Thread: 300tdi vs td5

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

urmmmm,,, does this mean I should stop planning my trip across the nullabore from the cape to albany in a diesel SWB SIIA?.....

does darwin to albany via perth and back in a 58 jeep CJ5 cut it for the requirements of an old vehicle doing a long trip?

how about a 72 r series mack doing the brisbane-townsville-highrange and back run?

Ok!

I've read the four or 5 pages of this thread that have piled on since I left home this morning.

So far as i can tell, Dave is the only one that is planning to use an older vehicle for a serious Australian trek. I presume the jeep had more than half a million on it. That's 1. Barely qualifies though (sorry) as I want to see evidence of multiple trips with the one vehicle.

Anyone else?

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Just become a member of expeditions forum, talk with expeditions organizers, have a look at the expeditions vehicles that continuously go to South Africa. Some of the 109 are still being used for expeditions in SA and South America. [/font]

I think that this comment has completely destryed any arguement that the vehicle selection has anything to do with reliability. There are quite clearly other contributing factors to the choices being made over there.

Am I correct in presuming that no vehicles ever failed in the remote outback before the use of electronic control on diesels?

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Considering how many folk have driven round the world treks in TD5's I cannot see what the issue is? They may break but very little stops them from getting you to home in limp mode.[/font]

Yep, the introduction of electronic controls has done away with many of the mechanical parts of the motor vehicle these days, such as electronic ignition and the doing away with distributors. Getting rid of unreliable carburettors and vapour locking/flooding fuel systems. There is no doubt in my mind that electronic controls have made vehicles more reliable by just comparing the numbers of break downs that I used to see as a kid, especially on a hot day compared to the very very few that seem to be around today. Interestingly, today the contol computer will also allow you to continue if it can, reduce the problem if it can so the vehicle remains mobile, and also limit damage by shutting engine bits down progresively. Old school is to run it until steam comes out and the engine is warped and then if it’s an iron engine then cool it off, if it has alloy components then replace them.

Come on...give me a break ! Any machine can break, the problem is being able to fix it in a remote place. Do you think that all the companies which are preparing vehicles for Africa and the people who are doing the adventures are dumb ?
It is not use to continue with the argument as long as the people who do not understand the issue are not prepared to put their neck where the mouth is.
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Read and find out why they choose the tdi 300[/font]

Based on a previous comment about them using 109’s, I really don’t think that the choice of the Tdi motor is primarily based on reliability.

Must admit I get fairly sick of people who have no expereince of the td5 knocking them... Sure some of these people are still scared of coil springs and wind up windows....

Things move on guys.... Electronics in cars are not unreliable. In all honesty you could carry every spare engine sensor fro a td5 with you ( I do ) and I have never needed them yet. the whole lot is only a couple of hundred bucks or so.

A lot of the top level uk competiton trucks are now running td5's instead of tdi's.

I wont ever go back to a tdi (and I have nothing against them - they are a good engine)

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Waiting to get flamed![/font]

Yep, there are those that still use the abacus and those that enjoy the calculator . If a sensor goes bad the 4WD will more than likely keep going anyway.

Now on the point of what I said about your sensors......

I can travel about 11kms on that in fuel......Correct

You still have to carry the same sort of spares as well as your sensors.....Correct

geez, does that mean I am correct or not???????????????

As far as the timing belt issue, It isnt an issue as long as you do it at around the 80k km mark as with most vehicals with a timing belt including my wifes carolla and a lot of other cars so I see that as maintenance not a problem as do you guys with replacing looms and tightening oil pump bolts as well as replacing plastic head dowels and head gaskets etc etc etc etc etc.......

Oh yeah Im still correct......

As hard as you try to convert the thinking of peoples thinking to your own, some just wont agree with you on this issue and never will agree with you on this issue.
Re spares, no you don’t have to carry spare sensors at all. Why would you? If a sensor goes bad, the computer logs it and you keep driving. Unlike a Tdi though, you don’t have to carry a spare head incase it breaks, nor the valve train incase the timing belt snaps – yup, they do snap a hell of a long way before 80,000km – a driving mates (RIP) I believe went at 50,000km taking out the top end and Blackknight is probably the only one that would be fixing that on the side of the track. Funnily enough if you do carry some sensors, they are still a hell of a lot cheaper, smaller and lighter than a head, timing belt and valve train.... but you don’t carry all of those because it probably wont break anyway.