Poll: Torque & Horsepower

[Demon-Xanth]

PG: from what I've read in the owners manual (and driving it), the Dodge Cummins diesel only has the monifold heater on for about 10 seconds during startup, after that the turbo adds in some compression to the piston's normal compression and quite a bit of heat gets created.

After that the engine will stay running if you slip the clutch in 4th on level ground w/o touching the gas pedal (this results in about 15MPH of cruising)

Another note: Diesels are also very good in amphibious activities due to thier lack of dependance on sparkplugs and distributors, which can fail quickly when wet. Only thing a diesel needs to stay running is fuel. If a mechanical fuel pump is used and it's a mechanical injection setup (not used for a long time in cars/light trucks) the battery and alternator could be removed and it would still run. However to start the damned things you need a pair of 12V batteries.

 

[DABANSHEE]

Yeh, I've seen an Australian Army 6X6 diesel Landrover (4lt Izuzu turbo-diesel straight-6) with a snorkel air inlet (you know where they have an air-box near the side of the windscreen with the snorkel taking air from near the roof) fording a river, where only the top 1/2 foot of the car was visible above the water level.

 

[Redneck]

PG, it is possible to start deisels without glowplugs, it just requires a chemical starting aid IE ether, how do you think they started em up in the old days.

Demon,
The intake heater in the cummins is thermostically controlled. See this page for details.
Mechanical injector pumps were used up to the mid 98 model Cummins (6BTA series) when they switched to the computer controlled ISB for emmissions requirements.