California may face $3 diesel after Chevron refinery problem

Roy Shroyer

I use to enjoy the much improved mileage with my diesel powered pickup truck when I had it. I got it back in 1985, Ford Ranger with a Mitsubishi diesel. Diesel fuel was about 25% cheaper than gasoline and I averaged close to 50 mpg with it. Between the better mileage and cheaper fuel, it was much more economical than gas.

There were some other routine operating costs that were higher. Oil filters were $33 and it took 8 litres of oil instead of the usual 5. The real kicker was the fuel filter. I almost fainted when I had to change that. They were $110. I took it to another dealer and spent $160 to have a Racor filter system installed, and I was able to pick up the filters at a local truck shop for $4 each if I bought a dozen at a time. When I switched back to a gas powered vehicle 5 years later my weekly cost of fuel almost doubled.

Being a diesel, it worked great as long as it was well maintained. One problem I had was the oil cooling line. I don't know why a small engine with an 8 litre oil capacity needed an external cooler, but the least they could have done was to make it out of something more durable. I had to have that line replaced several times because it developed leaks.

Back then it was $1200 extra for the diesel. I have been hearing lately that diesel is about a $3000 option, so you need to have a close look at the miles you are going to be driving to figure out the fuel savings, and you can no longer count on the fuel being cheaper than gasoline. On a few occasion recently, diesel has been more expensive than gasoline, but it has been fairly steady lately at abut 2 cents per litre cheaper.