doh!

Death by diesel

Maybe they should publish an article about how many people are going to die if the global community continues to gobble up gasoline in their road-hogging SUVs

I'm with you.

My long term prediction is the eventual death of the gasoline engine. This won't happen in 10 years, or even 20 years, but it will happen eventually.

Diesel engines can be made to emit less harmful substances than gasoline engines. With the low sulphur diesel sold in Europe and which will be coming to the US in 2006, MB's and VW's diesel powered-vehicles can be sold in all US States as they will then meet emissions requirements. Diesels aren't noisy anymore. In fact, the E320 CDI is 2 decibels quieter than the E320! Modern electronically direct injected diesel engines may fall slightly short of their gasoline counterparts in horsepower but more than make up for it in earth crushing torque. And it has been shown that no matter how you calculate it, a diesel engine is going to be 25 - 35% more fuel efficient than a similar gasoline engine.

With diesel engines getting almost the same fuel economy numbers as hybrids but without the insane extra costs of hybrids, these hybrids are bound to die soon as well. In fact, they will simply be the transitional engines from combustion of petroleum products to Hydrogen. We will see what happens in the upcoming years.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

Plus, at some point I think we will have a convergence of political influences that will make bio-diesel more desireable.

1) Petroleum costs compared to bio-diesel costs.

2) Patriotism. i.e. sending money to US farmers rather than Arab terrorists.

3) Fuel economy, amplified by hybrid diesel-electric.

4) Renewable fuel.

At some point it may turn out that gasolene will revert to being "cleaning fluid" as it started out.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

heard that today on public radio.....What will be the improvements associated wit low sulfur diesel?

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Rob M
Norwich, VT USA
1980 240D Euro delivery 4 speed manual silver/blue
~160K miles

There is supposed to be less sulfur dioxide created with low sulfur fuel. Sulfur dioxide becomes acid rain. That's the theory anyway.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

Currently, diesel-powered cars from MB and VW can't be sold in CA and four other US States because they emit too much NOx particulates. These emissions would be drastically lowered by low sulphur diesel, which contains about 300 times less sulphur than the diesel currently being sold in the US now.

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1999 Mercedes-Benz S600, 103K miles - garage queen
1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL, 89K miles - daily driver
2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited, 31K - daily driver

I believe the benefit is less sulfur in the air which combined with water becomes H2S04 sulfuric acid (acid rain) eating into buildings eroding national monuments and so forth...

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

The national political machine has a vested interest in the oil industry, we will continue to see fuel economy be of little importance.

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1984 300D Turbo Sedan (Hilda) 272,115 miles.....
Anthracite Gray/Palamino Leather, I am 3rd owner

2001 Dodge Stratus (Silver) (wifes) 55814 miles...

1982 280TE Wagon Astral Silver Metallic/
Anthracite Velour
260,512 miles (Eva)

1969 230 Sedan Olive Green/Black MBTex
4 Speed Manual
84,213 miles ????
Haus Frau


2004 Boreem Ninja Pocket Bike
Highly Modified 49cc (Ling Ling)

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

I never understood how these so-called studies can draw such a definite conclusion. How do the people who ran these studies know for sure that these people who died didn't die from overeating junk food, lack of exercise or by inhaling gasoline exhaust from some old POS pickup truck? Carbon monoxide is the most lethal poison folks, and gasoline engines produce many more times the amount that diesel engines do. The other flaw in this study that I see is that they call buses, trucks and construction equipment "diesels", thus giving diesels a bad name, including passenger cars running on diesel fuel. If diesels are so filthy, then why doesn't anyone install gigantic gasoline engines in buses, trucks & construction equipment? I'm sure they would be a lot cleaner.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Emissions from old diesel engines cause more than 20,000 Americans a year to die sooner than they would have otherwise, an environmental group estimated Tuesday.

How much sooner? If we eliminate the diesel engine these people would live forever, right?

On a side not, why is everyone so down on SUVs when the trucks are just as bad? No one said a word when I had a 1500 Silverado but sneak a glance at an SUV and there will be hell to pay. The Siverado is about the same thing as a Suburban, AFAIK, in most respects. Many guys to use them as transport. Seems to me like the SUV might be the female version of the truck. Because of a male bonding thing, they are more hesitant to criticize the truck than the SUV.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

They are all diesel engines so they get lumped up in the same basket.

As to why they use diesels in construction, I would suspect the longevity of the engine and the cost of the fuel but mostly the torque generated.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

1. So far, without subsidies, I don't see how it is that much cheaper.

2. Venesuela is where it mostly comes from because we won't drill our own land.

You do realize that diesel is not going to be the answer for everyone. If it wasn't for the fact that the wife has to do long distance travel for the next 2 years, I'd still be with a gas. No glowing, no smelly hands, no worries of gelling or having to use additives, easier starting and much lower cost for diesel option engine among other things. So it all depends on what you view as important.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Re: the fossil fuel debate... from somebody far smarter than all of us put together...

The Real Story

I you really want to piss off the granola crowd in CA get one of these:

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/xtfamily/cxt.asp

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Bill Reimels
Now down to one:
1972 300SE 3.5 W109 (Euro delivery)