Diesel engines ... power driving uphill?

[TheVrolok]

I was under the assumption that diesel engines have been historically bad at uphill travel .. that they barely had the power to get up there. My dad complained about his old diesel VW rabbit and how it would chug up a hill and just barely get over it. I realize this has been changing with the newer diesel engines, but am I correct in that assumption. A friend and I are discussing the matter.

 

[ThaGrandCow]

diesel = power (torque), but not the highest speed. With that torque you can go up a hill accelerating, or at least not lose any power.

Why do you think the heavy machinery runs on diesel?

 

[DannyBoy]

Aye if anything i think you will find its the other way around

A diesel engine is more likely to pull you over a hill than a petrol one...

 

[Colt45]

Tell your friend to shift down when he's going up a hill

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy
Aye if anything i think you will find its the other way around

A diesel engine is more likely to pull you over a hill than a petrol one...

Fer once he's right






Diesel engines have more lower down torque than petrol engines, so they shouldn't drop off power when going up a hill like a petrol will


Confused

 

[DannyBoy]

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: DannyBoy
Aye if anything i think you will find its the other way around

A diesel engine is more likely to pull you over a hill than a petrol one...

Fer once he's right






Diesel engines have more lower down torque than petrol engines, so they shouldn't drop off power when going up a hill like a petrol will


Confused

no comment

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

The trumped up fuel crisis caused many manufactures to rush improperly designed
diesels to the market. Two of the worst were GM's V8 and the early VW diesels.
These engines were engineered to burn gasoline(petrol). They were not robust
enough to deal with the demanding pressures of proper compression ignition.
So the c/r was lowered as was the maximum fuel delivery, as a result they did
perform poorly and generated more smoke in the bargain. This past disgrace gave
diesels an undeserved black eye in the minds of the motoring public.

A good example of a older diesel sedan would be what BMW offered in the late 70's
and early 80's. They smoked a little but performed very well......

 

[Demon-Xanth]

After seeing my dad's '99 Ram diesel yank a combined weight of 8 tons over the Sierra Nevadas by Tahoe. I wouldn't say that diesels have any problems with hills. If there is any problems with diesels, it's that they're often loaded with alot of weight whereas gas engined vehicles are empty.

 

[StageLeft]

ya'll are assuming that he's trying to get up the hill at low speeds. I've no doubt that given the low HP rating of a diesel - torque aside - it's going to do pretty badly compared to a gas counterpart (say a TDI VW vs. a base model GL) at anything except very low speeds.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Skoorb: Consider that my dad's '99 made 245HP/460LB/ft, where the V10 made 300HP/450LB/ft. Not too far off. The most common engine for his truck (aside from the diesel) was the 5.9 that made 250HP/360LB/ft. The HP numbers aren't that far off from the gas engines, and the torque numbers are incredible. I can't wait to see the new 325HP/600LB/ft Cummins in action. If you're willing to go aftermarket, you can start taking out Corvettes in the 1/4 w/ 3 ton bricks.

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
ya'll are assuming that he's trying to get up the hill at low speeds. I've no doubt that given the low HP rating of a diesel - torque aside - it's going to do pretty badly compared to a gas counterpart (say a TDI VW vs. a base model GL) at anything except very low speeds.

Todays diesels will keep up with any gas out there. Older ones were the sore spot on the name, and even then only the car versions.
My grandfather used to have a Chevy 2500 with a 454 (Special order) he traded up to a Chevy 2500 Duamax. The Duramax pulls the same loads the 454 did, but with the Duramax you dont even know its back there whereas the 454 it was noticable.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
ya'll are assuming that he's trying to get up the hill at low speeds. I've no doubt that given the low HP rating of a diesel - torque aside - it's going to do pretty badly compared to a gas counterpart (say a TDI VW vs. a base model GL) at anything except very low speeds.

You really need to go test drive a TDI VW, you'll be impressed.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

Originally posted by: Skoorb
ya'll are assuming that he's trying to get up the hill at low speeds. I've no doubt that given the low HP rating of a diesel - torque aside - it's going to do pretty badly compared to a gas counterpart (say a TDI VW vs. a base model GL) at anything except very low speeds.

You really need to go test drive a TDI VW, you'll be impressed.

I did, and I was. Around traffic it felt quite adequate, even though it has only 90 HP, but I bet that if you were to try and drive it fast you'd quickly feel that there is more to acceleration than only torque. They rev limit so darn low that you have to leave first gear almost immediately!

 

I did, and I was. Around traffic it felt quite adequate, even though it has only 90 HP, but I bet that if you were to try and drive it fast you'd quickly feel that there is more to acceleration than only torque. They rev limit so darn low that you have to leave first gear almost immediately!

Wait another year, the next generation TDI has 150 hp and 200 pound feet of torque

I am seriously considering of dropping one into my new VW Bus.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Roger

I did, and I was. Around traffic it felt quite adequate, even though it has only 90 HP, but I bet that if you were to try and drive it fast you'd quickly feel that there is more to acceleration than only torque. They rev limit so darn low that you have to leave first gear almost immediately!

Wait another year, the next generation TDI has 150 hp and 200 pound feet of torque

I am seriously considering of dropping one into my new VW Bus.

You bought the bus, but have failed to provide pics AND removed the link to your old bus?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Skoorb: the difference is that the hill is being taken at 2500RPM in 4th or 5th gear instead of 5000+ in 3rd. Now, maybe we're talking about different classes of diesels. Though I'm sure this can be driven quite quickly.

 

[Aharami]

i was reading this atricle in vwvortex that the quality of diesels in europe is a lot better than the quality here in US. i hear VW is doing some amazing things with diesel out there in Europe...esp with their Toureag platform

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Skoorb: the difference is that the hill is being taken at 2500RPM in 4th or 5th gear instead of 5000+ in 3rd. Now, maybe we're talking about different classes of diesels. Though I'm sure this can be driven quite quickly.

Whoa, I bet that thing is insanely loud.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Actually, it probably isn't.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: DannyBoy

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: DannyBoy
Aye if anything i think you will find its the other way around

A diesel engine is more likely to pull you over a hill than a petrol one...

Fer once he's right






Diesel engines have more lower down torque than petrol engines, so they shouldn't drop off power when going up a hill like a petrol will


Confused

no comment

'no comment' is synonymous with not clicking the reply button.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Actually, it probably isn't.

Diesels are loud as heck and this one is very powerful!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Skoorb: the newer diesels are actually very quiet. Listen to an '02 Ram sitting beside an '03. You won't hear the '03. They're on par with gas engines now.

 

[LAUST]

Whoa!!! hold on people, Diesel does not just = torque.. have any of you ever driven a N/A Diesel? it's an experience I never care to take part in evAr again.

First of all, most of these high power diesels you see on the market today have Turbo's on them, without them they are gutless wonders.

GM makes the Duramax a 6.6 liter Direct Injection Diesel with a 14PSI turbo in it making 500lbs of torque, My truck with a 5.3 liter with just the Whipple alone at 5PSI of boost (this includes ONLY the bolt-on blower, no other parts) is rated at 490lbs of torque.

Diesel is not really there for being a torque engine, it's there because my truck gets 12-13mpg while towing a 8000lb trailor, the diesel gets about 16mpg while towing a 12,000lb trailor.

 

You bought the bus, but have failed to provide pics AND removed the link to your old bus?

I bought both actually, I had a very hard time deciding between the Bus and the Beetle, so I said to myself "screw it, I'm getting both".

My link is not in my sig anymore because the website is gone for good, it got wiped out when the server crashed, yes I am stupid enough to have not backed up the database

I purchased the following ;

1967 Yellow Beetle -- stock

1967 Blue and white VW Bus Westphalia


www.westyman.com is down for good.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Laust: I was going on the assumption that they were turbo'ed, given that all three diesel pickup manufacturers (in the US atleast) use only turbodiesels. A diesel without forced induction just isn't very good. Diesels love forced induction.