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Diesel glow plugs work to heat up the air/fuel mixture before it reaches your combustion chamber, making them especially handy when trying to start a cold engine in frigid temperatures. But are they always necessary? Read on to see what our diesel aficionados had to say about that: Tom Monson Tom Monson, Owner of Monson Lawn & Landscaping. Crank the Engine a Few Times to Build Up Compression Yes, a diesel engine can start without glow plugs. The engine will still need to be cranked over a few times in order to build up enough compression to start the engine....

Contrary to what you might think, diesel engines power quite a few things other than cars and trucks. In fact, you can find diesel-powered machinery just about everywhere, from mining to marine craft. That’s good because diesel is a robust and reliable fuel source. Although electric vehicles and alternatively-fueled mechanisms are all the buzz, our power grids are stretched thin, and finding the raw materials to make specialized batteries is becoming increasingly difficult. Wind and solar power aren’t as consistently reliable as diesel, either. Not Your Grandpa’s Diesel But aren’t we trying to move away from fossil fuels, you ask?...

Since its creation in the late 1800s, the Diesel engine has utilized fuel injection in one form or another to deliver power and fuel efficiency to some of the world’s biggest (and smallest) vehicles. How exactly? You’re about to find out. Unlike a standard gasoline engine that uses spark plugs to initiate combustion, Diesel engines use compression. Highly-compressed air mixes with pressurized and atomized fuel, causing the fuel and air to ignite and combust in the cylinder. By using combustion ignition (CI), diesel engines burn less fuel and create more energy with each stroke than their spark ignition (SI) counterparts....

Your turbocharger is a highly efficient mechanism to increase your vehicle's power, performance, and speed. The Center Housing Rotating Assembly (CHRA) represents the main component in your turbo assembly and includes the compressor wheel, turbine wheel, and rotating shaft that houses the bearings. By compressing the air that flows into each cylinder, the CHRA increases air intake by about 50% and simultaneously allows more fuel into the cylinder. Additional fuel means bigger combustion and about 30% to 40% more power to your engine. With a turbo, your car or truck can haul more, go faster, and work with greater fuel...

You're just sitting in the parking lot with your pickup idling, waiting for your sister to return from a quick errand. Suddenly, you look at your dash display and see your engine temperature indicator rising slowly but steadily into the red level. Do you smell something burning? Panicked, you shut down your vehicle and get out to take a look. Unfortunately, you don't dare touch the hood as you can already feel the blistering heat rising from the metal several inches away. You just had your truck serviced last month. How did this happen? The short answer is that there...