Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 17:20:33 -0500
Reply-To: Tom Miller <tmiller@VCMAILS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Miller <tmiller@VCMAILS.COM>
Subject: Diesel VW's and others
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I like diesels. Especially VW diesels. They are quieter than their Detroit Iron counterparts, and get 40-50 MPG in a 5 passenger sedan. Diesel is not
that hard to find. Every truck stop has it on the freeways/tollways and along major highways. You say only one station has it in your home town.
Well? Then you can get it.. You would have to drive a long way "looking for a diesel station" to negate the fuel mileage benefits. I agree the smell is less than desirable. And the exhaust fumes are no bed of roses either. But for those who feel the need to idle their diesels for whatever reasons, STOP IT!! Use a good synthetic diesel oil (I like AMSOIL 15W-40 HD Gas & Diesel, Marine Oil) and warm it up by driving down the road 10-20 seconds after startup. Idling a diesel creates a lot of soot build up in the exhaust side which eventually chokes off the engine and causes "wet stacking" which is unburned fuel in the exhaust. A block heater works great if you are in very cold conditions and also eliminates the need to idle. I used a timer on mine when the winter weather went below zero. About a half hour before I left the house, I had the timer kick on the block heater. The car was toasty warm when I left and very little noise to wake the neighbors while I drove off. Biodiesel isn't yet readily available but commercial recylers are starting to spring up with it in major cities. If there is money in it, someone will do it. The odor of biodiesel is much better than petrol diesel too. Not offensive in the least. Not even to low carb types. It's not like you are burning gallons of biodiesel and generating thousands of cubic feet of exhaust during start up and a short idle in your driveway. Most of the fumes disperse before they get to your neighbor's nose anyway.
Diesel also has a much safer record in accidents. Much less volitile than gasoline. I have always had at least one VW diesel in my garage since 1980 and always will have one. Even when the cost of diesel is higher than gasoline (insane!! Diesel is cheaper to refine than gasoline!!), the fuel economy difference more than makes up for it. With a 20 MPG gasoline vehicle compared to a 40 MPG diesel vehicle, diesel isn't "overpriced" until it is double the cost of the gasoline, at which point it becomes a break even in terms of fuel cost per mile driven. Until then, diesel could cost $3 per gallon with gas at $2 per gallon and the diesel vehicle would still be cheaper to operate.
I think GM wanted to kill diesel engines for use in automobiles long ago when "dieselgate" became a household word. Now people have low opinions of them for the wrong reasons. They have been used in Volvo's and Mercedes almost from the beginning and are still sold with very reliable diesel engines. It is too bad Rudolph Diesel died (committed suicide) pennyless for his efforts.
TEMiller
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