2.5 V6 Turbo Diesel into US?
 

Anyone have any idea how feasible it might be to bring in a VW/Audi V6 TDI engine and drive-train from Europe and install it in a B6 A4 platform? I'm assumming it would technically NOT be legal, and clearly parts availability would be a challenge, but I'm willing to think outside the box. Another alternative might be just installing the engine in a RWD project I'm working on.

Discuss.....

fuel presently available in US may not be suitable....
 

too much sulfer iirc.

I have doubts about that....
 

While I realize that our diesel fuel is lower grade (soon to be fixed), diesel engines tend to be quite a bit less picky about what they consume as compared to gasoline engines. I know of someone in the military who is considering bringing back an Avant with the V6 TDI, which is what got me thinking about this.

Correction: OLDER diesel engines tend to work well on just about everything . . .
 

the new diesels care quite a bit, because they have completely new super-high-pressure, gasoline-engine-style fuel injection systems which have far less tolerance for fuel variance and fuel contamination. Too much sulfur or other crap in the fuel, and your expensive, super-high-pressure fuel injection system goes to "hell-in-a-hand-basket" pretty fast.

I heard that Mercedes put a fuel detection system on their new generation diesels, in case the driver got a bad tank of fuel that may damage the engine. The car warns the driver to pull over immediately whenever the computer will soon shut down the engine to prevent damage. My father's friend found this out one day when he got a contaminated tank of fuel on his C-class diesel; luckily, despite winter, the weather remained above freezing and they did not stray too far from civilization.

I stand corrected... <but...>
 

Thanks for the education.

But to the particular topic, do we think the current quality of USA Diesel would cause havoc with a current Euro Spec engine such as the VW/Audi 2.5? We do have DI diesels running here today such as the 1.9 VW and 3.2 Mercedes, so I'm inclined to believe it's not a significant issue.

Those are older generation VW and MB diesels that they no longer produce for the EU . . .
 

I recently both read an article and watched a TV car magazine that confirmed VW (at least) offers the old version of the 1.9 only outside of the EU and that we would have to wait until we cleaned up our diesel fuel for VW to offer the new generation engines. I would bet that MB has done the same . . . offer only older generation diesel engines to the US and other non-european-fuel-specification nations.

For the record, I have riden in and driven diesels for three decades, both in Europe and the USA.

Sorry, but I do not believe that is correct....
 

The VW 1.9 that we have here today is a TDI motor - not an old motor at all. Same with the Merc - it is an entirely modern power-plant.

Yes, cleaner (low sulfer) diesel fuel is coming to the US, and that is what will allow these diesel engines to pass the stict EPA emissions standards. It is the quality of today's diesel fuel in the US that is the primary reason we don't have many offerings here. Well, yea, that and lack of demand, but it's clearly a chicken vs. egg kind of thing.

read this!
 

Another problem for Euro-diesel: Current exhaust-cleaning technology can't handle diesel fuel in the U.S. because of its high-sulfur content. The fuel also isn't easy to find at corner gas stations here, although industry executives say that is changing.<ul><li><a href="http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?Board=UBB14&amp;Number=748152">http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?Board=UBB14&amp;Number=748152</a</li></ul>

Yea...but will it cross the road?