With the rise in the number of diesel-powered vehicles, chances are you’ve seen these four letters on most new cars today. We refer to CRDI. For those wondering, these four letters stand for Common Rail Direct Injection. Yes, this type of fuel injection system is actually quite common these days (pun intended).
So what exactly is a Common Rail Direct Injection system, you ask? In plain English, it is essentially a fuel system that employs a common fuel rail to supply fuel to the combustion chamber via the individual injectors on each cylinder. Without getting too technical, the system is pretty much the same as a conventional fuel injection system. In this case, however, the difference lies in the presence of the common fuel rail.
In a conventional system, fuel is supplied to each cylinder individually. With the common fuel rail, fuel is stored and distributed with the help of the electronic control unit. The main advantage is that there is a uniform flow of fuel entering via the injectors. And thanks to the high pressure, more power and better economy and emissions are achieved.
So the next time you see these four letters, simply think of them as being an ultra-efficient way of powering that diesel motor under the hood.
