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 Passenger car diesel engine
Smart diesel engine
kfz-tech.de/PDM21
It is actually absurd that, after the almost unbroken success of SUVs, diesel engine sales are beginning to decline significantly. Yet it is precisely with this type of vehicle that we are urgently dependent on low fuel
consumption. Fortunately, interest seems to be shifting slightly toward smaller SUVs, often with 'only' two-wheel drive.
But one trend is clearly discernible: after years of successful efforts to combat CO2 emissions, they are rising again. However, we are not yet really good equipped for purely electric mobility at this time.
It would be impossible to power now already all the vehicles whose engines would replace combustion engines with renewable electricity. And a gasoline hybrid is only economical on paper, certainly on long distances.
It had almost made it. The equality between nitrogen oxides and gasoline engines enforced by America would have kept him at the forefront of the environmental movement for some time to come, had it not been for
the tricks, not only by VW, that are likely to keep us on tenterhooks for some time to come. But sell quickly at a high loss? The new owner will be delighted, so do something for the foreign countries. But such a car will
certainly not be immobilized.
If you ask me, I've never liked driving into town, especially not in unfamiliar places. It's such a shame about the principle, because basically everything is in place to meet the 6d emissions standard (without temp). Sure, it's
not particularly cheap, but what environmentally friendly principle is cost-effective? Compare a natural gas vehicle with a gasoline vehicle in terms of purchase price and with a diesel vehicle in terms of fuel consumption!
Injection system of the Smart diesel engine
kfz-tech.de/PDM22
How did the diesel engine actually start? You didn't have to be a particular pessimist in the early 1930s to dismiss the possibility of successfully designing a diesel engine for passenger cars. The period following the
global economic crisis were really ideal for this. Sales of luxury Mercedes vehicles are also declining significantly.
Gasoline-powered, narrow 170s served as taxis. Gasoline cost just under 40 pfennigs back then. Diesel just under 30. Presumably, even taxis could have benefited from a reduction to just under 20 pfennigs. And then
there's the lower fuel consumption, which used to be up to 60 percent less than a gasoline engine. However, the network of diesel fuel stations was extremely sparse, but this was not so crucial for taxis.
However, only large-scale facilities have been built for this still unusual fuel to date. Ships, railways and even (in some cases, but not across the board) trucks could be operated with relatively few problems. The problem
was the incredibly low delivery volumes, which also had to be distributed evenly across the smaller speed range of up to around 3000 rpm.
So they took the largest possible single cylinders, but didn't want to have an engine that was too big. The result was Daimler-Benz's first three-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1.8 liters. This engine could also be
described as fiasco no. 1, because the uneven running of a three-cylinder engine was compounded by the even greater unevenness of the injection process. Even when installed at the rear, the shaking was no less
pronounced.
This was followed by fiasco no. 2 with as much as 26 kW (35 hp) instead of 22 kW (30 hp), which was still unacceptable despite having four cylinders. The resulting smaller Fiasko No. 3 with 29 kW (40 hp) and a
displacement of 1.9 liters was even installed in a test vehicle, but it also failed to impress. The path that followed was also taken later on, namely developing a diesel engine from a gasoline engine.
However, since a six-cylinder engine was used here, this results in something like fiasco no. 4. And only when two cylinders were removed did things finally settle down—well, you can't exactly call it peace and quiet. In the
huge body of the 260 D, the engine ran so smoothly that taxi drivers considered its advantages to outweigh its disadvantages, but private individuals did not.
Other engine mounts and a more finely calibrated injection pump from Bosch were very helpful in this process. Incidentally, Hanomag's first diesel passenger car, which was also to see at the Berlin IAA, was much
smaller. The reason why the Mercedes is still considered the first passenger car with a diesel engine is that Hanomag was unable to deliver for the next two years.
Hanomag Rekord Diesel 1.910 cm3 (80 mm * 95 mm), 20 : 1, R4, OHV, 26 kW (35 PS) 3000 rpm, 4-speed, 1./2. unsynchronized, approx. 90 km/h, 1938-1940, approx. 1.000.
Although there was more experience with smaller diesel engines, e.g., in agricultural drives, a lack of durability here is closing the window of opportunity for a 1.7-liter, 23.5 kW (32 hp) engine. However, one can also
assume that the company has special requirements in terms of durability. The diesel engine installed in the Hanomag Rekord from 1938 onwards even had wet liners and, as in Mercedes engines, a crankshaft supported
by five bearings.
And to highlight the capabilities of the new diesel engine, in its very first year it took part in record-breaking runs on the new, not yet officially opened motorway near Dessau, together with Mercedes and Caracciola (video
below). However, its speed range of approximately 400 km/h was still a long way off. After all, one of the four diesel world records stands at just under 160 km/h with a flying start.
You may have already noticed: Although both engines operate according to the prechamber principle, there is no mention of particularly undesirable behavior in the Hanomag. Even today, you can still see for yourself how
smoothly the engine runs, because after 12 years of work, a team (video below) has succeeded in rebuilding the record-breaking car, which was destroyed in 1940, with the help of sponsorship money.
Unfortunately, Hanomag was unable to capitalize on the potential sales success of the new diesel engine, of which there was even said to have been a six-cylinder prototype, because with the outbreak of World War II,
selling cars to private individuals was no longer an option. However, should you hear someone complaining about diesel engines in the near future, please point out how incredibly difficult it was to get them to appear in a
car.
kfz-tech.de/YDM4
kfz-tech.de/YDM5
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