low-tech, small diesel recommendation

[jCarroll]

I've done some Google, Amazon, ebay searching, but I don't think I've hit on the engine that I believe is available.

I want a small (less than 10hp) single cylinder, manual start, diesel engine which would be tolerant of EPA imperfect fuel. Think a third-world application ........

My use would be to pump water on a remote, rural homestead.

 

[PJH]

Back in the '80s, they used to use a one cylinder Italian engine to run a generator on traffic control arrow boards. Based on the physical size, I'd guess it to have been around 12-15 HP. They had a big fuel tank, and they'd run night and day for weeks at a time with daily re-fueling the only attention they had. They were ugly, noisy, rattly, stinky and nasty. And apparently tough. Only "failure" that I remember was a 2 AM belt replacement in the rain. 30 years ago - can't remember the name of the engine - probably obsolete now.

 

[Roy Suomi]

I've got an electric start Lombardini single, cylinder engine running dual Delco alternators, a 4D battery and a inverter to power up part of my home during blackouts.. Runs 8 hours on a little more than 2 quarts of fuel.. I don't remember the model number, but the little bugger runs flawlessly.. Just a little hard starting in the cold..

 

[Bob M]

Take a peek at Carroll Stream Diesel.

I stumbled over 'em while looking for something else; I know nothing more than what's on the web page. Use at your own risk(!)
Carroll Stream diesel

 

[PJH]

Lombardini! That's the name of the arrow board engines. Thanks - that question was gonna keep me from sleeping.

 

[Bob M]

Those arrow boards generally used Lombardini (Italy) air-cooled diesels - about 5 HP as I recall. A bit noisy, but tough as nails!

 

[Butch(OH)]

You have lots of choices both air cooled and water cooled, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Indian and British makes are all generally available when you know where to look. Easy place to shop and compare is Ebay. Punch in "air cooled diesel" In the lower price ranges ($4-500) you will notice that there are fifty twelve types of 10 and 6 HP engines. They are all the same Chinese engine with different name badges and all are copies of Yanmars. For anything other than a play toy I would skip them and go with a real Yanmar for about 2X the money. There are two or three small Italian made engines that are all decent. Top of the list for me would be a Lister or Lister/Petter. The L/P AC1 is a great engine. The older series like the SL are good also. Parts for any of them are high high high except the China clones. Luckily You dont need many parts. The ultimate in reliable fuel sipping power will come from the older slow speed type diesels that are water cooled. Search "Lister CS engine" They are also cloned in India, Search "Listeroid" To learn more about these engines you can also look at The Lister Engine Forum.

 

[guido]

Hello jCarroll,

Kohler now offers diesel engines, check them out,



Guido
Small diesel link

 

[Mike M]

Check the small engine warehouse.
Google should bring it up. They are out of Indiana. Sometimes they get good deals on odd things.

 

[buickanddeere]

Around world where diesel fuel is 2/3 to 3/4 the price of gasoline. and where the "New Work Order" EPA anti technology pricks don't rule. Of course small diesels in HD applications rule.
One way or another just like light duty highway vehicles. A few light diesels get imported into the US.
Farryman builds a quality clone of the Yamaha small diesels. Changfa and Punsun also build Yamaha clones.
For slow speed small diesels . It's hard to beat the obsolete Lister , Petter and ListerPetter engines built since the 1930's. new quality parts are still on the shelf.
Have a East Indian clone of a Petter PH1W . Back when the British still over seen production in India after the tooling was bought and moved.
Lister and Petter Clones still built in India but they need to be completely diasembled, cleaned, re-machined and blueprinted.

 

[Cliff(VA)]

My experience with Lambordini engines is that they rattle themselves to death. My former company switched to Deitz instead. Alot cleaner and quieter.

But we were using bigger engines than you are.

Cliff(VA)

 

[hanovertom]

Subaru use to make one, used it on a small genset, don't know if they still do

 

[big jt]

They don't have anything online currently but Burdens' out of Lincoln, NE occasionally list's smaller air cooled diesals in their catalog.
Burdens Surplus

 

[NCWayne]

I've got a 2 cylinder Lister-Petter driving an 8500 watt generator that I use for power outages. The whole engine/generator combination had been thrown in a scrap bin and was sitting at a local scrsap yard that I often did work for. I've got no idea how long it had been sitting when I got it but I hooked a battery up to it just to see if it would spin it over. Imagine my suprise when it fired and ran for several minutes until it burned the fuel in the two filter canisters and shut itself down. At that point I hooked it to a fuel tank, and fired it back off to load test the generator. When I saw everything was in working order, I began to use itto power my house during emergencies.

Since getting it I've run it for as little as two hours, to as much as a week solid, with no issues at all. One thing I like is that it has decompression levers on both cylinders so you can get it spinning in cold weather before flipping them off to start. Too it has two chambers that allow you to give it a snort of starting fluid, etc should the need arise. I haven't had to use anything to help it start yet. I've started mine in 30 degree temps, to handle an outage, when it hadn't been run in over a year, and it fired right off and ran like a dream.

Besides reliable and smooth running they are also good on fuel. When I was running mine for that week long stretch, it was averaging about 3 to 5 gallons of fuel in a 24 hour period, depending on the load on the generator.

So, based on personal experience, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon with the others that have mentioned the Lister-Petters.

 

[Bret4207]

The Amish around me are big fans of the Lister/Petter engines. Not sure about the lineage or who makes what anymore, but some of the Carrol Stream engines are showing up. I first heard of them at an Amish auction and the nest day someone here mentioned them. They aren't supposed to be half bad, but not in the class of the Petters.

 

[redtom]

I worked on a walk behind roller that had a crank start Hatz that was pretty neat. about 10 hp

 

[TimV]

Another vote for Lister/Petter type engines. Have seen several off-grid setups using these that worked well running whatever they had handy. If you're expecting an "open the box and run it" engine, they may not be for you, but a bit of sweat equity put into them will produce something capable of running nearly forever with minimal maintenance or downtime. One link with lots of info is http://www.utterpower.com/lister-and-petter-type-parts/ and another one is below. I have not dealt with either company but both have extensive information and experience.
CS Lister clones

 

[Billy Shafer]

Lister would be a good choice. The things are built like tanks. You really have to try and hurt one.

 

[ShadetreeRet]

Would that be a Lister-Petter Putter, Putter? LOL

 

[NCWayne]

Now that you mention it, being a two cylinder, it does tend to sound like it's going Putt, Putt, Putt, Putt........LOL