Diesel vs Gas Ambulances

[paramedicmike]

It's not a dragster, it's an ambulance. Fast acceleration is not a priority, smooth acceleration is. Your partner and your patient will appreciate it far more.

This. +1000.

[island emt]

Spent today bumming around in a diesel and going from dead stop to 55 just takes way too long.

You sound like the kind of partner that would get left behind at the ER trying to figure out how to explain to the boss your driving skills.

[ERDoc]

You just can't beat the smell of diesel exhaust in a garage in the middle of winter. Oh it takes me back every time I get a whiff of diesel.

[HellsBells]

In my opinion though, switching to a chev cab is the best thing that has ever happened!

Mobey and I work in the same system, and I agree, the chevy cab is very comfortable.

[Diesel McBadass]

A gas engine will run smooth. A good diesel can even be fast and smooth when turbo'd.

[rock_shoes]

A gas engine will run smooth. A good diesel can even be fast and smooth when turbo'd.

Every new diesel engine sold in North America in a passenger vehicle will have some form of forced induction (either a turbo, supercharger, or both).

[Just Plain Ruff]

Spent today bumming around in a diesel and going from dead stop to 55 just takes way too long.

The first time that my partner gunned the ambulance when I was in the back tending to a patient ended up with me being treated in the same ER as the patient for two bruised ribs, soft tissue abdominal injuries and a concussion. I don't remember anything that happened after the gunning of the engine but I talked to the patient aftewards and she said she kept trying to wake me up. It didn't go well for Mr. Speedy Gonzalez.

[Honeybadger]

The shoreline primarily is used to keep the batteries charged not to keep the ambulance warm. If an ambulance is equipped with a block heater that would be an option from the vehicle manufacturer. None of ours have block heaters. All of our ambulances are shoreline equipped but only the CCT units are plugged in. Out of our fleet about 90% of the units are ran daily.

Our ambulances are all Diesel with the exception of our Bariatric units which are AEV boxes on a Chevy frame. Our fleet consists of approximately 80 BLS ambulances. About 50 are Ford type II vans and 25 or so Mercedes Sprinters. The remaining being our Bariatric units. The Mercedes Bluetec diesel engines leave a lot to be desired. They are quiet which is good for us since we do System Status Management and they are decent on economy. Other than that they are crap and I find them completely under powered.

The Fords have tremendous power but they sound like a diesel, which I like but the neighbors don't. Both diesel and gas have their advantages. I personally feel diesel is more appropriate for ambulance service. They are more robust engines, designed for a longer service life and provide more consistent power. I'll take diesel any day.

While I have never done it, several employees have put gas into our diesel ambulances. The Fords can be driven back to HQ, drained and refilled. About a $100 mistake. The Mercedes on the other hand must be towed. If the engine has been started with gas in it parts have to be ordered from Mercedes and replaced in the engine. According to our mechanics it is $10,000 to repair a Mercedes engine that has had gas run through it. We don't have dedicated fuel cards because we don't have our own pumps. We use a card that will activate any pump at any gas station in the country.

AMR tukwila unite!

I was in my regular unit (merc sprinter) doing a day trip over the pass and another crew in a diesel ford doing a similar trip caught us up, we decided to give it the beans, and holy hell that Ford walked away. Sprinters have the worst of both worlds, no low end grunt and all top end power so they have huge turbo lag and are add smooth as falling down a flight of stairs. Avoid sprinter ambulances at all costs, they ride horribly, severely unreliable (major engine and electrical problems starting around 50k miles in every single one in our fleet, for a while my rig was out of service all but two or three days a month) and our old 7.3 Fords are barely starting to cause trouble around 450k miles.

I have done a few shifts in our gasser bariatric rig and hate it in all ways. Clunky, asthmatic, struggles with seattle hills, thirsty, and your have to work it hard to make it move. The diesels feel effortless By comparison, and as such, don't get the nuts revved off of them, which leads to better reliability.

We have a duramax that I have not driven, but one thing I noticed was that it was eerily quiet at idle. Give me diesel any day in any vehicle that weighs over 3 tons. You can just feel when something is just not going to last as long when you drive it how it needs to be driven, and big ass diesels just feel tougher. I'm curious to see how the new little Ford 5 cylinder diesel performs in the transit, but I don't have high hopes.

[zippyRN]

i wonder which engine/ state of tune those complaining about Sprinters being underpowered are inflicted with , there are 2 or 3 different engines and 2.1 l engine is available in a number of power outputs from 90 to 160 PS ... wioth the larger *19 models being the six cylinder engine

Edited January 17, 2015 by zippyRN

[Arctickat]

AMR tukwila unite!

I was in my regular unit (merc sprinter) doing a day trip over the pass and another crew in a diesel ford doing a similar trip caught us up, we decided to give it the beans, and holy hell that Ford walked away.

So, you're saying that during a non-emergent patient transport you ended up in a drag race with another ambulance? Some sort of pissing contest? And we wonder why people are losing respect for our profession. Note the example above.

Back to the topic. I just bought a new Dodge pickup with the 6.7l diesel and hooked onto my 31ft camper. Even with that weight on the bumper, the acceleration was better than my ambulances. That said, It's too much low end power for an ambulance, however, in the hands of a responsible driver, I don't believe it would be an issue. I've moved on from the Hino idea and am seriously considering the Dodge chassis for my remounts.