New Ford Powerstroke to use piezo injectors?
When a new Ford Power Stroke diesel comes along in 2007 to replace the current 6.0-liter model, it may represent the first use of piezo injectors in a pickup truck. The Siemens-built injectors should help International's 6.4-liter twin-turbo meet upcoming emission standards while also improving upon its predecessor's spotty reliability record, as well as giving the Blue Oval oil burner an European-like level of technological sophistication.
The injectors work via the piezoelectric effect, as the name might hint. They use a small disc of quartz-like crystalline material that deforms when subjected to a high-voltage low-current source, which provides the injector opening and closing action. With cycle times as low as 0.2 milliseconds, such injectors are several times faster than conventional solenoids, which in turn is said to allow up to seven injector events during each compression stroke. The precision of each injector is also increased, with injector-to-injector variation of only a few percent.
All of this adds up to a significant improvement in emissions and fuel economy, but at a price; piezo injectors are reportedly up to twice as expensive as the traditional solenoid-based squirters. With the average pickup truck diesel engine carrying a $5,000 premium, we're guessing that there's plenty of room in the budget.
[Source: Automotive News/Autoweek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
iQuack 3:43PM (6/13/2006)
Please start "TRUCKBLOG" which I'll be happy to ignore.
Isn't this "AUTOBLOG?"
Many of us don't give a shit about these commercial vehicles nor other industrial machinery.
True that farmers and commercial users need these things, but the rest of us view consumer-truckers as morons who drive them just to compensate for small genitals.
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Steve M 3:52PM (6/13/2006)
#1 - your an idiot.
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PJ 4:09PM (6/13/2006)
#2 - No, he's not. A fair share of the enthusiast community couldn't care less about the latest $50,000 V-10 dualies now appearing at a Starbucks near you.
I do think that those interested primarily in the engineering aspect of automobiles might want to see this particular story, though.
Truckblog doesn't sound like a bad idea to me--I'd glance at it from time to time myself. Too often truck stories here on Autoblog generate mindless "trucks are good/bad" shouting matches in the Comments, especially since truck fans seem to be even more fanatically loyal to individual brands (and countries of origin) than car enthusiasts.
I'm sure there are many people who use these trucks for their intended purpose. With a separate blog, they could hash out their differences on their own terms (and take the poser truckers with them, away from Autoblog).
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iQuack 4:11PM (6/13/2006)
Steve M:
And you're such a dope that you can't distinguish between "YOUR" and "YOU'RE."
Whoever taught you to be a moron was successful.
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Ferguson McSqueege 4:36PM (6/13/2006)
If you don't want to read the story, scroll past it. Nobody's forcing to you read it, or even comment on it.
I'm a car enthusiast, and don't mind reading about trucks. I can only fantasize about owning a Ferrari so many times in a day. Every once in a while, the real world sets in and I would like to read about cars that are more down-to-earth.
To those of us who could actually use the utility of a pickup truck on a regular basis (hauling wood pellets, dirt, loam, gravel, an ATV, lumber, shingles, towing a sports car/sailboat/etc, offroad exploring, plowing snow, etc.) these stories are interesting.
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Mike 4:40PM (6/13/2006)
PJ, your idea seems like a good one, 'till you realize that Autoblog Green did nothing to keep the posters like #1 off these boards.
This is a site for AUTOMOTIVE NEWS. A truck is still an automobile. It is NOT a "car", but it is Auto-related.
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DriftPunch 4:50PM (6/13/2006)
Yes, and then Autoblog could be further parsed into Autoblog-Business, Autoblog-Politics, Autoblog-Green (oops, already done), Autoblog-Racing, Autoblog-Blah,Blah,Blah...
I like the diversity of information, even though I'm just as likely to purchase an F350 as I am a Bently, AMG, or a Ferrari. That is to say, not likely.
Like anything, if you don't like the article, just skip it...
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Blair 5:17PM (6/13/2006)
I agree with the concept of diversity of information. If you aren't interested in an article, skip it! Also, I wonder if it wouldn't make sense to keep the responses directed towards the subject of motor vehicles rather than personal attacks...just a thought?
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James 7:43PM (6/13/2006)
why cant we look at this as a move toward technical advancement in the auto industry as a whole? Anything artcle that discusses more efficient diesels, considering the amount of them on the road worldwide, is something I am interested in.
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risingsun 7:47PM (6/13/2006)
They don't call it a PowerJoke for nothing.
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Eric Bryant 9:27PM (6/13/2006)
Fact #1: Trucks are automobiles.
Fact #2: The title of this site is "Autoblog", not "Carblog" or "We-don't-like-trucksblog".
Fact #3: Trucks and SUVs make up slightly more than half of the US automotive market.
Fact #4: Very few passenger cars outsell the diesel-equipped Super Duty, which itself constitutes slightly more than 0.5% of all vehicles sold in the US.
Fact #5: The technology discussed above is not limited to trucks, and will produce roughly the same positive and negative attributes when applied to passenger cars.
I'm still not quite understanding why the Comments section of this post turned into a debate on the virtue of trucks and their place on this blog instead of constructive discussion on the pros and cons of piezo diesel injectors, but I guess that the first comment of any post tends to establish the tone and mood of the rest. 'Quack, I'm a bit disappointed.
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bhtooefr 11:43PM (6/13/2006)
Piezo... OK, what type of piezo injectors?
HEUI?
Pumpe-Duese? (Unlikely, but more reliable than HEUI. VW's going to Piezo-Pumpe-Duese)
Common rail? (It would be nice if it was CR...)
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titan 12:15AM (6/14/2006)
Diesel trucks are basically the only diesel passenger vehicles you can buy in NA in 07. I'm not going to buy a F350, but I am interested in technology and Ford is seems to be leading the way in terms of what you actually buy in North America. Please keep posting interesting stories like this so I can keep up on all the news in the auto industry from hybrids to rotary engines!
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Steve M 12:21AM (6/14/2006)
iQuack
Since "you're" so good at English grammar why don't you do us all a favor and leave the cars/trucks (also known as "auto's" hence the name "auto"blog[another one of those tricky English words referring to cars and trucks indiscriminately]) to the men and start "your" own gay poetry blog.
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mike 1:09AM (6/14/2006)
#1 you're an idiot and a moron ... autoblog doesnt mean its for cars only .. where did you ever get that idea? Auto as in automobile as in cars and trucks ... if u want to create just for cars then make carblog ..moron!
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MikeW 10:25AM (6/14/2006)
What about the transmission? A 3 speed + overdrive making 6 forward ratios (OD on the 2nd of the 3 speed, is ~1.13, used for cold starts to warm up the tranmission fluid quicker)
still gets beat by the Alison 1000 (with extra OD gear) 5.1 : 4.4 in ratio coverage, and smoothness.
And if you have to back up a 10,000+ lb trailer, the reverse of the Allison is 4.49, compared to 2.88 of the Torque Shift.
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Eric Bryant 2:29PM (6/14/2006)
"What about the transmission?"
Tough to say, considering that Automotive News' source for its article works for Siemens and probably don't have much insight into transmission development ;)
It indeed will be interesting to see what direction Ford takes with their next-generation truck transmission.
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iQuack 7:02PM (6/14/2006)
I said what I said about trucks because unless they're doing something useful, they're annoying.
Many of the trucks I see driving around are empty and often jacked up so high that nothing could be conveniently loaded into them.
Truck drivers are probably no better or worse than car drivers, but when trucks smash into smaller vehicles they do more damage and are a danger to the rest of us.
With respect to that lower primate, Steve M., why does he make comments about a "gay poetry blog" unless he's sucking the kinds of things that make him question his own sexuality?
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Shayne Cole 8:04AM (6/15/2006)
#1 - Dude, I am glad you think the 'consumer-truckers' that live near me and buy trucks just like this one are small-genitaled morons, but in many cases they actually own hundreds of acres of pristine Virginia land that has need for a truck just like this one. Though in many cases their fortunes exceed tens of millions of dollars (land isn't cheap here) they come into the closest town with these trucks to get supplies or to bring their horses to events - these trucks, which are not jacked up on steroids or loaded with ridiculous aftermarket treatments.
Now I don't know you any better than you seem to know the buying habits (and genitalia) of a good number of truck owners around me (do they buy nice cars, too? Guess for yourself), but I suspect the impression I would get from seeing you in your car tooling around my neck of the woods would leave me with much more to laugh about than any of them.
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Mike S 6:43PM (8/05/2006)
There already is a truckblog :)
www.truckblog.com
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