When you buy a new vehicle or think about buying it, there are several factors that you need to consider. You have to decide that you want an SUV, sedan or truck, then you need to find out if it is a feature loaded car or not, then you need to consider one of the most important things- what type of fuel do you want to use? And then you might be wondering what's the difference between gas and diesel engine? So here we are to let you know all about it. Basically, Gas and diesel engines convert the chemical energy to mechanical energy, as both of these are internal combustion engines. Both of these engines through a series of small combustion convert the fuel into energy. However, there's also a difference between gas and diesel engine.

What is a difference between a gas and diesel engine?

1. To move heavy loads, trucks need high torque which is why trucks have diesel engine, the difference between gas and diesel engine is - a diesel engine tend to have more torque and less horsepower whereas a gasoline engine produces more horsepower than torque, that’s the reason sports cars mostly have a gasoline engine.
2. Having a diesel engine means a 20% increase in fuel economy as the diesel engine is more thermal efficient than the gas engine, and an increase in thermal efficiency translates to more horsepower and torque which helps for hauling heavy loads.
3. One of the main difference between gas and diesel engine is, If we talk about life expectancy, diesel engines have a long life and also there are some million miles of motors also. On the other hand, when gasoline engines cover 12,000 to 150,000, the engine starts showing some wear that decreases fuel efficiency. The diesel engine can last about twice as long as a gas engine.
4. diesel engine fuel is thicker than gasoline fuel and diesel fuel has more energy density and does not evaporate quickly due to its thickness.
5. One of the difference between gas and diesel engine and gas engine is that fuel is injected differently in both of the engines. For the gasoline engine fuel injection is being done in two ways :-
   ​Carburetor - that mixes the fuel and air together before sending it to the cylinder to compress.
   ​ Port injection - injects the air just before the intake stroke, into the fuel.
   The diesel fuel is directly injected into the cylinder.
6. The diesel engine is costlier than the gasoline engine. It does have better mileage and heavy engine but are noisier, smokier and harder to start in winters.
7. Diesel engines does not need as such maintenance and less stress and no spark plugs diesel engines can run longer.
8. Despite adavantages, Diesel engine produces harmful emissions like nitrous oxide but, today's low sulphur diesel fuel has reduced emissions these days.
9. Without the use of spark plugs diesel engines can self-ignite and also has a higher compression ration of 15:1 and 25:1 whereas, gas engines have less ratio of 10:1.

What happens if you put Diesel in a Gasoline car?

Diesel and gasoline engine may have similarities but, the there's a typical difference between gas and diesel engine and the most common mistake people do is, putting diesel in a gasoline engine. At fuel pumps the gas nozzle is just right next to the diesel nozzle but it is not an easy to make mistake as diesel pumps are are labeled in a vibrant green to differentiate and the nozzle design is also incompatible. Even then also if this mistake is done, the occuring of diesel contamination can have severe impact on a gasoline-powered vehicle's operation and health.

Which one to choose?

After knowing about the difference between gas and diesel engine you got to know that, Diesel engine gives a better mileage, especially on the highways and are more fuel efficient as compared to gasoline, no doubt! But diesel engines do not go well for the stop-and-start traffic. If you're looking for more energy efficient vehicles you should definitely go for electric or hybrid vehicles.

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