PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

patterson · #8 09-29-2002, 11:28 PM

The Isuzu Diesels are just about bulletproof in light vehicle application. The Isuzu TD pickup has been the best vehicle I could ever ask for. It is peppy, has a good A/C and it just keeps on going. I would love to have anew one just like it. Isuzu still makes that engine for commercial applications albeit without the turbo. It is a heavy built all iron pushrod engine with oil cooled pistons. The turbo pickups have 80 horsepower compared to 58 for the non-turbo pickups. The turbo pickups are getting extremely rare and the people that have them will not sell them unless they are extremely ragged out.

Peter, I had an old Rabbit Diesel. It was my first Diesel actually. I never was happy with the power it had to offer eventhough it was in an extremely light car. The mileage is outstanding though, I never dropped below 45 mpg with it. I never found anyone besides the dealer that would adjust my valves and at the time the kit to do it yourself was expensive. I guess this lead to it needing a valve job at 150,000 miles. I pulled the head and took it to my machine shop to find out that the head was warped beyond specs and they can't be milled so I had to pop for a new head. The rabbit diesels are swirl prechamber diesels which I assume the Volvo TD's are also. This is louder than the Mercedes prechamber design but it seems to be more efficient. All Japanese diesels I have dealt with use the swirl prechamber design as the VW. Oddly enough the GM and Ford in-direct injection diesels also use the swirl prechamber setup. The swirl prechamber is also referred as the Ricardo V prechamber. In my experience so far Mercedes's design is unique to Mercedes.

Well I got the Rabbit going again and sold it. I said then that I would not own another aluminum head diesel, but I might have to eat my words or keep on driving obsolete vehicles. From an engineering perspective the only advantage to using aluminum is weight. The drawbacks are numerous especially when mated to an iron engine. Aluminum expands approximately twice as much as iron when heated so this makes the head move on the block which leads to many head gasket and bolt problems.

As far as trucks I love the ride and drive of a Chevy truck. My 6.5 Turbo Diesel attracted me because at the time it was the most powerful diesel on the market (by their factory ratings) and was about 2,000 less of a diesel premium than ford and dodge. The truck ran great, had acceptable performance, and was much quieter than the competition. But it was a pile of junk. Injection system problems galore along with the vacuum/turbo issues. So I got tired of sitting beside the road in a new truck and sold it at a loss. I replaced it with my F-250 with the International 7.3 Diesel. Good truck but it just is not pleasant to drive or ride therefore I usually opt the little turbo Isuzu over it. Keeps the mileage low but who cares about that. I will have to drive it if I ever wear the Isuzu out, but I might not live that long.

Peter what mileage do you get out of the Volvo TD? I know it is not as good as a rabbit, but does it do better than your Mercedes?