Upgrade for Fiat turbo Diesel

With the whole world rushing headlong towards Diesel power as an economical alternative to petrol engines, Fiat Powertrain Technologies has revised an existing engine to provide even more reason to go Diesel.

Production of the new design engine will commence next month at the company's plant at Pratola Serra in Italy.

The engines will be produced in two states of tune, a 132kW version for sale to customers outside the Fiat Group and a 140kW version for Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia vehicle production.

Current models available in Australia that are likely to be fitted with the new engine are the Alfa 147 JTD, the 159 JTD and the Fiat Punto Emotion MultiJet (more here).

Initially, only the 132kW version will be built at the factory and the 140kW version will go into production around June next year.

Displacing 1.9 litres, the engine in 140kW tune will also generate 400Nm of torque – the sort of output normally expected from a much larger displacement petrol engine. Fiat claims that the new engine will not only meet the Euro 5 emissions standard, it will also out-perform some six-cylinder petrol engines of twice the capacity.

Despite the strong performance from the new engine, fuel economy will better that of petrol engines offering similar levels of performance. Compared with the current engine, the new JTD unit boasts 50 per cent more low-speed torque. 300Nm of torque is available from engine speeds as low as 1250 rpm.

Changes to the engine's design include the adoption of a two-stage turbocharger, reduction of the compression ratio from 17.5:1 to 16.5:1, low-voltage metallic glow plugs and a revised EGR set-up with improved cooling.

Fiat claims that the two-stage turbocharger eliminates turbo lag and improves the rate of exhaust gas recirculation without detriment to fuel economy or emissions.

Induction is by common-rail direct injection and the engine's architecture comprises an alloy head with double overhead cams and a cast iron block.

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