Diesel Engines
Diesel engines represent a proven technology with a long history of success. The invention of this motor is accredited to Dr. Rudolf Diesel. He was a German engineer that produced the first working model in 1897. This is now the dominant power plant in heavy-duty trucks, farm equipment, buses, and even large marine applications. During the early 1980s, many predicted small versions of the amazing motor would replace gasoline engines in passenger vehicles. However, stable gas prices and a few other drawbacks of the more efficient diesel engine capped the enthusiasm for the automotive technology in the retail market.
Diesel engines workBoth of these engines are available in four stroke combustion cycle types. However, the diesel engines are easily recognized by the absence of an ignition system. That’s right no spark plugs, distributor or spark plug wires. The cylinders are ignited by magic at exactly the right moment. The motor uses the magic of heat produced by compressing air and fuel in the combustion chamber to ignite the fuel charge. Fuel injectors spray pressurized diesel into the cylinders just as the piston is completing its compression stroke.
The heat of the compressed air ignites the fuel and the explosion drives the cylinder downward know as the power stroke. When the engine is cold glow plugs are needed to heat up the combustion chamber. Cold starting is impossible without these glow plugs because even a high compression ratio cannot heat cold air enough to cause spontaneous combustion.
How diesels workThere is the open combustion chamber, Pre combustion chamber, and turbulence combustion chamber. The open style has the combustion chamber located directly on top of the piston. It looks like a small indentation or shallow cup. Diesel fuel is injected directly into the center of the chamber. The pre combustion chamber style is a smaller second chamber connected to the main combustion chamber. On the power stroke, fuel is injected into the small chamber. Combustion is started there and then spreads to the main combustion chamber. This design allows lower fuel injection pressures.
One of my favorite engines of all times is the 7.3 L Ford power stroke. Currently we have three handy buses in our fleet that have this power train installed. All three of these buses have more than 350,000 miles on the original engine. The buses themselves are 1996 Ford Econoline E-350 Vans with cutaway bodies. Although these heavy duty trucks have not needed any internal work, each one has had to have a water pump and alternator about every hundred thousand miles or so. Whether you like Ford trucks or not, the 7.3 L diesel stroker is one of the best engines you can have installed.
Give this diesel resource page a 
Ford diesel engines are covered very well in the All-Data online auto service manual. I put together a quick video of how to use this well designed car repair manual Search all of my auto repair content and the Internet at the same time.  Custom Search If you are looking for more information on gasoline engines, please visit my section dedicated to automotive engine repair For more automotive information and a list of what is available on this car repair website the homepage is available from the next link. You can go from the page about diesel engines to car repair help
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