Advice needed - Diesel vs. Gas-burning 4-stroke engines 3

[MotoGP]

Greetings to all Automotive Engineering experts (of which I am not):

My only experience with diesel engines is with oil tanker operations.

I'm currently assigned to work at a shipyard in South Korea.
I am considering purchasing this country's version of a pick-up truck.

There are LPG fueled mini (and boy, do I mean MINI) trucks, and my 6'-0" frame can fit in the cab...on the passenger side only. The "next-size-up" is a one-ton truck that's just a hair smaller than, let's say, a Dodge Dakota, and diesel-powered.

I do highway driving on the weekends, but during the week, my driving within the shipyards is almost exclusively 40kph, and short, start-and-stop, engine-off-engine-on type of driving.

Do I put myself at any risk of high-maintenance costs, and/or predisposing a four-stroke diesel engine to any upset conditions with this type of service? I really hope not, as diesel is about 30% less in price/litre than gasoline around these parts, and, I'm in dire need of a truck to haul stuff around.

Thank you for any advice that you can share.
Pete

 

[Kiwikid]

A start stop scenario for diesels in winter is not good. Hard on preheaters solenoids and batteries. I'd tend to go with LPG as a first choice in this case.

Cheers
Kerry

 

[freeerg]

Be leary of small Diesels , especially with Koreas winters
Freeerg.

 

[rmw]

I have owned several diesel vehicles, from sedans to pick up trucks to busses and tractor trailers. I like them, but I don't recommend one for your application.

This situation, to me seems to be a disaster for a diesel.

Diesels don't do good running cold, because heat needed for combustion is lost to cold engine parts. So, unless you intend to leave it idling a lot, this constant start stop won't be good for a diesel.

Diesels don't need to sit around with empty or partially full fuel tanks, so unless you intend to refuel it every night, get a vehicle with a fuel that has a vapor pressure high enough to discourage, if not prevent the ingress of moisture from the atmosphere into the fuel tanks at night. When you come out in the AM to get in your vehicle, if it is the time of the year where the vehicle is covered in condensation, know that the exposed metal parts of a diesel's fuel tank are just as wet as the outside of the car, except that the sun does not dry out the inside of the tank, it just drips into the fuel.

Diesels are finicky about their fuel. It is never a good idea to purchase fuel where there is low volume turn over of fuel. Diesel is produced to correspond to the time of year that it is used. Diesel had different properties for summer use, and for winter use. So, a station where there is low turn over, might still be pumping last winters thinner diesel in the middle of the summer, or last summers thicker (higher pour point) fuel in the middle of the winter. I have seen it happen.

I could go on, because there are more, but these are a few of the more important ones that have a detrimental effect on what you seem to want to do with this vehicle.

rmw