Thread: which engine is better petrol or diesel (older styles)

I am, as always, favouring the Diesel, but you will have to accept that they are slow, and will redefine the term "speed" for you. They are less frugal than more modern Diesel engines and don't like overheating, revving and those issues.
The petrol engines are basically similar, somewhat less frugal but somewhat more agile.
I'd go Diesel anytime unless you have a vehicle with a well going petrol engine anyway. It's basically horses for courses. There was a thread about this some weeks ago, do a search for it.

Cheers

depends on what you want to do....

IMHO the diesels the go, its a bit lower on power but up on economy if driven nice and has a fatter torque band.

It all depends on priorities -

Economy and range : diesel

On-road performance: petrol

A quiet life : petrol

Ultimate offroad capability : diesel

Minimum maintenance: diesel

Stands neglect and abuse : petrol

No cracking of panels due to vibration : petrol

Lower fire risk : diesel

Better payload (not a big difference) : Petrol

Decide which are important for you and you have the answer.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Stands neglect and abuse : petrol

Ummm, Id disagree with that

I've never had a diesel 2.25 but have driven them. I did have a petrol one though (ex-REME 2a) for about 7 years and for a relatively economical, durable, bush repairable industrial machine it's hard to beat. Felt like it would last forever. I especially loved the crank handle. When I was in the Simpson a few weeks ago I found myself thinking what it might have been like had I done it in that instead of my Defender. I think it would have easily crossed the desert just required a bit of patience on the 2500km of bitumin (overdrives always seemed so expensive back then).

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Ummm, Id disagree with that

I'm interested in your reasons - my reasons, for example, I got an example of a diesel that had been dusted - it was virtually impossible to start. A similarly abused petrol engine would still run, just down on power and use a lot of oil, but would not be as worn anyway because the throttled petrol engine takes in less air and hence less dust than a diesel. Similarly, failure to change oil, while not good for either engine, will become terminal sooner with the diesel since the higher loading on bearings makes lubrication more critical. As another example, while dirty fuel will cause problems with either, it is more likely to cause expensive damage to the injection pump in a diesel, where it can be fixed by simple cleaning in the petrol engine.

John

i hate diesels, noisyer , smelly , expensive to maintain , oil twice the price of oil for a petrol motor , parts more expensive , deisel 10c ltr dearer

Originally Posted by richard4u2

i hate diesels, noisyer , smelly , expensive to maintain , oil twice the price of oil for a petrol motor , parts more expensive , deisel 10c ltr dearer

I don't think that personal likes or dislikes are relevant to this discussion. I doubt that considering the two engines in question maintenance is very different between the petrol and diesel, and while some parts are more expensive for the diesel, they tend to be needed less often. Filters are the same, and you can use the same oil. Certainly diesel is often dearer, but the difference is a lot less than the difference in fuel consumption in this case.

John