Several points not yet explored in this discussion. 1. Detroit Diesel is part of General Motors and has been producing diesel engines for decades.. but only for large trucks and stationary power so there "was talent" available at GM to "think diesel.
2. GM and Detroit had never done small diesels... and the oil embargo of 1973 left everyone stumbling to find alternate methods... at that time diesel fuel was dirt cheap compared to the rising cost of gasoline... [it was skyrocketing past 0.60 cent a gallon back then], so the rush to market was on. 3. Much like the Volt, marketing decisions overpowered engineering decisions, and "just get this thing on the showroom now" [sales mantra] became the rule of the day. 4. Salesmen will sell anything.... so the lag between tech support, parts support, and reality once again firmly bit GM in the butt cheeks. 5. The paying public gets to take up the slack....again. By comparison, in 1982 Ford went to International, entered into a long term contract to supply the 6.9 diesel which made it the most popular diesel pickup truck on the road.. evolving to the 7.3 diesel Powerstroke. It was designed as a diesel engine from the bottom up for work service. Millions of miles of successful service, two parts suppliers, Ford & International, well trained service staff world wide on that engine. GM missed all these points in their diesel engine attempt on the American market and failed miserably, setting America back decades in diesel car acceptance. Why,.... the difference between "get it sold" and "make it work right" always translates into failure if not balanced properly. Grant... AZ... Where diesels roam free [of rust] On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 8:50 AM, Smith, Todd <[email protected]> wrote: > This is interesting to me since I had not heard of a factory fuel-water > separator being installed. I wonder if it was a dealer-mod since GM didn't > seem to do it anywhere else. There was a sensor in the tank that would > register quantities of water in the fuel and trip a Water-in-Fuel light on > the dash. GM's official recommendation was to have your car towed to the > nearest dealer service center and have them drop the tank and drain it. > > If it was a factory mod then it must have been an extra option since it > seems to be pretty rare. The price that I have seen quoted for the Diesel > option back in the day was $800-1000 on top of base sticker price. That is > $2088-2611 in 2010 dollars according to The Inflation Calculator. The high > cost of the option as well as performance below expectations and just the > normal changes in driving that owning a diesel brings is what killed it in > the public eye as much as the quality control issues. > > Todd Smith > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 00:13 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MBZ] GM diesel shortcomings > > > ...Oh and the lack of a water collector which ruined the IP... > > > Not entirely factual. When those cars came out, the owner of my downtown > parking garage showed me the engine of his new diesel Olds and on the side > of something that was where a carb would be, there was a plastic tank and > his was almost full of water. I didn't know enough to ask why he hadn't > drained it. > > RLE > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > Confidentiality Note: The information contained in this message > may be privileged and confidential. If this e-mail contains > protected health information, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is > strictly prohibited,except as permitted by law. If you have > received this communication in error, please notify the sender > immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your > computer. Thank you. > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
