The supercharged diesel engine of the Peugeot 604

Starting with a mass produced naturally aspirated Diesel engine, a turbo charged version has been developed for the purpose of fitting it to a passenger car. In its first part, this paper justifies and describes the modifications that have been done to the naturally aspirated engine: Optimisation of performances to match the vehicle needs more specifically, special care has been brought to increase low rpm torque. Improvement of mechanical and thermal characteristics of the engine, to withstand turbocharging. In the second part, the main problems of engine to vehicle adaptation, and their solutions, are described. Afterwards the general behaviour of the vehicle from the viewpoints of performances, fuel economy, exhaust gases pollution and noise emission, are reviewed. It is concluded that the turbocharged Diesel is of real interest. Concerning comfort, performances, fuel economy, a vehicle equipped with this kind of engine can be advantageously compared to the one fitted with a much larger capacity naturally aspirated engine.