The truth about diesel

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Cracka20

The Cruiser WILL catch you at every speed hump! :

You reckon? Ever driven a Territory? : I think not!

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by ltd

Diesels are expensive to run. Ever tried to gap the spark plugs on a diesel?

What spark plugs?

[Tles]

Originally Posted by ltd

Diesels are expensive to run. Ever tried to gap the spark plugs on a diesel?
We need diesels here more than ever but before we can do that we need to get rid of a lot of the crap that the refiners leave in it. Getting rid of sulphur for one will work miracles. When they reduced the sulphur to less than 500ppm a lot of older diesels blew pump seals etc; they should have removed all the sulphur then although the technology may not have enabled it.
I guess one problem is the cost. When you leave diesel in the distillation column for longer it adds to the cost.
Look at marine diesel, whenever shipping companies buy it they need thousands of litres and therefore it is fairly unrefined to cut costs.
No easy answer.

Good to see someones thinking. Insightful.

Demand generally determines supply so until there are enough cars and SUVs being filled with diesel the stations will not put in seperate or specific pumps. Ultimately there should be new diesel pumps where low sulphur or even sundiesel could be dispensed to ultraclean diesels. They should keep the old pumps for trucks and older diesels which require the current product.

Australia is not ready for the future including Bluetec diesels until they can invest in the infrastructure to improve the delivery. 3 years tops.

[johnydep]

Come on guys, do you always jump in head first?

What did one of you say? "Close the garage & leave the car running, you'll die from the fumes of a petrol engine but only get sick from the fumes of a diesel engine?" : Do some research, but if you do want to try that at home you'd be safer with LPG

The only good diesel is one with a particulate filter :

Diesel engines do have huge benfits, but I'd rather a healthy life. Bring on the Diesels, just make sure they all have particulate filters and decent fuel to run on.

And for those that have limited attention;

"Although comprising only a small percentage of the vehicle fleet, diesel vehicles contribute an estimated 60 per cent of Sydney's particle pollution from mobile sources. Diesel vehicles also emit disproportionately high levels of NOx. Diesel vehicles are therefore the main focus of efforts to reduce emissions from in-service vehicles," the report says.

the finer the particle emitted from the tailpipe, the bigger the health risk.

NSW parliamentary inquiry into air pollution cited growing concerns about the health risks of finer particle matter

ultra-fine particles are dangerous because they can dissolve in the lungs. They also attract toxins, including cancer-causing chemicals, to their surface, giving them a "piggyback" ride deep into the lung tissue, where they travel beyond the lung's natural ability to expel them.

diesel was responsible for "serious public health problems".

California's Clean Air Task Force published a report that claimed 21,000 people die prematurely each year due to particulate matter pollution from diesels.

children are more susceptible to the adverse health effects of air pollution because they breathe more rapidly and have a larger lung surface compared with their body weight than adults. They also spend more time outside being active

Diesel and petrol engines both produce potentially deadly emissions but the Federal Government rates diesel as a more serious pollutant.

The fuels produce roughly the same amount of hydrocarbons, toxic air pollutants and carbon monoxide but diesel produces significantly more oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter.

Oxides of nitrogen impair lung function and increase both susceptibility to respiratory infections and respiratory disease in children

A petrol engine that complies with the Euro IV emissions standard will emit 80mg/km of NOx, while a Euro IV diesel engine can emit 250mg/km. Commercial vehicles, which make up the majority of diesels on the road, have an even greater allowance of 390mg/km.

A diesel particulate filter, sometimes called a DPF, is a device designed to remove diesel particulate matter or soot from the exhaust gas of a diesel engine. Wall-flow diesel particulate filters usually remove 85% or more of the soot, and can at times (heavily loaded condition) attain soot removal efficiencies of close to 100%. A diesel-powered vehicle equipped with functioning filter will emit no visible smoke from its exhaust pipe.

[OzJavelin]

Doesn't the current Wheels Magazine have something in it about the "latest-and-greatest" diesel Merc SEDAN not compliant with California emmissions laws; it's a 45-state only vehicle. And it's supposedly the best that can be manufacturered?

[ Supposedly Cal laws are 5 times more strict on diesel emmissions than European/Australian regs? ]

Only the SUV diesels - under the far more lenient "commercial" regulations - can pass the tougher emmissions laws?

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by johnydep

A diesel-powered vehicle equipped with functioning filter will emit no visible smoke from its exhaust pipe.

Or the smell of diesel. Only way you could tell that it's a diesel is by the sound.

[Falcon Coupe]

Quote latest Wheels mag:

On January 1 2006, stringent new Euro4 fuel standards came into force here. The maximum sulphur content of Australian diesel dropped by an incredible 90%, from 500 to 50 parts per million. Many diesel cars previously available in Europe (which adopted this fuel standard earlier) became compatible with the Australian market overnight.

Modern diesels produce 100% more torque, 60% less noise, 90 % lower emissions and 30% greater economy compared with an equivalent 1988 spec diesel engine.

In countries such as Spain and France, 60% of all new cars sold are currently diesels. The average for Europe is 50%.
In Australia in the 12 months to March 2007, diesels made up just 4 % of private passenger car sales, but that represented a growth of 143% on the previous 12 months.

All diesel's blow a little smoke under full throttle, but the leaps and bounds made by new diesel technology shows them to be a big part of the future.

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Falcon Coupe

Quote latest Wheels mag:
......................

All diesel's blow a little smoke under full throttle, but the leaps and bounds made by new diesel technology shows them to be a big part of the future.

True but lets keep it in perspective; 90 % lower emissions and 30% greater economy compared with an equivalent 1988 spec diesel engine

[fou_bleu]

Originally Posted by XR8Master

It will be a long long long time before everyone has a hydrogen car, petrol cars will probably still be here in 30-50 years

Crude may not last us till then! I know, "How would you know?" Well we have used approx. 6.5 8ths of our supply since it was founded! Still in school and learning about fossil fuels.

[Homer1]

Originally Posted by ltd

Diesels are expensive to run. Ever tried to gap the spark plugs on a diesel?
We need diesels here more than ever but before we can do that we need to get rid of a lot of the crap that the refiners leave in it. Getting rid of sulphur for one will work miracles. When they reduced the sulphur to less than 500ppm a lot of older diesels blew pump seals etc; they should have removed all the sulphur then although the technology may not have enabled it.
I guess one problem is the cost. When you leave diesel in the distillation column for longer it adds to the cost.
Look at marine diesel, whenever shipping companies buy it they need thousands of litres and therefore it is fairly unrefined to cut costs.
No easy answer.

Diesels have no spark plugs.

[Green X]

Originally Posted by ltd

Diesels are expensive to run. Ever tried to gap the spark plugs on a diesel?
We need diesels here more than ever but before we can do that we need to get rid of a lot of the crap that the refiners leave in it. Getting rid of sulphur for one will work miracles. When they reduced the sulphur to less than 500ppm a lot of older diesels blew pump seals etc; they should have removed all the sulphur then although the technology may not have enabled it.
I guess one problem is the cost. When you leave diesel in the distillation column for longer it adds to the cost.
Look at marine diesel, whenever shipping companies buy it they need thousands of litres and therefore it is fairly unrefined to cut costs.
No easy answer.

God I hope you are taking the **** about a diesel having spark plugs.

The older pump seals blew due to the type of rubber the seal was made from.

Marine diesel unrefined. Well that depends greatly on the type of engine and fuel pump on the engine. You stick Class B or C diesel into a engine suited to run Class A and you will have big problems.

And yes we do have crap diesel in Australia when compared to places like Europe.

[schnoods]

I really think it is a case of splitting hairs really.

When you have a look at a petrol engine and the amount of bi products is produced ( which is around 38) from burning unleaded compared to LPG which produces around 3 bi products I wouldnt think that a diesel would be that much worse.

2 strokes ( outboards, lawn mowers, etc) are a hell of a lot more worse as well but are there purely for reliability. As for diesels, they are alot better for reliability than petrols (with a few exceptions) and running costs are very low.

[Cracka20]

Originally Posted by johnydep

You reckon? Ever driven a Territory? : I think not!

I've driven a Territory OH YES!!!- NO GUTS under load. And its NOT in the same class as 3.5 tonne, eat you all up, drive all over you Cruiser. When you see the bottom of a set of headlights in the rear view mirror - its a Cruiser. Sorry but the Cruiser has got it hands down over the Territory unless you want to drive it to the pub

Drive the Strezlecki desert then talk to me (on dirt and sand-NOT THE ROAD). I've pull you guys out of all sorts of traps. Oh sorry I forgot you most likely drive it in the city. Need it in to pick up the kids? : Get the car dirty!

600,000 kms no breakdown and its still going. Put the turbo in at 300,000. Lets see how the territory deals with power when the 'k's clock up.

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Cracka20

I've driven a Territory OH YES!!!- NO GUTS under load. And its NOT in the same class as 3.5 tonne, eat you all up, drive all over you Cruiser. When you see the bottom of a set of headlights in the rear view mirror - its a Cruiser. Sorry but the Cruiser has got it hands down over the Territory unless you want to drive it to the pub

Drive the Strezlecki desert then talk to me (on dirt and sand-NOT THE ROAD). I've pull you guys out of all sorts of traps. Oh sorry I forgot you most likely drive it in the city. Need it in to pick up the kids? : Get the car dirty!

600,000 kms no breakdown and its still going. Put the turbo in at 300,000. Lets see how the territory deals with power when the 'k's clock up.

Ummm, your previous comment was about city driving;

Originally Posted by Cracka20

The Cruiser WILL catch you at every speed hump!

:togo:

By the way, had an ex taxi, AU II, in the other day, 761,000km.

[Steffo]

I'm not concerned with anything except the Q7 you're talking about. Less concerned then skeptical. I wonder what was done to it or wrong with it, for it to blow black smoke? I have never seen a modern Diesel VW or Audi blow black smoke.

[XCSEDAN]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Or the smell of diesel. Only way you could tell that it's a diesel is by the sound.

new diesels smell like pure chemicals to me, it makes my eyes water....
i hate it when new diesels drive past for that fact.
old diesels smelt good at least!!!

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Steffo

I'm not concerned with anything except the Q7 you're talking about. Less concerned then skeptical. I wonder what was done to it or wrong with it, for it to blow black smoke? I have never seen a modern Diesel VW or Audi blow black smoke.

Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't make it untrue or impossible.

The Q7 was one of the fleet that did the bush launch, if you want you can do a search and will find a post I made about it at the time. The driver kept taking off hard at the lights & each time it blew a small cloud of black smoke. It wasn't huge, but I was surprised.

Since then I've noticed that most diesel vehicles, including the modern ones, that are driven hard blow a puff of black (excluding models fitted with particulate filters).
Remember that diesel is uncontroled combustion, compared to ignition engines which are conrtroled combustion.
Even with all the electronics diesel engines still rely on compression ignition ti ignite & burn the fuel, that is why diesels rattle. They are getting better, but only a exhaust filter can clean them up; Toyota's & Nissans are the worst, even the landrover. the harder they're pushed the dirtier the become.

[Tote]

Bring on a Falcon with the Range Rover twin turbo diesel V8 in it I say, 3.6 litres, 640NM and 200Kw would go pretty well in a falcon methinks.....
Regards,
Tote

[ebxr8240]

Ummm ? Don't underestimate the power of MODERN diesels ...
The Audi sports cars are diesel and are wining against some very fast petrol engined sports cars....

[johnydep]

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Petrol vs diesel at Le Mans

My compadres over at the Ten-Tenths sportscar forum are all a-twitter at the moment about equivalency formulae between diesel and petrol Le Mans Prototype cars. I've tried to stay out of the discussion because it seems like one of those threads where no-one really hears what anyone else is saying and it all ends up being a bit pointless.

But it's an important issue that impacts the future of Le Mans sportscar racing. The perceived problem is that the current rules format favours diesel-powered cars unfairly. In theory, ACO Le Mans rules are supposed to offer teams and manufacturers the option of running different fuels, none of which offer an advantage over any other, thus encouraging innovation and use of alternative fuel technologies.

In reality, there are two teams running cars with diesel engines, and both those teams appear to be running significantly faster than any of their rivals. As a result, many people are saying that the rules favour diesels. The one point I made on the aforementioned forum thread was that it just so happens that the only two teams running diesels are the only two Le Mans entrants in the prototype class who can effectively be considered "manufacturers".

So is the apparent pace of the Peugeot and Audi diesels down to their engine or their HUGE AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES??? This is a question that will be answered in 2008 (maybe) and 2009 (certainly), when Acura step up their ALMS prototype project to the LMP1 class. It will be the first time EVER that a factory Audi will have been challenged by a petrol-powered prototype from a manufacturer with a legitimate shot at winning Le Mans. Until then, Audi and Peugeot's closest rivals will be privateers such as Pescarolo, Creation, Zytek and Courage, all of which run petrol engines and all of which operate on a fraction of the budget of the two big diesel teams. It's like comparing apples and oranges, something that some of my friends over at 10/10ths seem to be missing.

The elephant in the room here is Porsche. Despite running very close to Audi in the ALMS all year, they believe that the current engine equivalency formulae in LMP1 are so tilted in the favour of diesels that they are considering delaying their entry into LMP1. Personally I think Porsche should suck it up and get on with the job. If it becomes clear that petrol engines are being unfairly legislated against, I'm sure the ACO will make adjustments.

The numbers seem to indicate that any adjustment is either unnecessary or would need to be tiny. Last year, Pescarolo ran a 3:30 on the Le Mans test weekend, and a 3:32 in qualifying, with Audi doing vice versa. So performance was close prior to the race itself. In the race, Pescarolo lost by four laps. Audi's 27 stops gave a total of 2700 litres of fuel taken onboard. In 2007, Audi's fuel tank will go from 100 litres down to 81 litres, giving 34 pitstops. So if both teams run the same pace with the same fuel economy this year, Audi's seven extra stops will cost them an extra 11 minutes, which is equal to three laps. What this means is that the change in fuel tank size has gone a long way to levelling the playing field, and that really it seems as though petrol performance is only about 0.25% below what it should be (at Le Mans at least) in order to produce a straight fight against diesels.

We'll know in 18 days. I'll be watching very carefully from my pitlane grandstand seat how many laps diesel teams are getting on one stint versus what the petrol cars get.

http://fastestlap.blogspot.com/2007/...t-le-mans.html

[Green X]

Originally Posted by johnydep

Remember that diesel is uncontroled combustion, compared to ignition engines which are conrtroled combustion.
Even with all the electronics diesel engines still rely on compression ignition ti ignite & burn the fuel, that is why diesels rattle. They are getting better, but only a exhaust filter can clean them up; Toyota's & Nissans are the worst, even the landrover. the harder they're pushed the dirtier the become.

well you are about 15% correct with that statement, i don't even want to go into explaining a diesel fuel system, A gasoline fuel system is so simplistic stacked up against a diesel it's not funny.

The Older and even some of the newer Toyota's and Nissans are dirty cause they are Jap diesel with the finest technology from the 80's, the last of which is the TB42 in the Nissan patrol has just been killed off after being in service for 19 odd years.

Also remembering that allot of them have a easy 240,000+ k's on the odometer and will start first time every time and have probably never had a fuel system service thus why they are smoky, that being said they are luggers change the oil and filters on time and keep it fuelled up it can do 600,000km+ with out a spanner touching it.

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Green X

well you are about 15% correct with that statement, i don't even want to go into explaining a diesel fuel system, A gasoline fuel system is so simplistic stacked up against a diesel it's not funny.

The Older and even some of the newer Toyota's and Nissans are dirty cause they are Jap diesel with the finest technology from the 80's, the last of which is the TB42 in the Nissan patrol has just been killed off after being in service for 19 odd years.

Also remembering that allot of them have a easy 240,000+ k's on the odometer and will start first time every time and have probably never had a fuel system service thus why they are smoky, that being said they are luggers change the oil and filters on time and keep it fuelled up it can do 600,000km+ with out a spanner touching it.

Only 15%? Does that mean that "compression ignition" only describes 15% of a diesel engines workings?

Come on, lets be sensible. Diesel engine

I'm not talking about an old engine, read the article on the opening post.

[ltd]

Originally Posted by Green X

God I hope you are taking the **** about a diesel having spark plugs.

The older pump seals blew due to the type of rubber the seal was made from.

Marine diesel unrefined. Well that depends greatly on the type of engine and fuel pump on the engine. You stick Class B or C diesel into a engine suited to run Class A and you will have big problems.

And yes we do have crap diesel in Australia when compared to places like Europe.

Yes I was joking about the spark plugs, as for the seals you are correct.
The marine diesel I was referring to are for the big ship engines, the ones with the three story high cylinders.

As for the 3.5 tonne cruiser beating a territory and having pulled countless territorys; I'd suggest a little less pulling of the proverbial.
Territorys and Landcruisers aren't even in the same class. Territorys are basically a modern day softroader which is designed primarily for use in the cities and suburbs, not offroad. They have pedestrian friendly crumple zones built into them for this very purpose and are an alternative to the people mover/station wagon. The landcruiser is an old, archaic, monolythic purpose built vehicle that are as sophisticated as a shopping trolley. They are designed to excel in the urban environment and as such they plain suck everywhere else. In cities they are overweight, gas guzzling, pedestrian killing, rear vision blinding, child reversing, rolling over, slow, door denting, blinding and unsophisticated hunks of ****. They are not useful in towns, they are a hazard that frustrates all other road users at any given point in time for the same reason that cancer is thought of as more than an annoyance. Comparing a territory to a truck is ridiculous and a masturbational exercise at best. I have always found cruisers incredibly slow and lazy; a sort of moving road block. Off the line between a territory and a cruiser (which I think was inferred here) is a joke. Our Sprinter diesel van blows these hunks away regularly much less a 190kw six. Maybe you could beat a territory if you stroke it.

[Dazza XLT]

We have 2 Diesel Holden Rodeos at work. One with 120,000 and the other with 90,000.
Not a puff of smoke from either, and we're not at all soft on them. Driven quite hard, often fully loaded.
Yet I see a lot of newer diesels on the road, punching out more soot than a chimney sweepers broom.

Maybe the EPA should spend more time pinging some of these diesel smoke machines, rather than focus so much time and effort on pinging those with loud exhausts.

Cheers

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by johnydep

Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't make it untrue or impossible.

The Q7 was one of the fleet that did the bush launch, if you want you can do a search and will find a post I made about it at the time. The driver kept taking off hard at the lights & each time it blew a small cloud of black smoke. It wasn't huge, but I was surprised.

Since then I've noticed that most diesel vehicles, including the modern ones, that are driven hard blow a puff of black (excluding models fitted with particulate filters).
Remember that diesel is uncontroled combustion, compared to ignition engines which are conrtroled combustion.
Even with all the electronics diesel engines still rely on compression ignition ti ignite & burn the fuel, that is why diesels rattle. They are getting better, but only a exhaust filter can clean them up; Toyota's & Nissans are the worst, even the landrover. the harder they're pushed the dirtier the become.

That's the thing see... from what I understand, every Volkswagen & Audi diesel car has a particulate filter, from the 1.9litre 74kW 240Nm Turbodiesel 4-cyl in the Polo to the 5.0litre 230kW 750Nm Twin Turbodiesel V10 in the Touareg, and all in between. That's why the Q7 blowing smoke = strange to say the least.

[Green X]

Yeah ok Johnydep, I am straying away from the original post a bit, but only putting a few facts across about diesel engines, I am not necessarily targeting you mate.

I don’t disagree they can be dirty and I am sure they do put out more partial matter than the petrol counterpart but we can’t just look at 2 or 3 test results and say yes diesels are bad, look at the emissions across the bord from both petrol and diesel and we will most likely find diesel isn’t that bad. We all remember leaded petrol and why that was ditched and unleaded is really just the lesser of 2 evils.

Dirty Diesel Talk a Detroit Diesel 2 stroke, that’s dirty but an absolutely brilliant engine which is no longer built due to emission laws.

A diesel engine was never meant to be run on petroleum, it’s just what we feed them, and they CAN literally run on straight unrefined light Crud oil if tuned rite, filter it and drop it in, they are not called a oil burner for nothing, it will run on oil.

Diesel knock as it is called is due to (As you said) uncontrolled combustion. This takes place before TDC right after the delay period where fuel is being injected continuously the knock is the shock wave of the ignited fuel and thus huge pressure rise striking Piston crown, cylinder walls, head ECT remembering that diesels run combustion pressures way above that of a petrol, Diesel knock and the amount there of has many factors controlling it’s severity one of witch is fuel quality (bring in Aussie diesel) the others which all relate around the engine’s and manufacturing design I will not go into hear. The rest of the combustion is controlled.

That Puff of black smoke is generally nothing and is a sine of more fuel being “Dumped” into the combustion chamber resulting in brief for lack of a better description over fuelling as the engine comes up to speed. However excessive smoking can be due to a few factors once agene not getting into that hear. The new Electronic diesels with full electronic control should be better in this regard as they have the ability to reduce, increases or shut off fuel injection in a micro second to any cylinder.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a diesel is a dirty, slow, pollution machine they are a very précised piece equipment so much so that partials as small as 4 microns can damage injection systems which can run pressures in excess of 20,000PSI that’s why you get workshops that specialise in diesel engines and why diesel Fitters can earn Big money.

Once agene not saying they don’t put out carbon “Soot” than the Petrol counter part just trying to clear up some misunderstanding about them.

Cheers.

[redranga]

How can you call a Detroit two stroke a brilliant engine Greenx?

They are the biggest pieces of **** thats out there. In my trade their nickname is "green leaker" as the blocks painted green and they leak oil from every gasket and from the airbox drains. You constantly have oil dripping out of the engine and this is its design. You've got to love the sound of one on song though.

Getting back to new vehicles diesel engines have come a long way in the last 10 years mainly due to turbocharging which leans them out under load and electronic engine mangement and now common rail injection.

For all the knockers of diesels I suggest you head down to a Toyota dealership and test drive a new hilux. There quiet, dont smell much and go like rockets. You only need to use 2nd to take off in and then 4th as they've got massive torque.

My turbo diesel ute weighs in at 2000kgs day to day. It uses 9 litres per 100 kms around town. This ute was also sold in a petrol version which uses 18-20L per 100 km.

Im not a mathematician but if your burning twice the fuel to do the same work wouldnt your emissions also be greater on a per Km basis?

[Falcon Coupe]

Agreed Green X, my new common rail 2.5 Nissan has 16,000klm on it, but it still blows a little puff if i nail the throttle, i think it's the fly by wire throttle dumping a heap in.

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Steffo

That's the thing see... from what I understand, every Volkswagen & Audi diesel car has a particulate filter, from the 1.9litre 74kW 240Nm Turbodiesel 4-cyl in the Polo to the 5.0litre 230kW 750Nm Twin Turbodiesel V10 in the Touareg, and all in between. That's why the Q7 blowing smoke = strange to say the least.

Please read the attached article that this thread was started from, before making comments that accuse people of not telling the truth :

Sister company Audi has filters as standard on diesel models of its A3 , A6 Allroad and A8. The 4.2-litre diesel version of the Q7 off-roader, arriving later this year, will have a filter as standard.

This 'dirty diesel' topic is not new, someone didn't wake up yesterday and say "I'm going to have some fun with the diesel community" European countries have know for years that it is deadly stuff, that is why they have very strict regulations.
Petrol is no angel, but diesel needs to be cleaned up before we embrace it as our fuel saviour (which is only a short term fix).

[johnydep]

Originally Posted by Green X

Yeah ok Johnydep, I am straying away from the original post a bit, but only putting a few facts across about diesel engines, I am not necessarily targeting you mate.

I don’t disagree they can be dirty and I am sure they do put out more partial matter than the petrol counterpart but we can’t just look at 2 or 3 test results and say yes diesels are bad, look at the emissions across the bord from both petrol and diesel and we will most likely find diesel isn’t that bad. We all remember leaded petrol and why that was ditched and unleaded is really just the lesser of 2 evils.

Dirty Diesel Talk a Detroit Diesel 2 stroke, that’s dirty but an absolutely brilliant engine which is no longer built due to emission laws.

A diesel engine was never meant to be run on petroleum, it’s just what we feed them, and they CAN literally run on straight unrefined light Crud oil if tuned rite, filter it and drop it in, they are not called a oil burner for nothing, it will run on oil.

Diesel knock as it is called is due to (As you said) uncontrolled combustion. This takes place before TDC right after the delay period where fuel is being injected continuously the knock is the shock wave of the ignited fuel and thus huge pressure rise striking Piston crown, cylinder walls, head ECT remembering that diesels run combustion pressures way above that of a petrol, Diesel knock and the amount there of has many factors controlling it’s severity one of witch is fuel quality (bring in Aussie diesel) the others which all relate around the engine’s and manufacturing design I will not go into hear. The rest of the combustion is controlled.

That Puff of black smoke is generally nothing and is a sine of more fuel being “Dumped” into the combustion chamber resulting in brief for lack of a better description over fuelling as the engine comes up to speed.
However excessive smoking can be due to a few factors once agene not getting into that hear. The new Electronic diesels with full electronic control should be better in this regard as they have the ability to reduce, increases or shut off fuel injection in a micro second to any cylinder.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a diesel is a dirty, slow, pollution machine they are a very précised piece equipment so much so that partials as small as 4 microns can damage injection systems which can run pressures in excess of 20,000PSI that’s why you get workshops that specialise in diesel engines and why diesel Fitters can earn Big money.

Once agene not saying they don’t put out carbon “Soot” than the Petrol counter part just trying to clear up some misunderstanding about them.

Cheers.

Good read, yes I agree the black smoke is an over fueling problem, probably to help protect the engine.

Diesel engines are popular for good reason, they are efficient, reliable & produce tons of torque.

They do have an emissions problem though, that can only be solved with particulate filters; so why not have one fitted to every diesel vehicle?