[Shop-talk] Diesel vs. gas engines

[Randall]

> I remember reading some time ago that the legendary long life 
> of Diesel engines was not the fuel type but rather that truck 
> manufactures built Diesel engines to very high tolerances and 
> designed the basic engine, at much higher cost, for long life 
> given the high mileage and type of use it will receive.

I guess the factors I see would fall under that category as well.  Big truck
motors have a miniscule power output for their weight, bigger bearings,
better filtration, etc.

But I do believe that the lubricity of diesel fuel compared to gasoline
plays a part too.

> are the diesel engines used in cars as 
> long lived as the tractor-trailer engines? 

Evidence I've seen is that they are somewhere in-between.  Of course it's
hard to compare apples to apples, as modern car engines seem to last far
longer than those of a few decades ago.  And the way they are used plays a
big role, too.  If you measure lifetime in number of starts (for example) or
better yet, number of revolutions, rather than miles driven, I suspect the
gap becomes much smaller.

Randall - probably 10,000 starts on a Chevy 350