Check out this ad currently running in the U.K.

www.honda.co.uk/change

Honda is a name the U.S. consumer trusts. A VW is ... well...a VW. And I love my '79 240D, but we all know a Mercedes nowadays is'nt half the car it used to be.

Like the audi quattros with a 2.5 tdi or a Smart Car. I don't know why the law prevents certain cars with appearantly the same (or better) emissions from being sold here. Some legislative thing to help GM
Interesting what it says in the link: "Why are diesels so noisy at idle? It has to do with piston slap (when the pistons slap against the cylinder bore) so we offset the crankshaft and used a low compression ratio to keep things quiet."
I thought diesel engine clatter was due to the actual combustion. If the noise is piston slap-which it does sound like-it is hard to understand from a mechanical standpoint that these engines can last so long. I'm far from being an engineer though.

I "hate" to say it but the whole presentation looks really, um, gay. I've never seen such overuse of rainbow colors and flowers.

The Diesel Power mag is going to do a review of the wagon version this december.

If our oil companies can stop it they will. Diesel conservatively power 705 of european vehicles. If I couldv'e brought the power train from the last 2 I driven while over there I would have.

Adriano

__________________
Adriano

83 300SD 500,300 miles (Well seasoned work horse AKA "Put Put")
93 300D 245,000 miles (Moms Baby AKA "Sweat Pea")
87 300D 185,000 miles (Life giver, aka parts car for my 300SD)

Usually, it is the cost analysis that tells a company they would be silly to invest Millions of dollars to get a car DOT & EPA-certified that would only sell to those few willing to put up with a small, fuel efficient car that cost as much, if not more than a larger SUV.

That's exactly what the VW engineers told me. It would cost them $5k per car to bring the cars up to the 2007 emissions standards. They can't do that with a $20k car and still make money on it.

I wonder how honda is going to deal with this.

Doesn't lowering the compression lower the efficiency in trade for NVH gains?

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

[QUOTE=Mark Tamburrino] "Why are diesels so noisy at idle? It has to do with piston slap (when the pistons slap against the cylinder bore) so we offset the crankshaft and used a low compression ratio to keep things quiet."

I thought diesel engine clatter was due to the actual combustion.QUOTE]

Yes, the diesel clatter is due to the actual combustion - the engine is essentially pinging all the time. That they say this is due to piston slap is just baseless. If an engine has piston slap, then the cylinder walls are worn out.

The key to the refinement of the new common-rail diesels is multi-charge injection. For example, you can have a pilot charge, then the main charge, then a post-main charge. The latest CDI engines from MB can do at most 5 injections per power stroke (2 pilot, 1 main, 2 post).

By distributing the fuel among multiple charges per power stroke, you have (multiple) weaker pressure waves that in turn generate less sound.

This is what happens when you tell a G@sser enginneer that "HATES" diesels (and likely knows little to nothing about them to start with) and tells him to make one from scratch. Didn't GM try that in the 70's?

no.......and its been proven to be a Urban legend created by the anti american car crowd......J R B knows these well....

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I know it's not a gasser conversion. I ment they used gasser engineers.

Mercedes had whisper quiet diesels back into the '80's. When our diesels were brand new, they were quite inaudible. But besides that, in a properly tuned diesel, you cannot feel the idle once inside, nor can you smell diesel, or hear the engine.

Run your injectors through with Diesel Purge to hear what your engine sounded like long ago. No combustion noise, and a near silent purr.

__________________
1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)

Oh, maybe the diesel engine they were referencing was the 350 diesel. The piston slap would then make sense! As well as the smoking, foul smell and rough idle.

__________________
1987 300SDL (324000)

1986 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo) (166000)

1978 Porsche 924 (99000)

1996 Nissan Pathfinder R50 (201000)