That is not the reason why. It is purely marketing. Legistlation in those countries either does not require such clean exhaust emissions and therefore the expense of those engines or as in most of America, a combination of the above with high sulphur fuel which excludes the low emissions and causes the oil to degrade faster and need changing more often. The higher sulphur content fuel is naturally a better lubricant than ultra low sulphur fuel which needs lubricity enhancers added to raise it to a set standard. Australia is late to adopt clean fuel. In fact like America it has until recently had high sulphur fuel [with excellent lubricity though] and a poor history of storage hygiene with leaky tanks with much dirt and water contamination.
They have sold CR and Unit Injector engines for donkeys years but not with the high injection pressures now utilised and not until about seven or eight years ago commonly with solenoid injectors with multiple phases per cycle. John Deere are having terrible trouble with their recently introduced CR engines allegedly. They blame UK fuel but I am willing to put some money on it [if indeed there is a problem] being universal and international. Further, these engines are industrial engines built to be robust heavy duty units not light duty car engines.
Having said all that, I would agree that these small engines should be and generally are robust and reliable. At present though, some engines do have fuel system problems. A well established example is the Isuzu 3.0 unit oil-over-fuel injected engine which has Cat type unit pump-injectors. These have had a very high incidence of catastrophic failure mainly due to injector sleaves leaking fuel into the oil and filling the crankcase with diesel until the engine literally explodes. Nissan CR engines have a high failure rate of CR systems with metal particles contaminateing the system due to component failure. I could go on about injectors, variable nozzle turbo's, excessive EGR and the damage caused etc etc..
In the UK diesel is also more expensive than petrol but that does not stop almost 50% of cars being sold with diesel engines.
Cat have started producing CR engines out of their Peterborough England factory. I have no idea who has actually taken the engine so far because we are about a year from having to use it through legistlation. Above 200hp the tier three offroad is already more strict and high pressure systems combined with four valves are now commonplace. Perhaps the Cat/Perkins 4.4 and 6.0 CR engines are used in some trucks already but I have no information regarding this yet.
Whatever the OP's car (not a PT Cruiser) I am a bit surprised this wholelsale condemnation of the PT ccruiser hasn't attracted a mass of flaming from enthusiastic PT Cruiser owners participating in the Chrysler NG.
Or maybe there aren't any and everyone is in agreement...?
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
What's the relevance of that? In my neck of the woods (London) diesel has cost the same as or been dearer than standard 95-octane petrol for a year or more. Fuel 'duty' (tax) is the same on both now.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
However; I'm British and used to buying bangers. You think I would buy a dangerous car? There wasn't a trace of rust on that old Eldorado's underbody/brake/fuel lines, only a scratch on the front wing and the split seats let it down.
The Eldorado was from a Chevy dealer, too. The car I had before was a
1979 Regal 2dr bought on eBay for $400 (I liked the Eldorado better, but I did do some running servicing on the Buick like replacing the PCV and ignition systems. Yeay Autozone, or something. So cheap!).
Welcome to the world of petrol attendants. They exist in other countries, too, even in Europe. Some also take you payment on the forecourt, so at least you get a bit more service.
Bill, I am sure you are enjoying this conversation mainly among Brits (a rate treat in the Chrysler NG) but clearly you don't yet have a full grip on the terminology... you can also fill a petrol tank with diesel... (without harming the car)... :-) (Also note the lack of swearing but occasional fine insult....)
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
Well, enjoy the concert, which will no doubt be Bringing Back Memories of Your Youth..
And last night WE went to an interview of Malcolm Rifkind (he suppports David Cameron, BTW, and is my MP) by an senior Times editor, followed by dinner in a local Greek establishment...not quite headbanging but a nice treat during the week.
DAS
PS. For the non-Brits: Sir Malcolm Rifkind is a former Foreign and Defence Secretary, MP, and (until very recently) on the front bench of the Conservative opposition. Today the Conservative Party will announce its new leader and later in the week we should know whether MR will again be in the shadow government.
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
Great while they go. I've a Vito CDi with a wrecked engine at the moment. Only 45000 miles. We thought at first that it had a fuel injector problem because it was slow starting and smoked a bit. It turns out that it has bent conrods among other extensive damage and effectively it needs a new engine. All these new diesels are *extremely* expensive to repair. They are also very complex compared to most petrol engines. When they do work, they work extremely well. The little Peugeot 1.4 engine exceeds the performance of most 1.6 petrol engines of less than a decade ago but its installation in cheap cars means that a fairly small repair, like injector replacement, when several years old is likely to be uneconomic. I haven't priced an injector but some can be as high as £400 *each*
I thought that that was actually the case; but that the Diesel filler used a larger nozzle than gasoline, therefore it would prevent people from putting Diesel in a gasoline car but not vice versa. Remember back to when unleaded gasoline was introduced; the filler neck of vehicles with a cat had "restrictors" in them so that only the new, smaller unleaded nozzle would fit. I assume that that is still the case to this day but it has been so long since I've seen a leaded gas pump that I couldn't say for sure. It's also possible that the new, smaller nozzles are so universal that they're being used for everything, not just unleaded gasoline, but I haven't driven a Diesel vehicle in a while either.
I do remember my grandfather buying a new Chevy pickup right when this changeover was occurring; I think it was a '76 model. It ended up with a standard carburetor and exhaust system (no cat) but had the new fuel filler with the restrictor and "unleaded fuel only" stickers. Not sure if he just knocked the restrictor out with a chisel or bought a new filler; this was quite a few years ago.
Completely off topic; I recall that the truck he was replacing was a '73 that my dad ended up buying. He lost the gas cap at some point maybe 20 years later; it was a PITA to find a new gas cap, it turned out that it had a '72 model filler neck on it. Not sure how that worked; as a '72 would have had the gas tank filler in the cab but the '73 was on the pass. side rear fender, but there you have it. I also remember at some point the fender was replaced with a junkyard replacement, and apparently 74-up fenders relocated the gas filler up higher and it was much easier to refuel from that point on (didn't have to leave the pump set on the lowest flow setting to keep it from kicking off early.) Gotta love GM...
I had a vehicle come in that had been to a store where a person stole diesel and drove off with the pump handle still in the vehicle,the store put another nozzle on the pump wich was for an unleaded pump,85 vehicles got deisel fuel that day before anyone noticed.
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