We all know that a gallon of Diesel fuel contains more potential energy than a gallon of gasoline. Also it is obvious that small turbo powered gasoline engines can produce a lot of power. Consider the 4-cylinder Ecoboost that Ford is putting in the Rangers.

Just wondering why there are no small displacement Diesels? Is it because a boosted Diesel requires a larger block to hold things together? I once borrowed a log spliiter made with a one cylinder Diesel that once powered a flood light for highway construction. It was a beast.

jeep had a 4 cly. cummins in one model years ago.

Do you recall the displacement? Are there any sub 2 liter Diesels used in autos?

Might be some in Europeon markets?

The Volkswagon diesel is 2.0L.
Many auto companies sell diesels in Europe, south Africa, etc that they don't sell in the U.S.

Chevy Cruze 1.6

I'll expand my question.

If a 2 liter boosted gas engine can produce 200 hp, why couldn't the same displacememt Diesel exceed it? DIESEL fuel has more BTU per gallon? It probably could make more torque than the same size boosted gasoline engine. Just wondering,

I believe most of the answer lies in emission laws.

24 hours of LE Mans was won by a diesel powered car. Yes in Europe there are many cars that are powered by sub 2 liter blown diesels. They are not sold in the US because of politics under the guise of emissions.

There you have it. The unvarnished truth. We USED to be able to buy a small pick up with a diesel back in the 70 and 80's but our all knowing politicians stopped that.

This. A well tuned diesel motor will burn just as clean as anything else. It's the weirdos that like blowing money out thier stacks that kills it for everyone.

There are small Diesel engines.
Toyota makes a legendary one... Never brought to the U.S put in their Hilux pickups run forever.
Toyota said they couldnt pass emissions test over here is why they havent released one.
VW has some and we know about them getting around the laws.
Isuzu also makes some small ones.
The emissions laws in the U.S is what is preventing you seeing more of them.
Really a shame , some good motors out there.

Toyota made a small diesel pic up in the late 80's that ran a nissan diesel. We had one in the mine I worked in. I bought a 2 wheel drive Nissan with the same motor and used to avg about 42 MPG or there about. Then along came congress and shut it down.

There are plenty of small diesel motors around in applications exempt from emissions laws, i.e non-vehicle. Generators, welders, tractors, small dirt-moving equipment etc. I’m sure you could put one in a vehicle if you were motivated enough.

You can buy a 1/2 ton dodge pickup with a 3.0L 6 cylinder diesel here.

You can buy a Chevy Colorado with a 2.5L or a 2.8L diesel here. These used to be Duramax motors may still be.

You can buy one of those cube box mercedes sprinter vans with a 2.1L or a 3.0L diesel here.

You can buy a chevy cruise with a 1.6L diesel here.

You can buy a VW Jetta 2.0L diesel here.

Just off of the top of my head.

^^^^^^^^^^^^Yep,

And just like in the 80's when i worked for chevy dealerships, no one buys them.
Chevy had the chevette, Monte-carlo, Caprice and their pick-ups available with diesel engines and no one wanted them. It did catch on alittle better this go round with pick-ups because they subbed out the engines to known companies like Cummins.

The cons stated by people were...
Noise
Stink
Slow
hard cold start
Not all gas stations carried deisel.

Lack of an rpm range. Diesels (most) are limited on rpm's. They need extremely high compression ratio to fire and this requires heavy bottom end parts. so they were/are designed to have torque out the kazoo. With the invention of the vari-speed automatic transmissions some manufacturers have now, a big rpm range shouldn't be needed from the engine so maybe someone will explore that avenue.
Maybe they did across the pond in the prototypes Scube mentioned winning the 24hrs.

^^^^^That all means they're slow taking off.

Aren't diesels more expensive also? Initially and repair-wise.
And, many people.......most maybe....will get in trouble when it gets down to zero or below and their fuel gels. A person has to be aware and treat that fuel or it can ruin your day, to put it mildly. Last time fuel gelled on me it was -6 and very windy. I vowed that would never happen again, and it hasn't. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

in 1980 dodge had a D50 with a mitsu turbo diesel in it
all sorts of power, but its downfall was aluminum heads on a steel block motor, needless to say it liked to warp heads
in 88 merc had a few sables with a small 4 cyl diesel, ran fine, great mileage excellent ride, but the added front end weight made the steering very unstable in slush/ wet snow

Modern diesel engines are not only more efficient then their gas counterparts, they are right up there in the power for weight ration these days and are still improving more then the gas engines in the same time frame.
The Rev limiters in Diesel engines are there for the simple reason that the engine does not run away on you. Not to limit the engine to slow RPM's A small blown diesel will red line at around 5000 rpm ... same as a gas engine. The thing is, if you give a diesel more fuel it will carry on upping the revs till it rips itself apart. Its because diesel fuel explodes in the cylinder unlike gas , gas just burns and the mechanics can outrun the combustion speed. Not so in a diesel.
The reason that one does not see more small blown diesel engines here is really just a political thing. They want to sell US made engines and the domestic manufacturers are mostly still of the opinion that there needs to be a certain amount of displacement and it needs to run on gas. ( The larger diesel engines are catching up here though )
In Europe on the other hand you will not see trucks like here with 5 plus liter V8 engines in them because of A: emissions and B: fuel prices over there. I mean I like a big V8 as much as the next guy but when one has to pay 3 bucks for a quart of gas it puts the whole thing into a different light. So in Europe the manufacturers are working more on building more efficient engines pushed by the cost of fuel over there. Here on the other hand fuel is cheap, so why not waste it. The emissions thing is just a hoax. How can a vehicle that does 50 Mpg and more be worse for the planet then one that only does 15 mpg. Both run with catalytic converters etc. Think about that for a minute. As far as diesel freezing ( waxing ) up in the winter. The gas stations change their diesel from winter to summer diesel once the weather plays ball. This is in Europe. Don't know about here, but there you don't have to mess with it. They don't like their pumps freezing up either. So they use a winter additive when its needed. All that being said, my next truck will have a Cummins in it.