I can tell you exactly when that happened on my '82 Pontiac Bonneville
wagon. I was driving back to Houston from Fort Worth, stopped at a Texaco
station in Waco and filled up with what turned out to be "wet" diesel
fuel.
Within 20 miles the engine started missing, and we barely made it back to
Houston. At that time it had 40,000 miles on it. Took it in to the
dealer
and they said, oh, there's a "special" warranty on the IP and we'll
replace
it at no charge. No wonder they were in such a hurry to get me out of
there. Never was the same after that, and the IP failed again at 70,000,
and I dumped the car to get a '79 240D.
Royce Engler
1985 300TD Turbo 265K
-----Original Message-----
From: Loren Faeth [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 8:13 PM
To: Mercedes mailing list
Subject: [MBZ] GM, was: What?
WHY GM?
In a rush to capture part of the growing diesel market after the second
"gas shortage" (76 i think) GM dieselized its 350 gasser. it was
available in Olds, chevy, and caddy big cars and pickups. They put an
itty bitty fuel filter on it, hidden on the back of the intake manifold,
and piped the OUT side of the filter on the bottom, where any water would
collect. Any water in the fuel went to the injectors and ruined them,
costing big bucks.
The engines were prone to failure, and the dealers didn't want to service
diesels, nor did their mechanics. Most problems were plugged fuel
filters,
or ruined nozzles. The engine was reasonably reliable, if you put a Racor
or Master filter on them that really filtered the fuel and separated the
water. (remember, this was another period when bad fuel was prevalent.)
If pulled hard, the bottom end would go out.
then, in the fall of 1984, GM made a very loud announcement that the
diesel engine had no future in the US, and GM was stopping production of
diesel engines. There was a lot more to the announcement, generally
saying
that if you bought or owned a diesel car that you were feeble minded. Not
content with that mayhem, GM went to the EPA, and collaborated to toughen
the emissions standards so that NO diesel engine in production or planning
could meet the regulation. Until that day, GM had been ardently fighting
the EPA and the greenie weenies on Diesel emission regs.
GM diesel cars sat on lots or were junked. You could buy a nice GM diesel
for $500, 1, 2, or 3 years old. The proclamation was so widely publicized
that it killed the sales of Diesel cars for every manufacturer, even those
committed, like MB and VW.
Mercedes had already prepared the trap oxidizer for the CA market, and
could meet the regs for 85-87. But the damage was done. There is a
reason
why 81-85 123 cars are so plentiful. They were very popular, and of
course, very durable. But, very few diesels sold after the GM
proclamation. There were a few SDLs sold in 86 and 87. There were a
handful of TDs sold in 87, mostly for dealer roadside assistance
vehicles. A few 124 300Ds sold. Ford sold most of its escort diesels to
fleets such as GTE to use up the stock of engines. VW could not sell
enough diesels to bother meeting the regs for a few years.
THAT is why GM. If it weren't for GM, diesel cars would be selling at
about 20% from 1985 until now.
In 75 to 1980, I usually had the only Diesel at our MBCA section
events. Sometimes there was one other car, a 220D or a 240D. Then at one
meeting, I could not believe my eyes, Every car there was a
diesel! 240Ds, 300Ds, CDs Over the winter everyone had traded for a new
Diesel 123! Same people, they now had diesels. I think that was in the
spring of 82.
Loren
At 08:35 AM 11/28/2005, you wrote:
Why GM?
Chris
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