I would like to start by throwing out two that I can't decide which is more reliable First the 1UZFE-4.0 V8 found in the Lexus LS-400 models, Second would have to be the famous 22re 4cyl. I would tend to lean more towards the 1UZFE just because I have seen these engines personally with upwards of 500,000 miles with no major rebuilds on a consistent basis. Now it's your turn tell me what you think is the most reliable Engine ever made whether it's was or is for a car, heavy truck or piece of equipment.
caterpillar enigine are the best ever made. And for the big rigs is mack never had a problem with them started no matter how cold it was
I have no idea as to what is the absolute "best," but can throw out a few suggestions. How about a CAT 3406? And I'll also nominate the John Deere two cylinder diesels.
Not sure why you'd post this thread in "Dozers" and then start out talking about a Lexus engine, I moved it to "General Industry Questions". I think one consideration should be Wisconsin air cooled engines. They worked years and years unchanged and would start every time they were called upon. They had their quirks, yes, but once you learned them and compensated for them they wouldn't let you down any time of year. I was interrupted during an oil change on mine and ran it 1/2 hour with no oil, I got sick to my stomach when I realized and shut it down. Filled it with oil and it still runs today nearly 20 years later!
what about a chevy 350?
Flathead Ford 4cyl, Ford 9N. Built in 1939 and never been opened up. Not even a valve job. I don't know how many hours, but it's 70 years old and doesn't drip a drop of oil. Been in the family since new, have all the records of maintenance and original bill of sale.
perkins 4236,4248,6354. or any Toyota diesel
Mopar 225 slant six. I know of several with over 500,000 miles and never a problem. The bodies rusted away but the motors kept on going.
:notworthy:notworthy 9.2 Wisconsin in my 4 mortar mixers. 1985, 1986, 1986 1987, End of story I just retired them because they out lasted the mixers and parts for the mixers not the engines. The engines are in a container except one which I need to pull. Few carbs, fuel tamks (my errors) and points but never dissassembled in all those years. Now all I can get is a honda:nono sad it will never last that long. At least with points I would hear it coming new motors boom they are off and you are stuck. Points where's the file for a few days weeks running.
Well, okay. How about one of the most mean.... Mid eighties BMW F1 "Megatron" This engine was producing around 1,500 HP in qualifying trim, down to a lowly 1,200-1,300 HP in race trim. The cylinder blocks were from the 2002 road car and some of the "superfluous" ribbing was removed. It is a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine.
3126b
A lot of people do like the Toyota diesels. The only Toyota diesel I owned was a 2.4 turbo in a 1985 pickup. Bought it new, so it wasn't that a previous owner abused it. It gave horrible fuel mileage and burnt lots of oil. Got rid of it at about 110,000 km and was glad to see it go. Maybe I had a lemon??
Cat 3106 in a machine, not a truck. Really under powered and will run a good 20,000 hrs with no rebuilds in most cases. Keep the oil changed and new air filter and she'll run 4-ever
...And while I am on my F1 kick... Here is the Renault R27 for a press show-off session. These things make Nascar cup-cars sound like your father's Oldsmobile.....:tong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ2IWamKnrM&NR=1
350 Cummins Dodge/Chrysler 318
engine Steve that brings back an old experience. Back in the day, early 60's. I was about 15 years old and my granddad built me a 18ft skiff, with a new 9hp Briggs and Starton (spelling) we used these skiffs to harvest blue crabs. I was the only one in my village (out of 8 skiffs) that had the B&S, other had the 7 1/2hp Wisconsin. My skiff you out run all the others (I know I had more HP) All the owners of the other skiffs were older men and they didnt like that. Now to the story, my skiff got caught under the dock and it sunk over night, my Granddad and myself, got the skiff up and we flushed the engine with fresh water and dried out everything and put in new gas and oil, it started the second pull (pull cord, not recoil) amazing. I ran it for 2 more years, before getting a 4 cylinder and 22ft skiff. Seems like the Wisconsin engines always had problem with moisture, in the mag, but they were good engines Sorry again for the long story, got carried away again
Those Wisconsins have done untold amounts of work over the years and have powered just about everything. My buddy has a self propelled Gehl hay mower/conditioner that has a V4 Wisconsin in it that he uses still today. I've seen them in skid steers and any stationary machine you can think of, they sure have done a lot to build this country.
The early JLG lifts, like the 30F, used the Wisconsin VH4D.
Hi Guys, One of my many jobs while in high school was tieing wires on a Case hay baler with a V4 Wisconsin engine. No electric start. After cranking and cranking one morning I asked the boss why he didn't have my dad fix it so it would start. He said I can afford you but I can't afford your dad.
742 Waukesha
3176 Cat for big rigs the best engine John Deere ever made was the inline 6 cylinder diesel like what's in the 4010's and 4020's
As far as Deere engines I think the 466 was the best Waterloo six cylinder. I didn't like the 404 that was in 4000 series through the 4630. I've seen lots of 466s on irrigation wells that have 20,000+hours on them. I like the 292, 350, and 454 Chevy. The slant 6, 318, and 440 Dodge were good engines. For Fords I like the 300 six and the 302 V-8.
They must have been better in the equipment cuz they sucked the big one in trucks. Dad had good luck with his and it was programed with the "emergency service" rating plus some other tweaks. Other than that they were problematic. But as far as gassers go i would say that the ford 300CI 6 cyl inline was a hoss in both The FI and carberated versions. diesels i have to give the nod to the old mechanical DT-466's from binder.
Dd 6-71.
This one...
Did that come off your concrete mixer? :falldownlaugh Rn'R.
A friend of mine has a barn full of those old hit and miss engines and they all run! He's a bigtime collector,I always enjoy watching them run.
5.9 CUMMINS I've seen them used in light duty trucks,heavy duty trucks and boats.
Please tell us you are joking. I vote for the old 300 Mack. I ran the overhead on one a few years back that had s much wear on the cam that a few of the jam nuts didn't have enough threads to thread onto the adjusters. I put the nuts under the rocker arms and told the owner to get ready for an overhaul. He kept running the truck for about 6 months (hauling logs), and then sold it to another guy who ran it for another year. It may still be running that way.
Around here swear by Chrysler 4.0 liter straight 6 if you talk about small vehicles. Big stuff, Cat except for 3208, Mack in the big trucks here E7 400's and 350 are great engines. 7.3 Litre Powerstroke is also a great engine.
I was lol, I wan't to see if anybody actually believed me.
some have over million miles
I spent a bit over three years purely doing diesel engine failure analysis. I had to think about this because we were only called to failures so it was the engines we looked at least. The 8V92 series detroit and the 8RG version of the Cat 3408 (800hp version we called the "Hand grenade") were the most common failures we looked at. Mostly the cause of failure was pushing the engine beyond its service intervals for injector changes and in-frames. The other common cause of failure was defects in the cooling system..often as a result of neglect. The least looked at engine was the Cat 3406 and the Scania DS11. I saw a lot of operators with the Scania engine that couldn't even remember the last re-build or how many hours they had done...just "a helluva lot" was the usual reply. There were very few empherical manufacturer's defects. MAN had a bad run with pistons for awhile in the D28XX series. We saw a few Cummins KTA19's but these were big hour engines and there was a lot out there that performed flawlessly for years and years. Some of the most reliable engines I saw were (takes big breath ) Duetz air cooled machines and the Perkins engine mentioned earlier in the thread. None of them were any good when not maintained properly. My personal favourite was a Southern Cross 2 cyl hand crank diesel for 20Hp....you just can't beat an engine that fires slower than you can count aloud I'd say the engine that has the most proven track record for reliability around the world would be either Lister or Gardiner. On truck engines for miles travelled you'd have to think 60 Series or 3406..probably along with the 16 litre Volvo. Thats my two bob's worth..
I can add one to the "junk" category, I had a 21hp Kawasaki V-twin grenade on me today, just over 1200 hours. I haven't pulled it apart yet but I'm expecting to find a busted piston, I'm not too happy.
That and the two bangers. Not only were the two bangers extremely reliable they were cheap, simple, and quick to fix should problems arise. 3.9 and maybe 5.9L Cummins The 4 cyl version of the 5.9L was a great little engine. Had one of those in my skid steer and abused it for years and no problems. Cat 3406B Some of my trucker friends swear by these engines. Just a little different than the new Cat truck engines where its more a case of swearing at. Lister. I've seen Lister diesels with unreal hours still putting in a good days work every day.
Whatcha talking bout.....that is my concrete mixer
Hmmmm.. Kawasaki country heard from? I am worried that you won't find too many collaborators, boss.... Have you elliminated ALL possible facets of user error??
Actually I'm finding I'm in good company. I'm hearing these things have a habit of letting go around 1200 hours, mine has 1303. It's on a Scag mower, is set by a governor so it can't over rev, there really isn't any way it could be operator error. I wasn't running it, but my helper reported it went "BANG!" and just shut down. I was able to restart it, but it was clanking and running on one cylinder, then the stream of motor oil started running out the muffler. Pulled a plug today and the end was destroyed and full of aluminum particles, that pretty much told the story. I'm pretty upset it let go at such low hours and with faithful servicing.
Wow - curious to see pics of valve faces, top of pistons and rod bearings. Aluminum particles sounds almost like ignition timing migration. Please let us know.
Steve, how old is it? One series that JD used in their 425 mowers had a "plastic" cam gear or some such that would let go. I was told that they usually made about 800 hrs. Maybe you got a good one to make 1300.;
toyota 22r...bullet proof
General Motors Detroit diesel .Very reliable engines.
That's a good one for sure. I'll agree.
I'll try to pull the motor down this weekend and start a thread on it. The aluminum on the plug was from direct contact with it, the end of the plug was smashed. Either the piston or rod let go, maybe both.
Yeah, Steve, you've got to take it apart and report on the carnage. Since we've had small engines in here, I like the old K series Koehler single cylinder engines as well as the Wisconsin. Never been that fond of Briggs & Stratton for heavy duty service. Concerning more up to date small single cylinder engines, my pick bar none is the GX series Honda. Not the Vertical piston Honda, the GX has the cylinder leaning about a 45 degree angle. Those things will start...I don't care what the conditions are. Anytime I purchased a centrifugal pump, I didn't buy anything unless it had a GX Honda.
wisconsin then detriot for sure....those two always start no matter how long they have sat
5.9 Cummins , They never had a problem starting no matter how cold or how dead the battery was and surprisingly a Duramax LB7 A guy I know was trying to blow one up for warranty pourposes , I watched him throw a 1 gallon pitcher of water at the OPEN turbo , sucked it down no problem , while it was idleing he sprayed a full can of ether into the aircleaner , It made some scary noises but was still fine for the time being , he also had my dad plug his Snap on scanner into it and over ride the rev limiter and made it turn 5200 rpm before it stumbled all over its self and wouldnt take it any more , they finally drained all but 1 quart of oil out of the engine and had to drive about 20 miles before it finally locked its self down , True story
Who would warrantee an engine that had obviously been run without oil?Ron G
Ditto 22R I'll second that. I've had a couple, they never looked like wearing out. Matter of fact it's hard to kill some Toyotas at all. Take a look at Top Gear's attempt to kill a Toyota Hilux http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrk6vsb77xk Did they manage to destroy the Hilux?? Watch and see, it's a laugh... Oh, and it's in 2 parts, here's the second http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc4Ksz3nHM&feature=related Regards AusDave
The Honda was going to get my vote too, ATCO, but you beat me to it. They would have to be the most reliable small engine I have ever come across. We have one on a pump and I can't even remember when I bought it, it was that long ago, but rain, hail or shine it just starts right up, as do the others that we have. All of the Briggs that we had, were temperamental when it came to starting them. For the larger engines, I agree with Stock, there was a time in this country when a large percentage of farm tractors, harvestors and quite a few trucks all had Perkins engines and they ran trouble free for years. These days all of the engines are ultra reliable and it would be very hard to find one engine that stands out from the rest. Rn'R.
I agree that the LB7 is tough (I own one myself), but I call BS. You can't overide the rev limit with a Snap-on scanner ( I have a MODIS). Why drain all but 1 quart? If the engine was so good, why blow it up?
Everyone has their own opinion... mine sides for a 3.9 & a 5.9 cummins, 8.3 was a good one too. Wisconsin's are good, but grumpy in the cold. Air cooled duetz are a nice runner, especially tghose between 25 & 45 hp.
International DT466 is a good one... I'll also agree with the 2cyl JDs and 6cyl in the 4020s. Cummins 4bt and 6bt engines would probably be near the top for me.
A few of mine; 6-71 Detroit-just plain tough Cat D-318 Deutz F6L-413V or any air-cooled Deutz John Deere-Waterloo engine "English" Ford diesel in our 1974 Gardner-Denver 125 comp.
LoL...and being underwater! Was working the drill rig 180 miles from home in Cincinnati Ohio. Was pumping water from the Little Miami river, which feeds into the Ohio River...very large/long river. Had pump chained to a tree near river. Left one Friday for home, it rained all over the eastern U.S. that weekend, Ohio river came up, backed up the Little Miami. Mon morn, pump gone...underwater chained to tree. 5 days later, able to retrieve pump. Poured the water out of the GX Honda, removed valve cover, rinsed innards thoroughly with Kerosene. Put fresh oil and fuel in it, fired off first crank. Was still using that pump 3 years later when I left drill company. Tough little engines.
My uncle runs a GM dealership's garage and he says that only the GM TECH-II can override the rev limiter for 30 seconds. Superchips programer can only changer the speed limiter so this is bs.
The Honda is the modern day Lister. I have 4 GX Hondas currently. On the Dynapac if you have to pull it twice its got no fuel. Never met a Briggs worth a cracker.....nothing worse than a Briggs & Stratton on a fire pump..its always gunna let you down when you need it the most.
Exactly my sentiments Squizzy!
any opinions on kubota diesels? I have 2 on toro mowers, almost 500 hrs, no probs yet
We have a couple of Kubotas - a tractor and a mower, both bought new by us. The tractor (37 hp diesel) has about 600 hrs. The engine has been good, which is more than we can say about the steering. Two snapped steering rams suggest this is not industrial quality stuff. And it's too bad that the dealer and company did not stand behind the product. Expensive repairs like this should not be required on a low hours machine.
I have to pipe in and say the Briggs Vangaurd series are probably as good as the Honda GX. I've got one on my leaf vacuum, 16hp V twin and it sits all year until leave season, then runs full throttle for weeks on end. I've had one for 12 years now, all I've done to it is change the oil and add gas.
i share some of those sentiments, swampdog. The dealer is very accommdating when he wants us to demo a new toy, but trying to get parts or professional advice is so-so. Even when you have spent a few hundred thousand over a few years, you are only as good as your last tip, so to speak. What brand of tractor and mower do you have?
I think the B&S line has improved, along with most other engines, over the years. The mid to late 90's models were not very reliable in my opinion, but the models within the last few years have been consistent with the rest of the field. Reality is, if you don't produce a quality product nowdays, there is plenty of competition to take the place.
IHC Triple Diamond flatheads.....truly bulletproof...............as used in halftracks
Both the tractor and mower are made by Kubota. When the steering ram broke twice before the tractor had 500 hrs on it, I expected the dealer and company to show a little interest in finding the cause. They didn't even come out to look at the problem, although they were happy to sell the new parts.
Funny I have not heard any aircraft engines mentioned? What type of hours are engines made for before major rebuild? I know there are many catagories like HE and small engines.
Yeah, that's a good question.
Airboat motor Back in the late 70's - early 80's we had a 0540 6cyl Lycoming in our airboat. It had an aluminum hull. Running in the cow pasture on dry land down to the lake was no problem at all,just don't be standing behind it because the dry cow turds would fly everywhere. We put that engine through some tough times using both avgas and regular gas.
That reminds me of the Argo 8x8 with an 18hp vanguard I owned while living in Tn. That thing would climb some of the steepest hills even in the snow. It always started and ran great no matter how cold or hot it was outside.
Deutz air cooled FL series engine.A few years ago I worked on a Deutz tractor with a F3L 912 engine that had some blowby and was using some oil.The tractor only had 6500 hours on it.After disassembly I found the top piston ring on all 3 cyls broken,no scoring in the cyls and they still had the cross hatch pattern.Just lightly honed cyls,replaced rings and bearings,injector nozzles and valve job.It was good to go! I think the broken rings was operator abuse by lugging the engine and not enough rpms.
I agree Deutz air cooled, Lister air cooled. Most important thing for me in terms of generators is keeping thins @ 1500 RMP (or 1800 in america 50hz vs 60hz). Africa loves the old lister HR engines because they run forever and can be re built with minimal skill and tools. The down side to the lister engines being that they weigh three of four times what the equvilant Kubota engine does! As for the worst ever engines I have come accross are Ruggerini and Lombardini.............
without a doubt. 350 converted chevrolet..........................oh' you said the best motor I have had good luck out of 2 stroke detroits, you never have to change the oil in them, it is quite possibly the only motor made with more leaks than it has gaskets lol. I also have had great luck out of the Yamaha motor's. i have one on a pump and one on a Gen, and so far it's turning out to be a better motor than the red honda's, Starts easier (hard to belive but its true), quieter, smoother, less fuel, lighter. Pj
I may have also over-looked Honda's GX range of stationary engines. GX160 5.5hp is practically used in everything these days. Everything from jet washers to go-karts Amazing engines. so so simple. GD range of Honda diesels were not so good in my opinion neither are most of the small single cylinger air cooled diesels. Revving far too high!!! In my humble opinion the Hondas are in a different class to the Briggs, Tuscmesh, kohler ect............
ours on the Hustler lasted no where near 1300hrs. and had nothing but problems with it too.....I will never own another, infact we replaced the mower with a Bad Boy that has a Caterpillar Deisel on it Pj
Toyota 18R,22R Chevy 350 Dodge Slant Six: sawdust in the oil pan and dog water in the fuel tank and were good to go Smaller 2 stroke Detroit's: kinda biased as I still drive one. B3.9 Cummins and B5.9 Saw the F1 posts earlier and as a fan myself remember this video from a few years ago. Renault's car making music. Fast foward :55 seconds. YouTube - Formula 1 Renault "playing" !!BRITISH!! Anthem
I have to agree with the Toyota 22R