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Are Diesel Engines Better than Gasoline Engines?

By RJ Performance on Jan 17, 2010 |Automotive

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}   Are diesel engines really betterthan those running on gasoline?   I’ll differentiate one from theother, and see for yourself which one is really a better pick.   Gasoline or petrol cars arerunning on engines called ‘spark ignition’ engines.   On the other hand, diesel engines are called‘compression engines’ as they use compressed air to burn into spark in order tostart.   Compression ignition is used toburn fuel.   This fuel is injected to thecombustion chamber in the final compression stage.     In gasoline engines, Otto cycleis used which ignites a fuel and air mixture using a spark plug.   This fuel and air mixture burns and expands,forcing the piston to go down.   Fuel andair are pre-mixed prior to compression.   Pre-mixing backwards electronic age used to happen in a carburetor.   Presently, pre-mixing is already fuelinjection that is electronically-controlled.   Despite the high speed of gasoline engines due to fuel and airpre-mixing, it has limited compression, which translates to lower efficiency.   Higher compression ratio indiesel engines results to better fuel efficiency compared to that in gasengines.   Compression ratio is a very bigfactor in raising efficiency in fuel consumption.   At engine idle and at low power, dieselengines are usually more efficient than the equivalent gasoline poweredengines.    This is because diesel enginesdo not have the butterfly valve or throttle which usually closes at idle.   That is the basic reason why most engines inrailways, agriculture, and marine are on diesel which can be left idle for somany hours, and even for so many days.     Diesel engines also last longerthan gas engines and for its entire lifetime, savings of fuel will accumulatehigher due to the fact that it lasts longer.   This is because gasoline destroys lubrication while diesel won’t.     Engine weight affects speed, andsince diesel are built heavier, gas engines are always lighter, and wouldtherefore be faster when it comes to cars at high speed.   Although, cars which are built heavier havemore torque.   It is also a known fact thatdiesel engines consume 30% lesser fuel than gasoline engines which would havelesser consequent carbon emissions.   Believe it or not, diesel engines are also a lot safer as these producealmost no carbon monoxide, which makes these engines safer to theenvironment.     Tests are able to show thatNitrogen Oxides are higher in new  diesel engines compared to that of new gasoline engines.   However as both engines cover approximately50,000 miles, their oxides tend to level.   Later on, gas engines produce higher oxides than diesel engines beyond50,000 miles.   Believe it or not, diesel enginesalways have more advantages over gasoline cars, economically speaking.

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About RJ Performance

Are Diesel Engines Better than Gasoline Engines? from RJ Performance

RJ Performance was founded in 1998 and has grown into one of North America’s premier medium and light duty diesel engine and component suppliers. We import manufactured products from more than 10 countries.

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