Diesel cars

[48Rob]

Are there any good diesel powered cars available in the US?

I don't mean 3/4 ton and up trucks...already have them...

We're in need of replacing the family car, and smaller diesel seems a good plan for the uncertain future.

Would really like to find a 2-5 year old model, with good history and reports.

Anyone own such a model, or have info?

Rob

[WarPony]

Rob, about the only ones in numbers that old are the VW Beetles and the Jeep Liberty. The V-dubs get the most mileage per gallon (48-52) but have had some problelms with the EGR system plugging up the intake system. Contact Junkman here on the forum, he has one and can probably tell you some more detailed info.

The Liberty's get around 25-28 MPG on the highway and probably will be a better fit for a family than a Beetle. IndyCubby has one and he really liked it. Don't remember if he had any troubles with it or not but he towed his TD with it and got around 21 or 22 with it. Again, you might give him a PM and get the skinny on it. Hope that gave you some insight, I am a diesel mechanic but these vehicles don't come into our shop because most are still under warranty.

Jeff

[asianflava]

Modern V Dubs also suffer from electrical gremlins.

[ATXKJ]

I've got a Liberty Diesel - 05
I love it - but there are a couple of concerns.
Good news-
it's rated at 5000lb towing and some of the folks at LOST have towed 6-7000 without problems.
several folks are running Biodiesel up to 100% no problems
I have gotten 27mpg (before I put a lift/mud tires and bumper) - some folks are getting 30 on the highway.
Bad new - Jeep cut some corners building it.
It's the only diesel Jeep sold and they didn't train the Techs well - rumor was a 1 hr video, and some of the service stories are horrendous, good Diesel techs are worth their weight in gold.
The transmission is the same as the Hemi's - however the Hemi has 4 even power pulse per revolution - the Diesel has 2 - the Torque converter can't handle it - however Suncoast makes a good aftermarket converter.
The fuel system is a vacuum and the fuel head has a plastic puc that holds the fuel heater & it leaks - a Racor replacement fixes that - a lift pump makes it more reliable.


LOST - has a lot of good information - and several Dieselheads

http://www.lostkjs.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=5

[Creamcracker]

Don't know what budget you're working with but there are plenty of Mercedes Benz diesels out there. Just pulled this one up from ebay motors out of 100+ Merc diesel cars listed
ebay clicky
Good luck,
Philip

[Nitetimes]

Hey Jeff Any idea what I could get a small cheap diesel engine out of? Are there any cars that would be good donors?
I need one to power a generator at our camp.

[WarPony]

PM'd ya', Rich..................

Jeff

[asianflava]

I forgot who (I think it was Skippersue) said that they knew someone who put a Mercedes diesel into a F-100 p/u.

[Nitetimes]

PM'd ya', Rich..................

Jeff

Back at ya Jeff.

[madjack]

Rich, I don't know what kinda PM's you and Jeff are passin' back and forth BUT, if you could get hold of the diesel engine out of the refrigeration unit on a 18wheeler trailer, you would indeed have all the power you need for the camp.......
madjack

[WarPony]

If you could get hold of the diesel engine out of the refrigeration unit on a 18wheeler trailer, you would indeed have all the power you need for the camp.......
madjack

YES!!!! I never thought of that!! A little refer unit would work great!! Thermo King is probably one of the most popular units on the road. Good hit on that one, Jackson!!

Jeff

[48Rob]

Thank you all for the reports and ideas!

The Jeep sure has room and towing capacity, but the mileage still isn't what I had hoped for...
We have a Cadillac sedan now, that gets in the 23 range.
All but one of the kids are gone, so we're really only three now, amd usually only one for main use of the car, so smaller is okay.

My son works as a mechanic for a large dealer, and deals with VW's daily.
His advice was also to steer clear of them...unless we wanted the high end phaton, and even that was iffy.
He had one in the shop for some minor problem, and had to remove the engine, transmission, and front end to get to it... somewhere around 5 grand just to find the problem!

The Mercedes looks great! However my budget is a little shy, like by 20 grand or so

We were thinking 15-20 thousand at most for a good used car.


Rob

[Nitetimes]

Rich, I don't know what kinda PM's you and Jeff are passin' back and forth BUT, if you could get hold of the diesel engine out of the refrigeration unit on a 18wheeler trailer, you would indeed have all the power you need for the camp.......
madjack

Now there's an idea that hadn't occurred to me either!!! Thanks Jack, I'll look into that too!
Not I wonder if the semi boneyard down the road would have any of them laying around? Hmmm.

[JunkMan]

We've got a little over 100,000 miles on our 2000 TDI Beetle, and I would consider geting another VW diesel (Odie's not so sure). I've thought about a Jetta wagon, but they are hard to find. VW quit putting diesels in their cars in 2006 (I think) while they re-designed them to make them comply with new regulations, and the web site doesn't show a diesel as an option in the Beetle or Jetta this year. They also don't make a Jetta wagon since they re-designed (the salesmen say it's possible they may have one next year), and we really want the extra room a wagon has.

Until the intake plugged up, Odie used to get 47-50MPG on the highway, and close to 40 in town. Since cleaning it out, her mileage has gone down a little (haven't checked it lately). It has plenty of pep, can't say how it would pull a tear since I haven't finished ours yet.

The earlier (pre 2002?) ones had a bad design for the EGR valve, and it plugged up the intake manifold at about 60,000 miles. Cleaning it out is about a $300 job, or you can do it yourself for about $100 (if you have the parts boiled out) and a few hours.

Doing any work on it is a pain in the butt, there is no room to get at anything. We hit a racoon on the way to Minden in 2005, and broke a fan blade (as well as a bunch of plastic under the engine). It took me almost half a day to replace the darn fan because you couldn't get at any of the bolts, and had to take off a bunch of other stuff to get at it. Just changing the oil requires removing a plastic panel under the engine so you can acces the drain plug, as well as another on top of the engine to get at the filter.

[JunkMan]

I forgot who (I think it was Skippersue) said that they knew someone who put a Mercedes diesel into a F-100 p/u.

I would love to hear about that. I have a 57 Chevy short box that I would like to install an economical engine in. A 5 cylinder Mercedes turbo is one that I have thought about, but I wonder what type of performance and fuel mileage I could expect to get from it. Doesn't need to be to snappy, just have enough power to pull a TD, and keep up with traffic on the freeway (75mph).