Diesels. Curious who is on top for reliability after all these emmission mandates of Tier 4?

I was thinking the other day. If it is all about emmissions, why not just leave the old diesel engine as is, with the standard injection pump, leave off any computers and just clean the exhaust?

Cause there's too much to clean, unfortunately. Need HPCR to get the soot load down enough to put a diaper on (filter). Retarding injection too much sucks too much fuel (to get peak cylinder flame temp down for NOx in exhaust). So we end up with high-tech whiz motors. *sigh*

EPA exhaust emissions requirements for Tier IV are not the same levels for truck diesel and SCUT/CUT tractor diesels. SCUT/CUT are less regulated, as their total atmospheric contribution is much less than trucks. So our tractor engines don't need FAE HPCR. Most still have an exhaust filter though.

 

[fordmantpw]

Cause there's too much to clean, unfortunately. Need HPCR to get the soot load down enough to put a diaper on (filter). Retarding injection too much sucks too much fuel (to get peak cylinder flame temp down for NOx in exhaust). So we end up with high-tech whiz motors. *sigh*

And all of that is what makes a gas engine so much more attractive. Much less complicated, much cleaner burner so less after treatment, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love diesels. I'm on my second diesel tractor and own a diesel pickup, but the advancement of GTDI gas engines and the EPA regs for diesels, along with diesel fuel being 30% more expensive than gasoline, are making diesels a hard sell in the auto industry for anything other than routine heavy hauling.

 

[JESSE1]

I've had diesel pickups since '82, love my '12 6.7 PowerStroke but if I was buying a 1/2 ton truck I wouldn't bother with a diesel. I have the 5.4 gas engine in my '11 Expedition and it has been a great engine. A diesel makes a lot of sense if you're hauling or pulling heavy loads with a large pickup but the new gas engines make plenty of power for the loads a smaller pickup is designed for.

 

[DeereMann]

And all of that is what makes a gas engine so much more attractive. Much less complicated, much cleaner burner so less after treatment, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love diesels. I'm on my second diesel tractor and own a diesel pickup, but the advancement of GTDI gas engines and the EPA regs for diesels, along with diesel fuel being 30% more expensive than gasoline, are making diesels a hard sell in the auto industry for anything other than routine heavy hauling.

Not to me. Diesel engines are made to take low rpm peak cylinder pressure. It didn't help that EPA stripped out the 'gooiest' stuff out of the diesel fuel, but it is what it is. If API lobby hadn't bought off U.S. Congress, the true cost (including taxes) of diesel fuel would be substantially lower than gasoline at the pump, and we would all be driving diesels as in europe.

Instead, we have the best government that money can buy-off. Oh, well!

I'm a mechanical engineer specializing in power trains. You can't fool me with non-thermal efficiency arguements/

 

[DeereMann]

I've had diesel pickups since '82, love my '12 6.7 PowerStroke but if I was buying a 1/2 ton truck I wouldn't bother with a diesel. I have the 5.4 gas engine in my '11 Expedition and it has been a great engine. A diesel makes a lot of sense if you're hauling or pulling heavy loads with a large pickup but the new gas engines make plenty of power for the loads a smaller pickup is designed for.

Exactly the key - the duty cycle. Guys wanting to haul livestock 24/7 shouldn't buy one.

 

[DeereMann]

So, it's perfectly fine for a diesel to have "twin turbochargers and wastegates / variable compressor vanes / sliding valves, etc", but when a gasser has it, then reliability comes into question?

Again, research the EcoBoost engines before you start knocking them. The engines were built from the ground up to be turbocharged, so they are built more stout than a typical gasser in order to handle the extra loads. Research before you type...

Read my post again. The diesels have them because THEY ARE MADE TO HANDLE THEM. Read the blogosphere about reliability of the vaunted "Ecoboost".

 

[fordmantpw]

Read my post again. The diesels have them because THEY ARE MADE TO HANDLE THEM. Read the blogosphere about reliability of the vaunted "Ecoboost".

Read my post again. The EcoBoost engines WERE MADE TO HANDLE THE EXTRA LOADS! They were built that way from the beginning.

And I'll bet you lunch that there are a lot more complaints about emissions alone on the 08+ diesel trucks than on the EcoBoost engines. And EcoBoost complaints are NOT because of the durability of the engine, but mostly issues with CAC's and humidity. Those have been mostly resolved.

 

[DeereMann]

If you have to 'beef up a spark-ignited block' to take the torque of / near a diesel, you dam near have a diesel without the same thermal efficiency.

So the question is, why would you do that? Pay a couple more sheckels & finish the job for 20% higher mileage plus more durability. Eco-boost is a tide-over gimmick. Today's blogosphere is all about Ford accelerating their new light diesel program code-named 'Lion'. Perhaps some other posters should read about what Ford is doing & why before blindly worshiping a brand?

 

[DeereMann]

p.s. - the only reason i have bought Deere's is because i haven't found better in my area. But I have owned all sorts of truck brands. I don't go by 'brand guy' no matter what a brand does.