View Single Post
Old 06-02-11, 09:31 PM   #47
mikerj
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Devon
Posts: 876
Default Re: New Car - petrol or diesel

Quote:
Originally Posted by irons View Post
no its not mate, there are many factors which will determine how reliable a car is but it being petrol or diesel is not really one of them.
Sorry but these days it is one of them (I am refering specifically to engine reliability). Petrol and diesel engines share the same basic components, but common rail diesels have fragile injectors, high pressure pumps that have ridiculously tight tolerances and are highly stressed, dual mass flywheels that take a pounding due to the massive torque peaks, turbochargers that work under very harsh conditions and these day particulate filters that don't work very well under the short cycle times of city driving. Unsurprisingly all these parts are failure points, sometimes at surprisingly low mileages

What the the weak points on a petrol engine? Maybe the odd coil pack. Loads of potential sensor faults of course, but most of these are common with the diesel (MAF, electronic throttles, crank sensors etc). Some petrols have DMFs these days, but they are under less stress than on a diesel.
mikerj is offline   Reply With Quote