It should be noted that ALL of the european car makers have diesel models. All of the big MBZ, BMW, Audi, are available with diesels. Note: all of Audi's race cars are diesel powdered and they win everything! All of those luxury cars are neither loud nor smelly. The large ones are expensive the S350 Bluetec ( S class large sedan with small diesel) is $91K. They also have a V8 version which is not for sale here. BMW and Audi have similar cars, not to mention all of the smaller diesel powered cars all of these marks have. I have seen both new 3 and 5 series BMW sedans and wagons with diesels recently on the road. Owners were smiling! They are coming, it's just a matter of time. VW's Golf Jetta and Passat diesels are already here and are nice cars.
We make diesels here too. Did you know that the Grand Cherokee is available as a diesel? It was supposed to be released in 2010, however our Pres. stopped it as part of the UAW/ Fiat buyout of Chrysler.
They still make that vehilce here in the US in Toledo OH however they are all shipped overseas. Same with the Wrangler, all diesel powered versions are sold elsewhere. But not here.
As far as US made Diesel engines comparable to the Cummins 4BT there are none. The Ford and Chevy diesels used in pickups are not suitable for a Jeep type application.Too Big! Toyota and Nissan both make diesel engines which are excellent but not readily available here.
Some guys over at 4BTSWAPS are using the Kubota V2203 motor which has 48 HP stock and are claiming some pretty outragous performance figures. They are turboing them and getting Freeway speeds and 40+ MPG's in Ranger pickups. One guy is doing a Jeep but I think he is going to be disappointed with the performance when the swap is done. IN a 2500lb Flat Fender I could see the motor working well. In a 4,000lb+ TJ, not so much.
Several guys over there have used VW diesels to repower Toyota pickups,and Suzuki Samurai's with excellent results. This shows matching the size and output of the engine to a suitable vehicle as being one of the primary functions of repowering. All of these VW swaps into intermediate sized vehicles have resulted in very serviceable vehicles.
The reason why 4BT's are so popular is because a few years ago Interstate Brands was pushed into receivership and had to dispose of all of it's older fleet vehicles. Many of these delivery vans had Cummins 4BT engines swapped in because the Chevy 6's died immediately and the Cummins motors gave good service and lasted. There were approximately 3000 sold with these engines, and that pile of engines have been the source for several years. i looked for along time for one before I found Dove Bid. and was made aware by a guy who was converting M37 ex military trucks to diesel power using used bread truck motors.
All of those vehicles which were sold by Dovebid.com are now gone,(I got mine in 05) but many of the engines are still floating around albeit at higher prices than before but still out there. Plus there are many new and rebuilt long blocks on Ebay for sale so these engines will continue in service until they are outlawed. CaseTractors also use this engine.
To give you an idea, I paid $1225 for my van out of Phoenix AZ. The van had 709K on it and was on it's third Cummins motor. My motor has 82K on it. The core charge for that motor at Cummins is $2000.! and a complete Cummins recon 4BT is around $6-8K. Depending on who you get it from.
Gaduckers motor only has 62K on it and like mine will last literally forever unless something out of the ordinary happens to it.
If you look at automotive engine life in hours as opposed to miles you can get another perspective on how this adds up. Figure a 50MPH average speed for engine usage. That means 2,000 hrs = 100,000 miles. Any decent Diesel car motor should go 500K or 10,000 hours.
I have seen a 4B generator with 13,500 hours on it flatten the cam, after a rebuild which included a new cam and followers for $105 and a gasket set, the motor was restarted and is running right now. I know it has over 20,000 hours on it which would be the equivilant of 1,000,000 miles in a car.
The only other readily available Diesel engine that is suitable for a Jeep is the MBZ OM 617 motor. This is the motor in the 300TD's and 300SD's from the early 80's. It is a 5 cylinder 3.0L turbocharged diesel with 110-125 HP. It is not a truck or equipment motor it is a high speed car engine so it doesn't have the torque of a 4BT but is still very usable. However many Jeeps and Toyota LC's have been converted using this engine. These engines are arguably some of the most reliable internal combustion engines ever made by any one. They are readily available in junk yards and it doesn't really matter how many miles are on the thing when you get it. MY car had 160K on it when I bought it 10 years ago for $4500 and now it has 277K on it and I could sell it for more at the drop of a hat. It also will crest the Conejo Grade in Thousand Oaks CA (6-7%) at 62 MPH which is all it would ever do. IE it's got the same power it had when I got it. These engines have nitrided cranks, cams, followers, valve rotators and about every other long life engine inovation ever concieved of, included. IE built to last. It literally was a $20,000 engine, as the gas version of the same car was $9K less than the diesel cars.
These engines were also used in a variety of european trucks and equipment, my favorite being the Hagglunds BV206 Snow Mobile from Sweden. goto
http://www.arctictracks.com/ and watch the videos. (well worth the time!!!) They really are the ultimate ATV. The blue one has the same engine and trans as my car! It is also Amphibious! Gotta have one some day.
This is about everything I know about sourcing a diesel for a Jeep application, there is lots more to learn, and the internet is full of cool machinery people have made for unusal uses.
Randy