One thing is certain, everyone has thier own opinoins.  I own both gas and diesel trucks.  I like each one for different reasons.  As for economy diesels are more fuel friendly and make great USABLE power.  They do cost more per oil change and they do make more noise and they do last longer.  More oil equals more cooling and lubrication.  Most gas engines are spent by 150,000 miles or so.  My last cummins currently has over 250,000 and still going strong.  I sold it at 200k and got very good resale money for it at the time.  Any gas truck with that amount of mileage wouldn't have been worth half what the diesel is.  My last cummins had a cat on it and my current one does not.  That is due to the claener burning engine and it doesn't need it.  I get over 20mpg with my new truck and it wieghs almost 7,000 pounds.  As for upgrades the aftermarket is booming with bolt on power for new diesels that will smoke corvettes.  Gas engines are tuned for almost max power from the factory.  Diesels are de tuned so they won't break parts.  I also believe bio-diesel is a good idea but unfortunately it isn't yet available near me.  Why pay farmers not to grow crops?  I doubt we could rely only on biodiesel but its a step in the right direction.  

This girl I know used veggie oil in her Volkswagen bus (yes, she is a hippie).  She and her boy friend went on some serious roadtrips in this thing for free!  They just stopped at McDonalds or Chinese resturants along the way and got all the used frying oil they could carry.  She told me that veggie oil is what the original diesel was designed to run on and that it burns cleaner and makes more power than the diesel fuel we use (it also made my driveway smell like frenchfries).  So, uh...I don't really have an argument here, I guess I'll go eat some frenchfries.

The longer lasting claim for Diesel really has little merit. This was true maybe 20 years ago but gasser will go well past 200,000 with proper maintainance and modern diesels running very high boosts are even less tolerent to weak maintaince and the sustained use of hi boosts can shorten life span of engine too. Nothing is free.  

My '94 K3500 just clicked in at 300,000.  It has been well maintained since day one and still runs just as good.  Sure I've had to replace a few things, but no more than any gas motor I've owned.  Plus, I've got the torque of a bigblock with the fuel mileage of a smallblock.  As far as emmisions, I don't know, but you won't see any soot clouds behind my truck.

Whilst I cannot dispute your experance with a 49 year old John Deere petrol powered tractor; the flatspot was on an 1970's Land-rover fitted with a petrol (gas) engine, that was used by the British Army to recharge radio batteries. That flatspot was there, I drove that vehicle.

I hesitate to mention this as you seem so negative, but you can get better milage with a Diesel, if you fit a heavy-duty magnet to the fuel pipe, as close to the distribution pump as possible. This apparently aligns the fuel molecules all in one direction - thus a cleaner burn. For more information, the Birmingham (U.K.) Buses tested this device and keeped them, as they were cost effective. You can get similar results with petrol engines, but it is less effective; you used to be able to get a device which combined a magnet with tin. The tin raised the octane level of the petrol (gas), produced more power though catalytic action and cushioned the valves becouse of lead-free fuel.

That flat spot is not inherent, that vehical just needed work and nobody did it. Sounds like it had a bad accelerator pump or power valve. I really know old carbs!  I heard about the magnet thing 20 or 30 years ago but never tried it....  Also I am not negative, I just have little tolerance for blanket statements by a few soles that are really clueless themselves but do not want to admitt it. I have been messing with this stuff longer than I care to think about sometimes. I may have a few gray hairs but there is a lot of hands on knowledge under them.  Diesels are not all bad but you have to factor in total cost of ownership and when you add in extra maintaince costs and extra $7000 purchase price, it will take a few hudred thousand miles to break even if at all. So what if it gets 2 to 4 better MPG or so, it cost 7 grand more to buy and a lot more to maintain than my gassers and people that rave about them do not consider these extras in cost of ownership and operation in gas vs diesel comparision.

I get 19-21 MPG unloaded, 11-13 with a 6 ton car hauler.  Can you do that with your gas motor?  

I can buy enough extra gas with the 7000 grand I saved on the purchase price and the money I am saving on insurance and maintaince and no electric bill to heat it in cold weather. Can you do that? Not likely. I can go out to my truck when it is 20 below or colder and partially buried in a drift loaded with 3000lbs of salt and a 8ft plow on the front and not plugged in and start instantly and reliably 100% of the time and be rolling in less than a minute from the opening of the door if need be can you do that? No way! Can you shut it off and leave it overnight anywhere in sub zero weather and know it will start without power cord? I do not think so. I do know because I have gone to dealers on very cold days and the duramaxs were very hard to lite at zero with no heat (it took a few minutes to get it lite and then it barely ran for several minutes after that, I can just imagine 20 below or colder!)  I have run the numbers many times and it just does not pay off until over 200k and then only if diesel does not need 400 buck injectors or a 3000 dollar Injection pumps. When they were 2500 dollar option they were a lot more viable but those days are gone.  

Keep your gas motor.  I'm happy with my diesel.  Nuf said.  

And you keep you diesel (and long extension cord, ether and warm clothes for when it does not start on a very cold day because you could not plug it in and a small stove to heat coffee while waiting for engine to warm up enough to drive off when it does start) Do not tell what great starters they are. I have seen the courty side littered with them when it gets to 10 or 20 below and they have no place to plug in. My gasser will start without a fussy or a power cord. I started messing with diesel tractors about 30 tears ago and I know all about them and that is why I do not own one in a P/U!

I've never had starting problems.  I plug it in at night and after the first time I started it in the morning it's fine.  However, yes it does take a long while to warm up, but I try to start it before I take a shower and eat breakfast.  Then when I'm ready to go it is too. 

Thanks for the advice though.  I'll remember it if I ever have troubles.

Only if you keep it plugged in and pay the electric bill to heat it (another hidden Diesel cost). I lived in Montana for a while and they parked those things when it got much below  minus 30 because of starting, running and fuel problems (diesel with wax and gell long before gas will and this is way OTR trucks use heated fuel tanks up there) I started my gasser on a dare on day at minus 38 without heat. It started in about 10 seconds and did not stall. I did generally use heat when it got much below zero, not because I needed it to start but because I got heat in cab sooner and besides I would turn it on a few hour before I started it and not let it run all night when I did use heat.  

I live in the snow belt south of Buffalo, NY.  We measure snow in feet not inches.  I own a 79' international dt 466 that can't be plugged in and it startes this past winter after a week of negative 10's.  Yes it bucked and smoked till warmed up but it ran fine.  I also used to own a 94' Dodge Cummins that rarely was plugged in.  Cummins doesn't use the dreaded glow plug systems but a pre heater in the intake to warm up the incoming air.  Always started, plugged in or not.  If it was plugged in it would start smoother.  As for extra electric costs, use a timer on the extension cord to keep costs down.  My current Dodge is a 2000 and haven't had it though a winter yet but I'm not worried that it won't start.  

Snoman I first want to say that you need to do some more research before you go blowing off your mouth about things maybe you knew about 25 years ago. Things have changed since the 60-70s, I am a service advisor at a chrysler dealership,I see both gas and diesel every day. I love both gas and diesel engines, but if you need something to haul with and that will last a long time with some simple oil and filter changes, I will buy a diesel, but if I want some balls to the wall truck that gets 11-18 mpg, I will by a 1500 with a small block V-8. Diesel fuel burns cleaner than gas, the smog and smell is simply a downfall of their combustion process, which is why a converter is not required. A gasoline engine has so many emission devices because of how dirty and incomplete the gasoline burn process is. You also talk about how older cummins are better than newer cummins because of the over boost. Have you even seen new boost specs? Its because of the computer control and the precision of the fuel entering the cylinder, they still run 7 psi from the factory. Have you ever heard of the common rail diesel injection? Its quiet and more powerful just but delaying the fuel injected into the cylinder. I have started plenty of 96-04 2500 diesel engine trucks in -10 to 20 deg levels with out the block heater its only a precaution not a necessity. I have seen plenty of new gas engines that have a hell of a time starting in the same weather. IN COLD WEATHER CONDITIONS YOU NEED TO USE SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS no matter what you drive? I also have never seen a 300,000 warranty on a gasoline engine but it comes with a cummins, from the factory. You said yourself, you use heat so it blows your hidden cost for diesel bull right out of the water.   

Well said, however, now he'll rant on for another week or so.