Editor’s note: The following is the second part of a two-part article series regarding diesel fuel injection systems. Click here to see part 1. In my last column I began discussing diesel fuel injection systems, including some background information as to how technological advances such as this one came about. In this article I’ll continue discussing fuel injection, as well as other changes that were made in the diesel and overall automobile industry. When electronics were first introduced into the automobile industry, they were pretty basic. Diesels were among the last to have electronics incorporated into the engines. Many different electronic parts were created, beginning with the addition of a “computer” to the engine.

Editor’s note: The following is the first of a two-part article series regarding diesel fuel injection systems. Throughout the past few months, you have read about the history of diesel engines, Tier 4 emissions standards and the SCR and EGR engines. In this column, I’d like to return to electronic fuel controls, more specifically – diesel fuel injection systems. To start off, I’d like to discuss a few points regarding the history of the electronically-controlled fuel injection systems. Somewhere in the late ’70s, manufacturers started noticing that emissions standards were starting to increase at a strong rate.

This is the concluding segment on electrical systems. In the future, however, I will be discussing specific areas of electrical systems. The battery, starter and alternator are the three electrical team players. Without them, nothing will happen. In past columns, we have discussed the battery and the starter. Now we’ll move on to alternators. Batteries only last a certain period of time and you can only make so many starts. Not only that, when the battery starts the engine, the energy taken from the battery storage has to be replenished. The alternator is the part that restores energy back into the battery in a safe manner.