Whoa, check out this current 4 cyl MB diesel
 

Just discovered this, the OM654:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_OM654_engine

2.0 liters, 192 hp, 295 ft, lbs. I think those figures are with the twin turbo, the single turbo puts out 150 hp. I think.

Came out in the 2016 E-Class 220d so apparently I'm behind the curve again. Oh well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWkC_DDWw6U

Whoa, check out this current 4 cyl MB diesel
 

Ive got the 2.1 4 cylinder in my 2016 Sprinter 2500 decent mileage and power.

161 hp and 266 pound-feet of torque.

Thats the lower output variant. The high output version makes 241hp and 369lb torque....which is 39 more HP but the same torque as the OM651....its also physically lighter.....though thats not always a good thing depending what they did to achieve that....

These engines have a bad reputation for the exhaust system, the turbos, and you guessed it, the timing chain. Really. 120+ years of the finest German engineering and they still have problems with timing chains.....

Wow. There’s a lot I don’t know about this engine.

What's more, crap. So much promise in many regards. Maybe the bugs will be worked out.

Probably is more like it.

aluminum block in a diesel, how stupid

Yeah, you wonder if the weight savings is worth it. But who knows, I'm sure they went to some lengths on the design. They don't want to recall 10s of thousands of engines

duramax went to cast iron, vw, and mb again. what was funny duramax with cold hardened cylinders. B.S. we used nitrogen after heat treat to stabilze metal

Pretty wild. That vehicle weighs between 5000 and 5700 lbs., or so I read on the web. I learned how to drive on a '65 Lincoln Continental that weighed approx in that range and had a 430 cu.in. engine. And the Sprinter does well with a 119 cu.in engine.

The transmission helps a lot. First is low and has a finely tuned torque converter that stalls perfectly though first gear. Third is the only gear where it kind of falls on its face but picks up again through the rest. About 18 mpgs overall. Its governed at 80mph and only kicks down on bridges.

My OM651 is still going strong with no mechanical issues at all at 95k....and I drive it like I stole it most of the time. Oil analysis shows engine is in perfect condition and it burns nothing between 6k changes. They're not all bad....also a 2nd gear launch with 369lbs of torque never gets old!

I've run across some whining about the OM651 in discussions here and there, but have also seen accounts like yours. The stats I can find put it pretty close to the OM654 in sheer potential.

I have a loopy ambition to find a BMW E30 with no engine (was a great one on Craigslist a year or two ago here - good shape, cheap) and put in a 651 or maybe some years hence when they are more available, a 654. I really liked my 325i but the fuel pump issues were way annoying. Had two, electric of course, one an in-tank. I let go of my first one about a year ago, had 450K and an electronic gremiln I could not find. Would run great, still really strong, for 5 to 20 minutes and then conk out, unstartable for 1 to 3 days. But I just couldn't keep it, didn't have room for it. My second had been totaled earlier by a rear ender SUV.

I read that the E220D will do the 0 to 100km run in 8.8 seconds. The E30 weighs nearly 1000 lbs less, the non convertible ones anyway. So I'm wondering if one such Frankencar might have 7.0 second speed and get 40+ mpg. That would be faster than my 325i and that was fast enough for me. I don't need to go 0 to 60 in 5 or 4 seconds. No need. Would just get me in trouble.

I've read of several 606 transplants into an E30 but looks like trouble. Just not enough room. You would think one of these 4s would be more doable. It's a stretch but who knows. And then I'd need to jump through proper hoops to get a gasoline badged car legal for diesel power, I gather it can be done.

Or I could just come down to earth and get an MB with one of those motors. If they ever open the US market for this car.

So I'm guessing the OM651 doesn't have any B20 issues. Once more I see I've been naive. The OM654 unlikely to reach N. America at this point owing to B5 vs B20 issues. Not sure if progress has been made on that score, the article I read was from from 2017. I'll have to research to see in HPR diesel avoids those issues but that stuff is barely available in the US. It's not even that common in California.

Dead end technology. MB has abandoned development of new diesel engines for cars. There's just no market for them anymore. They're being banned in most European cities and the cost to clean up their emissions just keeps going up. These engines have no future. Mercedes is desperate to catch up with Tesla and a few of the other manufacturers are way ahead of them in EVs.
Aluminum block diesels have been around for decades, it's nothing new. They generally get better fuel economy than iron block with less overheating issues.

Yeah, inconvenient facts. The cars that Mercedes has with the OM654 and OM656 are pretty appealing, or would be if something like HPR was as available as dino and at a good price. But it isn't and all of us who are sober on these things knew it wouldn't be. Just not enough waste fat in the world to produce the volume. Dino is drawing on millions of years of accumulated sunlight energy, conveniently stored in liquid form. And I might be delusional with HPR, hyping it beyond reason.

And the B20 thing is whack. Gen 1 biodiesel should have been sold as a specialty item as it was at places like Biofuels Oasis in B-town. I used to fuel my 300SD there in the oh-ohs. Owners of older diesels, of course, have modified their hoses, etc. to deal with it.

Not sure how hard it is to reliably find B5. Discriminating between the two has not been an issue I've had to deal with. Search just now indicates that B5 is widely available. I could have sworn I've seen B20 labels most places I've gone. I am in a weird bubble re fuel. There are three Propel stations in my normal range. I use HPR 98% of the time.

But strange days for us IC guys. I don't really want an electric vehicle at this point. And meanwhile some wild developments are on the IC scene. The 654 and 656 are impressive from my vantage point. The Achates engine as well. That one at least will probably see use in big trucks. Reportedly meets the 2027 Cal emissions standards. And the Koenigsegg engine's pneumatic valve tech is pretty wild. Lot of potential there.

Could be the future for us diesel guys is with engines like the OM648 and a few others. I found this page about an adapter kit to mate the 648 or 613 to Chevy transmissions. Seems like that might be a cost effective route to go. OTOH, $1800 US, not cheap.

https://www.dieselpumpuk.com/shop/adaptor-kits/adaptor-kit-chevrolet-small-and-big-block-auto-trans-to-om613-om648/