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We abandoned diesels in small cars and trucks once before (1980's ish) and it wasn't all just because of emission rules or reliability, people just were not buying them. <snip>
Trucks (semi's and big 'uns) have had diesel all along. "Small cars" in America that were built by AMERICAN companies (GM or General Mismanagement) and had diesels were not that small - My BIL had a full sized luxury diesel Caddilac which he swapped the engine on, it also leaked a can of freon about every 100 miles.
From the Wicki (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_Diesel_V6_engine):
Oldsmobile's engines, the 5.7 L LF9 and 4.3 L LF7 V8s and the 4.3 L V6, were notoriously unreliable. Conversely the Oldsmobile engineers claimed that management proposed a time line for implementation that didn't accommodate enough testing. Although over one million were sold from 1978?985, the failure rate of early GM diesel engines ruined the reputation of diesel engines in general in the United States market. Eventually, a class action lawsuit resulted in an arbitration system under the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission where consumers could claim 80% of the original cost of the engine in the event of a failure.
The primary problem with GM's diesel engines of the 1970s was their design - weakness in the head design and head bolts, which were not able to withstand the higher cylinder pressures and temperatures of diesel use. This design weakness combined with poor diesel fuel quality in the 80's led to catastrophic failure of pistons, cylinder heads, and even cylinder walls. Reinforced truck diesel engines, from GM and other companies, did not have these problems.
It was a grand idea to get around emmission regulations and a knee-jerk response to a gas crisis but it didn't work.
During the same time period (1979-1983) I and several of my coworkers bought VW Rabbit diesels which were EXCELLENT, ran well and got 50 MILES PER GALLON routinely around town. This is when the gas version Rabbit got 30 mpg WHEN driving. However for those that were there it was also when one may idle in long lines just to get gasoline, effectively getting ZERO miles per gallon.
Only us old f@rts remember the long lines for gas and the rationing of the '70's. It was truly a pleasure for me to drive by a long line of cars waiting to fuel up while I went to the diesel pump with NO line and no worries.
GM's sudden response with a diesel engine for a passenger car was first seen as similar to America's response to the Russians in the space race. However it was a dismal failure. By 1985 almost anyone I talked to about diesel cars thought they were totally unreliable, while it was actually only another example of GM's mis-management. The average "American public" herd mentality broadened that to ALL diesel CARS, not being smart enough to realize that there were a lot of small diesel trucks. This did not apply to the rest of the WORLD.
I saw four things why the American public didn't like diesel:
GM's failure
The fuel "smelled" (I've had a lot of females complain about diesel odor)
Soot
Most diesel vehicles were "slow off the line"
So "guys" didn't like them because of poor acceleration and "gals" didn't like the smell.
The first vehicle I bought after my '79 diesel Rabbit went away is an '88 Ford E350 Diesel. The vehicle I bought last week is a Ford F350 diesel.
/edit - they are both out front of my house
