What is actuall a cool little engine is the 3.0 v6 that mercedes put in the sprinter vans, almost get 22 on HWY. only 155 horses but 280 toruque, and no head gaskets to blow. I actually drove it after, well still owning a chevy express and HOLY *****, that german engine is way ahead of anything else i've seen. looked really simple too.

 

You are right. Those are very good engines and are seeing a lot of use in ambulances here. The local ambulance service that runs 3 of them is getting right at 20 MPG with them and they are very pleased with the power and economy.

 

Mercedes used to make a 5 cylinder inline diesel to, It was very powerful, and in a small package. They put those in everything from straight trucks, to there smaller single axle semi's.

The Germans are light years ahead with diesels

 

American Diesel technology is just as advanced as German technology - if not more so. Ford had one of the first fully electronically injected diesels in the world - and was common rail as well - the 7.3 PSD. Volkswagen was still using an injection system up until 2006 that essentially dated from the very beginning of Diesel engines. VW was not able to sell diesels here for two years (07-08) because they couldn't meet our emissions standards.

 

My grandpa is from Germany. Its a fact that a VW is considered a hunk of crap by people from germany, they know its inferior and if it wasn't for U.S. love of the bug VW would be even worse off. Its looked at like a hyundai is looked at over here. I even had some russian guys who worked for me and they all said the same thing. "piece of crap".

So comparing the U.S. diesel technolgy to VW is pretty sad. Try to copare it to mercedes. you'll be laughed off the planet. I mean come on Isuzu is not a very quality company as far as diesels and they make the Duramax and that is topshelf along with international and cummins. We are way behind in diesel technology, and the EPA is just making it that much harder to advance.

 

The only reality of a Cummins in Your SD, is if You do the swap Yourself.

These rumors are silly. They fly around every time Dodge gets into the headlines.

There's no way in hell Ford is going to abandon the Scorpion. Especially in these turbulent times.

And if You don't think Ford has dotted the i's and crossed the t's with the Scorpion, Your fooling Yourself. Ford will NOT stand for another debacle like the 6.0 was. If they feel the engine is not ready, it'll stay in R&D until it is.

Also, Cummins basically shot themselves in the foot by playing the little paper game with emissions numbers. They're paying for it now. Just go read some of the Dodge/Cummins forums. Not a lot of happy campers out there. The EPA is strangling the crap out of Diesels. I think the completely new Scorpion platform has a lot better chance of getting it right, than a platform that was basically designed 30 years ago.

 

lies lies lies! it will never happen.

 

The 7.3 was not a common rail...

 

Oh yes it was. All HEUI engines are common rail.

 

Everyone said our S&P 500 would never get this low not in a million years, the nasdaq dropped throgh the floor along with the dow jones farther past the point of everyone saying it will, Now there all standing there like idiots with their comments in their hats.

If I would of told you 2 years ago Chrysler and GM are going to be bankrupt, you would of laughed me off the scene. Fact is things change and blow peoples minds all the time. I would never say "never" in this world at these risky times. Its pretty closed minded. All the old rumors about this floated around back when the economy was fine. And now you have an expiring cummins contract coming up, and chrysler always had this taken care of a year in advance, NOW THATS NOT HAPPENING AND NEW CHRYLSER IS OWNED BY FIAT, WHO WILL PROBABLY BUILD THEIR OWN DIESEL.

AND AS FAR AS FORD NOT RELSEASING THAT SCORPION UNTIL ITS TIP TOP, LOL. LOOK AT MY JOB#1 6.4. ITS BEEN IN THE SHOP MORE THAN ON THE ROAD SERIOUSLY. SCORPION WILL FLOP LIKE AND THEY WILL PICKUP CUMMINS.

 

The 7.3 is hydraulic (HPOP)/electronic instead of just straight electronic control like the newer ones and the "common" fuel lines deadhead into the head (along with all the air bubbles).

 

The reason the over seas market is better at diesel is simple. The fuel costs. If we payed what they pay for gas there wouldn't be a gas vehicle market

 

Alright then, name some things that make Mercedes diesels so much better then American ones.

 

The 6.4 is the first motor ford had/has that fires the injectors electronically. The 7.3 and 6.0 use oil pressure to fire the injectors. I always thought a "common rail" motor fed all the cylinders from one single rail. and then the end of that rail was returned back to the tank. The HEUI 7.3 has a fuel rail on both sides of the motor and fuel pressure will even vary between the two, unless you connect them yourself. And then as Brian said below, the rail dead ends into the head with any air traped in the lines. Ford even put a different injector in there to deal with the rail dead ending there since its cheaper/easier to do then a common rail set up. There is only one 7.3 I know of running a common rail set up, and thats Double Overtime, the sled pulling truck.

Exactly Brian.

 

This is false. Every Power Stroke engine has electronically fired injectors. The computer commands a solenoid within each injector to allow high pressure oil to actuate a plunger/piston assembly to fire the fuel into the engine. If that is not electronically injected, then I do not know what is.

How do you suppose V8 Common rail diesels work? The 6.4 has two "common rails", one under each valve cover. Common rail simply means the injectors share a common fuel source - not individual injection lines from an an injection pump, and the 7.3-6.0 power strokes do exactly this.
The single fuel rail on a Cummins dead ends into the #6 injector, which means that injector has to deal with most of the trapped air in the system. The 6.4 power stroke has two seperate fuel rails, one for each cylinder head, but they both feed off the same source on the high pressure fuel pump. Both those are labeled as Common Rail engines, and the 7.3/6.0 are no different in fuel distribution.