The 4.3 Liter Diesel V-6 was actually a pretty good engine, a bit anemic, but without the reliability problems of the 5.7 Liter Diesel V-8. Unfortunately, by the time GM’s Diesel V-6 came out, GM had such a poor reputation for diesels, that the engine died due to a lack of interest.

Enough time has passed that such a fate is unlikely to occur with any new diesel engines that GM brings out.

Thanks for the link! You are right. I think GM can build a good diesel, but I don’t know if the public will accept it.

A V-8 oil burner is overkill in most automotive and light-truck applications. All those big rigs you see on the freeway? Just about all of them have inline-6 Diesels.

Yeah, but they are huge! Caterpillar has the C-15 which displaces 15.2 liters and produce 625 horsepower and 2050 pound feet of torque.

Some people just prefer to have an eight-cylinder engine in their truck, whether diesel or gas. I just want a good engine.

If anything a straight six would be easier to balance and reduce noise at idle.

The V Motori 4-banger in the Jeep Liberty is a fantastic Diesel engine well suited to a light duty truck. Mated to the proper transmission it could easily beat 30 MPG.

So why is Detroit so fixated on 8-cylinders?

–chuck

It would be interesting to see a lower powered, more efficient diesel in the high volume “half ton” market.

The new 4.5l Diesel GM is planning as a drop in replacement in small block applications is reported to be an in-house design, the first non-Isuzu engine post divorce:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/2935

I have no doubt that GM knows how to build a proper diesel engine, the only question is if they will do so this time. I’m pretty sure nobody there wants to repeat the 1980s V-8 diesel disaster.

The fact that all of the volume truck makers are getting into this game means that there will be strong price competition which will help bring the premium down over time. When I look at family car prices in Europe it looks like the premium for a diesel over a similar sized gasoline engine is similar to the premium for an automatic transmission instead of a manual, around £1000. Don’t make the mistake of simply using currency conversions to say what that means in $US, because that isn’t how the real consumer market works. A Mondeo starts at about £17,245 in the UK. The similar sized Fusion starts at $17,770.

I expect that once the market stabilizes we will see a diesel premium in the US of around $1000. It may take several years for supply, demand and competition balances to work out and get there. Higher volumes mean lower production costs. GM and Ford are both bringing their next generation diesel development and manufacturing in house, which if they do it right should result in lower costs than buying from Isuzu and Navistar.

Now if folks can figure out how to make the algae based bio-diesel process work in volume we will be all set.

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

I think the big 2.5 are still missing the boat. What we need are small diesels, in the 2.5l range. A mid-size truck with a 2.5l TDi could conceivably return ~30mpg while still providing decent (though not dragster-like) performance.

I agree with crackers, I hope they don’t go after the huge premiums like they do in the “heavy duty”* models.

*The “heavy duty” models that Ford, GM, and Dodge sell are, in fact, not heavy duty trucks. They are heavier versions of their light duty trucks (at least up to the Ford F350 and Dodge and GM 3500s.

I wish them the best.