Advice on Petrol vs Turbo Diesel engines on 2010 Prado

The new Prado has a 150L tank, down from 180. Main tank is 87L and the sub is 63L. We were checking them out on Friday. It's a shame about the smaller tanks.

Bruce

Good day Ted, And Jenny,
Just remember you could rebuild the petrol motor for the price of injector replacement(200000ks) $4000 then another $5000 for a fuel pump rebuild. The petrols last at least 400000ks anyway. Something to think about. Also Jenny Diesels do not like constant shorts trips, like dropping kids off at school etc.
Cheers Pete

Hi Derek

Was your LC100 the 4.5l straight 6 or the V8 ? Just interested as thinking of also going to the Prado from the LC100 V8 and very interested in your comment about more power in the V6 Prado (I tow a boat in soft sand) - It looks the goods on paper, but you now have direct comparison experience between the two


Cheers

A

Hi A

Mine was the 4.5L six.

Regards

Derek

Totally agree. No such thing as a true 4wd that aint Diesel. Water crossings are a major part of 4wding, not Petrol territory thats for sure. Diesels will go for years and years also, a Petrol not so long. Way way better resale value also.

The idea that Diesels will far outlast a petrol was true when we had diesel truck engines in 4wds eg ihz, td4.2 sd33, 2 h etc, but with the advent of high performance diesels you are kidding yourselfs. We run 130 vehicles of all descriptions. In the last 12 months one of our large trucks had to be towed back to the dealer, and a courier done a head at 120000ks. Petrol issues not one.
Many of the better petrols are now doing well over 400000ks with out rebuilds especially toyota and isuzu petrols. I do see the value of diesels for desert use especially a non electronic, non turbo like Willems.
Cheers Pete

The modern diesal has no worries of being mums taxi. If you havnt driven a diesal a lot in the city, you will be surprised on the controlability with in city limits, you will stay within speed limits easier due to the superior engine braking of a diesal. Japanese diesals do like to be reved as if you hate them, which takes a bit of getting used to. Highway trips easily bring a diesal back to life, and city driving wont harm them in any way.

Water crossings are not an issue for 99% of 4wds as most people dont go through rivers that will affect either petrol or diesal.

I have had both diesal and petrol, for both city and country driving and will pick diesal by a country mile, any day, a far more relaxed form of power.

I have a 15 yr old diesal with 470,000 ks on the clock and all i have done is 1 set of injectores and 2 tappet adjustments.

Cheers Col

Jenny if a diesel does not get a chance to warm up properly(about 20k depending on ambient temperature) they suffer from cold corrosion , which can halve engine life. Do not take my word for it, ring someone who services and rebuilds diesels. Cooma diesel in Cooma would give great advice.
Also before you buy a diesel go and put some diesel in one. I spend half the day refilling the dam things(maybe thats why I am not wrapped in them). I know you can wear gloves but that is still an inconvience.
Col I bet you are running a 1hz or td42 , truck type motors with a design life of 1000000 ks, where the injectors are a couple hundred at most and are rebuildable anyway. Your motor generates arround 20kw per litre of capacity, modern diesels are being asked to generate 40kw per litre and more, the injectors are $1000 ea, are non rebuildable are are due for replacement at 200000ks. We will never know how long these highly stressed motors will last because something usually goes bang first like the head.
Cheers Pete

Hi Madfisher, yes you are right, i drive the TD42. and more than happy. I don't agree with your comment on cold corrosion, but sadly a lot of travellers do, you only have to stay at a caravan park and listen to people start up their diesel at some ungodly hour and let them idle for long periods of time on the pretext of having to warm a diesel up before driving. Diesels do not like being idled for long periods of time with no load, which causes glazing of the bore. Hence my comment above about driving a diesel as if you hate it. I also don't agree that modern diesels are highly stressed, i think the tecknowledgy in most cases is great, lets not get side tracked by the 3 ltr nissan, which has only a sensor that causes all the grieve to their owners. You only have to look at all the other manufacturers of modern diesels to see how reliable they have been for many thousands of ks. The only thing that lets diesels down which also applies to petrol's on the same level is the electronics of modern vehicles right across the board. With the modern metals used in building engines the longevity has increased 10 fold.

Col

Got to agree with you about ilding of diesels Col, BIG NO NO, I drove a concrete aggi for a while and cylinder bore glazing could be an issue because of fast ilding most days. Cold corrosion is more an issue when Mum starts up takes the kids 2ks to school comes home and turns the motor off before warm. Later she ducks into town for shopping same scenario. Then she picks the kids up from school. The motor has been started three times but has not got the oil temp up once.
My uncle was an engineer and hated the warm up idea, but would never give it a bootfull or exceed about 2500 rpm till the gauge was on about quarter depending on the vehicle.
When I was driving the aggi the best performing truck was a driver who drove it on the redline 3000rpm. I use to sit on about 90 on 2700 rpm if memory serves me correct, could not be that cruel lol.
Cheers Pete