Diesel Vans 1998-2006

May 4, 2006 5:53 PM

Are Diesel Vans being made?

I am selling product at local farmer's markets in Los Angeles county and am looking for a diesel van to convert to bio-diesel. I not to up on cars and am curious as to whether diesel vans have been built within the past 6-8 years.

posted by goalyeehah to Travel & Transportation (13 answers total)

I searched fueleconomy.gov. The newest diesel vans I could find were all last made in 1995: Chevrolet Van, GMC Vandura, Chevrolet Sport Van, and GMC Rally.
posted by glibhamdreck at 6:03 PM on May 4, 2006

Chevy's info page helpfully lists all the diesel competition:

Chevy Express Duramax
Ford E-Series
Dodge Sprinter

These are work vans, not passenger vans.
posted by smackfu at 6:08 PM on May 4, 2006

Also, there was a Dodge Ram Van until 2001 or so, that looked more like a regular van than the Sprinter. I assume it came in diesel since that's what fleets want in a van.
posted by smackfu at 6:22 PM on May 4, 2006

The current GMC Savana comes with a Duramax turbodiesel.
posted by harkin banks at 6:25 PM on May 4, 2006

Also, for vehicles in the age range you're looking at, no conversion is necessary to use biodiesel. Vegetable oil ... now that's another story.

(The only real issue with biodiesel compatibility is that BD is a better solvent than petrodiesel, and dissolves the natural rubber used to make fuel lines prior to the introduction of low-sulfur diesel. Auto manufacturers switched to BD-safe fuel lines sometime in the early 1990's.)
posted by harkin banks at 6:31 PM on May 4, 2006

OMG. I've been in NYC too long. I thought you meant Diesel Vans.
posted by TonyRobots at 6:43 PM on May 4, 2006

TonyRobots, that's what I thought too.
posted by aparrish at 7:03 PM on May 4, 2006

Sprinter. Outside the US, you'd not need to ask this question, since diesel vans are ubiquitous: why Ford doesn't build and sell the Transit in the US, I do not know.
posted by holgate at 7:04 PM on May 4, 2006

holgate: because they'd have to completely re-do the fuel system and exhaust system just to make it run on NA diesel. Until a couple of years ago almost all of the diesel fuel available in North America was high in sulfur, and it doesn't burn the same as European diesel, which is lower in sulfur. High-sulfur diesel is being phased out across the US, but it's still not available everywhere.
posted by jlkr at 7:46 PM on May 4, 2006

A little off topic, but an 82-84 vanagon diesel can carry a ton (literally) and get 30 mpg, but don't expect to exceed 60mph. Ebay, wikipedia, google, etc... Diesel conversion kits are available for the other model years.
posted by buzzman at 9:05 PM on May 4, 2006

Maybe these Biodiesel Vehicle Finder guys can help you. (note: I work for them, and the site is still in progress. Feedback welcome.)
posted by amtho at 9:20 PM on May 4, 2006

PS - If you don't want to spend $$ to hire them right now, they'd probably still be worth talking to or e-mailing.
posted by amtho at 9:36 PM on May 4, 2006

The Engineers for a Sustainable World chapter at my university recently converted a large passenger van to vegetable oil / diesel working with a local company called Liquid Solar. I'm 99% sure its a Chevy/GMC, one of the 15-passenger stretch jobs with three or four rows of bench seats. I don't know much about the technical details behind the conversion, but I imagine if the engine can be converted to work with veggie diesel, it ought to be able to handle the biodiesel conversion too.
posted by Alterscape at 10:21 AM on May 5, 2006