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Alright, I'm gonna cut the chit chat and get to the question: COULD I convert my Briggs and Stratton V-Twin (445677) to use Diesel Fuel? It seems feasible to me. Would the oem carburetor work, or would I have to somehow make it fuel-injected? I think that if I replace the spark plugs with glow plugs, maybe get oversize rings or something else to increase the compression, and probably mess with the timing a bit, it should run. Any Ideas? Any diesel techs out there? I would probably have to get billet rods too. TIA

Going from 7-8 to 1 to 14-16 to 1 compression will cost lot more than just getting a regular built diesel engine. You basically got to double the stroke will require custom built crankshaft and new rod longer rods. Plus there is just not cylinder stroke area to achieve this.

GM got that idea in the late 70s . 5.7 ended up in a class action lawsuit , they never stopped the head bolts from breaking after three attempts , all different crankshafts from breaking, reengineered injector pumps with timing advance in them so they would start below 35 degrees, all the accessory brackets broke from vibration. If you want to try a conversion look at propane . Tried and true and proven and plenty of you tube videos .

Not a good idea - while it might be possible to get it to run (after much costly effort) it will not run for long. Diesel engines are designed, from the start, to accommodate much higher compression (needed for spontaneous ignition) and what is essentially a life of pre ignition, that would destroy a petrol engine quick smart.

Just asking why would you want a Diesel? Every one must be turbocharged. Try and run one without a turbo. Remember the old 240 D Benz Diesels. What a total dog. Course you couldn't kill those engines with a bucket of sand in the oil sump.

My opinion, Diesel torque ratings, you divide by 2 to compare to a gas motor in torque. I had a mid 70's Ford F150 with the 460 V-8 in it. Gentle warm over on the motor. Mild RV cam, Performer intake and 750 Holley. Headers and 3" duals. It would embarrass any of today's Diesel trucks. Guessing mine was 300hp and 500 ft lbs.

Diesels hold 2-3 times the oil. Same with filters. Have you priced some of these new filters yet? Coolant filters slash every fluid on the truck filter. Just wait till the turbo goes out or some injectors. I know a ton of people that went from Diesels to gas. Don't have to "look" for Diesel fuel or drive out of your way to a truck stop. Couple friends have fleets. They are kicking themselves for not doing it earlier. They listened to all the hype on TV.

Okay back to mowers. Enough of my rant.

slomo said:

Just asking why would you want a Diesel? Every one must be turbocharged. Try and run one without a turbo. Remember the old 240 D Benz Diesels. What a total dog. Course you couldn't kill those engines with a bucket of sand in the oil sump.

My opinion, Diesel torque ratings, you divide by 2 to compare to a gas motor in torque. I had a mid 70's Ford F150 with the 460 V-8 in it. Gentle warm over on the motor. Mild RV cam, Performer intake and 750 Holley. Headers and 3" duals. It would embarrass any of today's Diesel trucks. Guessing mine was 300hp and 500 ft lbs.

Diesels hold 2-3 times the oil. Same with filters. Have you priced some of these new filters yet? Coolant filters slash every fluid on the truck filter. Just wait till the turbo goes out or some injectors. I know a ton of people that went from Diesels to gas. Don't have to "look" for Diesel fuel or drive out of your way to a truck stop. Couple friends have fleets. They are kicking themselves for not doing it earlier. They listened to all the hype on TV.

Okay back to mowers. Enough of my rant.

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Had a W123 240D, 3 x W123 300D's and a W116 240D - LOOOVE diesel.
While the naturally aspirated variants are very sloooow to accelerate - man do they just keep going! 160 kph, noooo problemo! and as solid on the road at that speed, as they are at 60 kph. One of my 300Ds was a station wagon 5 speed factory manual. Fully laden (adults & gear for a weak on the road), high speed cruising, 7 L/100 kilometres ( 33 miles /gal?) - this in a 1985 built vehicle!!!!

• Your generalisations on oil capacity/filters is BS.
• Your statement on turbo charging is also BS - while a turbo will generally improve a diesels performance (just like a petrol) is not actually required.
• Diesel engines, of the same swept capacity, will in general outperform & use less fuel than a petrol when it comes to work (torque) - not many petrol trucks & tractors around these days.
• Car (petrol) drivers do not, in general, like the lower acceleration of diesels, the smell of the fuel & exhaust and the usually higher purchase price.
• Diesel engines will usually outlast their petrol equivalent - the exception being where the manufacture tries to achieve petrol type exceleration/weight /cost. These engines have a troubled history & are most often rubbish. Dont purchase a diesel if you \want to get burning rubber at the traffic lights.
• For a diesel powered vehicle variant to be cost effective, you must be doing high mileage or towing/carrying (working)
• Industrial equipment (large mowers, etc) are usually diesel due to the better torque characteristics of the engine & the lower fuel consumption.
• In service time, injectors/turbos will wear out, no matter petrol or diesel.
• What the uneducated /fashion/market driven public do/purchase is little indication of any products actual worth.

In short you don't actually know what you are talking about

Skippydiesel said:

Your generalisations on oil capacity/filters is BS.

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Go open the hood of any heavy duty 18 wheeler truck. Count filters and "gallons" of oil required. Report back here with your findings.

Skippydiesel said:

Your statement on turbo charging is also BS - while a turbo will generally improve a diesels performance (just like a petrol) is not actually required.

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We both know, any non turbo Diesel is a dog. Sounds like we've driven them both. You also agreed with my statement on the lack of zip with them.

Skippydiesel said:

Car (petrol) drivers do not, in general, like the lower acceleration of diesels, the smell of the fuel & exhaust and the usually higher purchase price.

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Agree. Also the extra expense of DEF fluid is a turn off.

Skippydiesel said:

In service time, injectors/turbos will wear out, no matter petrol or diesel.

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I typically drive Toyota's. Never needed any injectors nor turbos. Another benefit of a gas vehicle.

Skippydiesel said:

In short you don't actually know what you are talking about

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Finally something I DO agree with LOL.

Slomo - try comparing similar capacity/ roles with similar - when did you last check out a petrol "18 wheeler truck"

"We both know, any non turbo Diesel is a dog." If it's a "dog" , a 300D (non turbo) cruising economically at 100 mph may be a greyhound. Horses for courses - want a sports car don't buy a diesel. Want economy/torque/ great highway cruiser/performance, all in one package, buy a diesel turbo or non turbo (not many around these days). The turbo part just increases the volumetric efficiency/power to weight ratio. Can either use a smaller engine to do same job or use increased power to move greater load.

"..typically drive Toyota's" Diesel or petrol ? Either way what you not mentioned is the distance /years of service. My last diesel, a Daihatsu Rocky 2.8 Turbo, (basicly a Toyota) had done 750000 kms, of trouble free service (never opened the engine) before being prematurely retired by a a young man driving his car into the side of mine.

"...the extra expense of DEF fluid is a turn off." Hadn't thought of that. We call it "Add Blue" My Sons new Ford Everest uses it - cant remember the consumption rate but he did tell me one small tank full, lasts for many thousands of kilometres, so the expense is minimal but still likly to be annoying.

Ok, if I “need a turbo”, couldn’t I just fab a RHB31 to it? Also, I thought diesel’s were shorter strokes..

Craftsman Garage said:

Ok, if I “need a turbo”, couldn’t I just fab a RHB31 to it? Also, I thought diesel’s were shorter strokes..

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Diesels vary just like petrols.
In general they are likly to have a longer stroke, than petrol & deliver torque at lower rpm.
Not a diesel expert but am aware that diesels that rev over about 1700 rpm are considered high speed. Big trucks are loping along at under 1500 rpm. Small vehicles (cars, utes & vans) usually deliver max torque at around 18-2200 rpm

The increased purchase price of diesel engines in pickup trucks made them uneconomical unless the miles driven annually were high. Those who bought thinking they were going to save money may have realized the increased investment had a pretty long payback time before actually costing less than a gas burner.
I have nothing against diesel engines, but note that they were not as popular to buyers as the major pickup sellers found out.
I am referring to the smallish ~3.0l engines that were available, not the 6l+ size.
As far as doing a diesel conversion, it would likely prove to be a unsuccessful endeavor as the engine likely would not handle the increased compression and running pressures if they could be engineered in somehow, and design and installation of some sort of injection system would be difficult to say the least.
There are some horizontal shaft smallish singles from China that make a lot of noise and smoke, and will shake most equipment apart unless everything is Loctited that might be interesting to the poster for not a lot of money. They appear to be based on the Honda single clones with a lot of extra metal in the head/cylinder/block/piston/rod/crank to handle the increased pressures needed to operate as a diesel.
Might be a good fit for the 'mud motors' that hang off the stern of boats used mostly in shallow water. Lots of torque at low rpm is perhaps a good fit for a boat propeller.
tom

grumpyunk said:

The increased purchase price of diesel engines in pickup trucks made them uneconomical unless the miles driven annually were high. Those who bought thinking they were going to save money may have realized the increased investment had a pretty long payback time before actually costing less than a gas burner.
I have nothing against diesel engines, but note that they were not as popular to buyers as the major pickup sellers found out.
I am referring to the smallish ~3.0l engines that were available, not the 6l+ size.
As far as doing a diesel conversion, it would likely prove to be a unsuccessful endeavor as the engine likely would not handle the increased compression and running pressures if they could be engineered in somehow, and design and installation of some sort of injection system would be difficult to say the least.
There are some horizontal shaft smallish singles from China that make a lot of noise and smoke, and will shake most equipment apart unless everything is Loctited that might be interesting to the poster for not a lot of money. They appear to be based on the Honda single clones with a lot of extra metal in the head/cylinder/block/piston/rod/crank to handle the increased pressures needed to operate as a diesel.
Might be a good fit for the 'mud motors' that hang off the stern of boats used mostly in shallow water. Lots of torque at low rpm is perhaps a good fit for a boat propeller.
tom

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Try to remember - the USA is NOT the centre of the known universe.
In my part of the World turbo diesel vehicles from around 1.6 - 3.5L are very popular and have been so for very many years.
Light commercials (2.2 - 3.5L Ford, Issuzu, Toyota, Mazda, VW, MB, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Photon, LDV, etc) are amongst the best selling vehicles of all.
American (Ford Chev & Dodge) petrol powered, big utes, have recently become trendy. Their appalling fuel economy is already impacting negatively on their resale value.

Here is an example of a purpose built diesel engine that can be reasonably priced.


And here is IPL of one version of this engine so you can what is involved.

http://sklep.yanmar.pl/usr/o/2v750-cvdi_1_.pdf

Skippydiesel said:

Try to remember - the USA is NOT the centre of the known universe.
In my part of the World turbo diesel vehicles from around 1.6 - 3.5L are very popular and have been so for very many years.
Light commercials (2.2 - 3.5L Ford, Issuzu, Toyota, Mazda, VW, MB, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Photon, LDV, etc) are amongst the best selling vehicles of all.
American (Ford Chev & Dodge) petrol powered, big utes, have recently become trendy. Their appalling fuel economy is already impacting negatively on their resale value.

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Obviously my comment was directed at the US market for pickup trucks. The premium paid for better fuel economy and low end torque, especially useful for towing, extends the payback time such that most original purchasers will have sold the vehicle long before.
I realize that many countries use diesel engines in their fleets of cars. The governments tax structures make them attractive.
Diesels in small power equipment parallel the pickup truck scenario in that the increased purchase price for a diesel and the scarcity of such models make their market presence minimal. Most small diesels vibrate a lot more it seems, and outdoor power equipment has enough vibration already without adding that of a small diesel.
One that is used commercially may pay for itself, but again, there are not a lot to choose from.
tom

grumpyunk said:

Obviously my comment was directed at the US market for pickup trucks. The premium paid for better fuel economy and low end torque, especially useful for towing, extends the payback time such that most original purchasers will have sold the vehicle long before.
I realize that many countries use diesel engines in their fleets of cars. The governments tax structures make them attractive.
Diesels in small power equipment parallel the pickup truck scenario in that the increased purchase price for a diesel and the scarcity of such models make their market presence minimal. Most small diesels vibrate a lot more it seems, and outdoor power equipment has enough vibration already without adding that of a small diesel.
One that is used commercially may pay for itself, but again, there are not a lot to choose from.
tom

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In Australia,
The vast majority of contract/local government, grass cutting, is done using diesel powered mowers (most over 25 hp).
Emergency & remote power supply electricity generators, over about 7 Kw, are diesel
Dedicated fire fighting pumps are for the most part diesel (being less flammable than petrol)
All self propelled agricultural equipment is diesel
Where electricity is unavailable, large pumps are diesel
Work boats are often diesel, being less prone to on board fires
All trucks, 2 tonne upwards, are diesel
The list goes on & on

"The governments tax structures make them attractive."

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You may be correct - I understand that petrol is cheap in the US.
For us, diesel power represents economy of operation , which for commercial operators includes, low fuel consumption, longevity & reliability.

"Most small diesels vibrate a lot more"

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All single cylinder engines vibrate a lot, multi cylinders less so.
Vibration is a factor of balance or lack thereof.
How an engine in mounted, what & how its coupled to, will also influence is tendency or not to vibrate and how that vibration is mitigated.
My wife drives a Hyundai i30, 1.6L, 4 cylinder, turbo diesel. My son uses a Hyundai i30, 2L, 4 cylinder, petrol, to commute. The diesel is far smoother, quieter, more torque, less rapid acceleration, about 1/2 the fuel consumption, than the 2L
I drive a Ford Ranger, 3.2L, 5 cylinder, turbo diesel. I do a lot of towing. You would be hard put to fine a smoother running engine.

hlw49 said:

[Hot Item] 25HP Air-Cooled Twin Cylinder Vertical Shaft Diesel Engine

Model NO.: R2V870V Ignition Mode: Electric Ignition Speed: High Speed Cooling Cylinder: Air-Cooled Intake Pressure Impulse: Naturally Aspirated Piston Movement: Reciprocating

www.made-in-china.com

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Sounds the goods BUT the specifications are a bit suss - "Ignition Mode - Electric Ignition" something lost in translation?

Personally I would prefer liquid cooled for best performance, longevity and possibly quieter running.

Would never handle the pressure and explode.

This is two pages longer than it needs to be. With enough money you can do anything. Diesel would need to be injected. Glow plugs are just to get it started and would burn out if needed to keep running. You'd need a custom crankshaft, cam, rods and pistons.
Way less work and $$$ to just buy a diesel. Even less to get a replacement Briggs if yours is old and tired.

Craftsman Garage said:

Alright, I'm gonna cut the chit chat and get to the question: COULD I convert my Briggs and Stratton V-Twin (445677) to use Diesel Fuel? It seems feasible to me. Would the oem carburetor work, or would I have to somehow make it fuel-injected? I think that if I replace the spark plugs with glow plugs, maybe get oversize rings or something else to increase the compression, and probably mess with the timing a bit, it should run. Any Ideas? Any diesel techs out there? I would probably have to get billet rods too. TIA

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Simple answer is no.
The compression is too high for a standard gas engine to be converted to diesel then there is the following.
You will need a custom cylinder head with precombustion chamber, glow plugs, fuel injectors with heat shields and an injection pump that is able to properly supply adequate high fuel pressure to the injector of several thousand psi and then time it all to work with either gear drive to the crank or roller chain.
Diesel engines do not use carburetors they use a high pressure injection pump, the good diesels like cummins use mechanical pumps.
Then the internals, beefed up crank shaft, bearings, rods, piston and rings.
Look back to GM's flop of the early diesel conversions, bent connecting rods, broken rings, blown head gaskets. Not that the duratrash from Isuzu is much better.

No way is this a good Idea.

And even one pickup owner parked his truck in Florence, AL along hwy 72 near downtown with a small tree with lemons hanging all over it.

Skippydiesel said:

Try to remember - the USA is NOT the centre of the known universe.
In my part of the World turbo diesel vehicles from around 1.6 - 3.5L are very popular and have been so for very many years.
Light commercials (2.2 - 3.5L Ford, Issuzu, Toyota, Mazda, VW, MB, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Photon, LDV, etc) are amongst the best selling vehicles of all.
American (Ford Chev & Dodge) petrol powered, big utes, have recently become trendy. Their appalling fuel economy is already impacting negatively on their resale value.

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I am a diesel lover stuck in an anti-diesel country....LOL. My boat has a wonderful 54hp Yanmar (that uses 5 quarts of oil, BTW). I had two diesel VW wagons -- yes, they had a turbo, but WOW would they accelerate! My top MPG trip was 50MPG over a 200mile trip. Yes, really! To be fair, I was "trying" and so did the entire trip at the posted speed limit -- doing the normal 10-15 MPH over the speed limit kills fuel economy.
I do find it interesting that the US is considered an environmentally irresponsible country, with Europe much more progressive. But, diesel is ubiquitous in Europe, and can't get through the US environmental regulations (putting aside issues like cost and customer preference). It's always struck me as an odd situation.

Is it April 1 already? This has to be a joke.

B&S used to publish info on how to run their small engines on kerosene. IIRC you were supposed to stack a second head gasket onto the first for some reason, then install a second fuel tank with a selector switch. You start the engine on gasoline and once it's warm you flip the fuel switch and run it on kerosene. Before shutting it off you switch back to gas so the fuel system isn't full of kerosene the next time you try to start it.

It's not diesel but at least it might work.

Don't think it is possible. Not enough compression, the block is not strong enough to handle the compression increase, the rods are too weak, no way to put injectors in the head.
As for a turbo many farm tractors have not used a turbo the AC D19 was the first, then other manufacturers started using them. There was a company M&W that made kits to put them on nonturbo engines. Some successful and some not. If memory is right the 4320 was JD first attempt. Many early farm tractors were not turboed and ran and worked just fine. That said some farmers installed turbos and turned down the fuel to get original HP they did it for better fuek efficency.
If you wanted to try anything it would be easier to convert it to ALL FUEL. These used "tractor fuel often refered to as distolate" You need two fuel tanks a small tank for gasoline for starting and a large tank for fuel. Start on gas warm up switch to fuel, to shut off switch back to gas so it will start next time. The problem with tractor fuel is there is a substantial power loss.

Forgot Briggs did has a three cylinder diesel made by Dihatsu and Toyota They have been out of production for many years because of many issues.

Craftsman Garage said:

Alright, I'm gonna cut the chit chat and get to the question: COULD I convert my Briggs and Stratton V-Twin (445677) to use Diesel Fuel? It seems feasible to me. Would the oem carburetor work, or would I have to somehow make it fuel-injected? I think that if I replace the spark plugs with glow plugs, maybe get oversize rings or something else to increase the compression, and probably mess with the timing a bit, it should run. Any Ideas? Any diesel techs out there? I would probably have to get billet rods too. TIA

Click to expand...

No.

Craftsman Garage said:

Alright, I'm gonna cut the chit chat and get to the question: COULD I convert my Briggs and Stratton V-Twin (445677) to use Diesel Fuel? It seems feasible to me. Would the oem carburetor work, or would I have to somehow make it fuel-injected? I think that if I replace the spark plugs with glow plugs, maybe get oversize rings or something else to increase the compression, and probably mess with the timing a bit, it should run. Any Ideas? Any diesel techs out there? I would probably have to get billet rods too. TIA

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Since you don't know enough about Diesel or other engines (they don't have a Carb) best to buy one if you must have a Diesel or use what you have. Oversize Rings??????????? uh no.

Rocky J said:

GM got that idea in the late 70s . 5.7 ended up in a class action lawsuit , they never stopped the head bolts from breaking after three attempts , all different crankshafts from breaking, reengineered injector pumps with timing advance in them so they would start below 35 degrees, all the accessory brackets broke from vibration. If you want to try a conversion look at propane . Tried and true and proven and plenty of you tube videos .

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I know whereof @Rocky J speaks...best thing I never did is buy that diesel Caddy Eldorado!! Not like I was trying to, but in my no-spare-change-youth dad said I could have some gas from one of his cans for my BMW R60/5 twin motorcycle, so filled my however-much empty tank with remnants of the can. Don't know how, but it DID run on that diesel/gas mix, belching smoke every rotation while I continued to top the tank off to get rid of the diesel. All those Standard Oil cans looked the same!

Gord Baker said:

Since you don't know enough about Diesel or other engines (they don't have a Carb) best to buy one if you must have a Diesel or use what you have. Oversize Rings??????????? uh no.

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YES! Easy way to convert ZTR to diesel is only one word......Kobota! Several sizes to choose from.

I am impressed how politely answered this question was. It is very very impractical if not totally impossible to convert economically from gasoline to diesel fuel. Like someone said if you have an unlimited budget…have at it

go ahead and listen to guys that want to prove they're smarter about diesel than the next guy - but you need to ask yourself why do you really want to convert. evaluate the cost of what you think you need vs just build a basic adapter for an existing 20hp diesel that you could pick up for $500-$1000, I've even seen some pull-outs going for $250 locally.

fyi I've run both gas and diesel zero turn mowers on my accounts, I have both gas and diesel ag tractors, and both gas and diesel pickups to haul this stuff around. some turbo, some not. I'm happy to talk pros and cons if anyone cares but I won't argue which is better.

I have a 2013 Mercedes 3500 Unity 23’ motor home. I get a consistent 16-17 mpg with it. My friends think I am lying, but I have the receipts to prove it.

Owning and driving a small diesel is like owning a HD ElctroGlide! If you wanted something quick and fast, you shouldn’t have bought a Harley! If you own a vehicle larger than a car, acceleration should not be a concern. If it is, the problem is not the vehicle, it’s the owner.

I love the Mercedes, it just quietly rolls along. And I have never had to "look" for diesel. The large majority of stations now carry it.

Screw Diesel. Go with Propane. Plugs will last 4ever and you'll have to stick to strict runtime oil changes because oil always looks new as the day you changed it. Conversion kits are out there and reasonably priced.

sailingharry said:

I am a diesel lover stuck in an anti-diesel country....LOL. My boat has a wonderful 54hp Yanmar (that uses 5 quarts of oil, BTW). I had two diesel VW wagons -- yes, they had a turbo, but WOW would they accelerate! My top MPG trip was 50MPG over a 200mile trip. Yes, really! To be fair, I was "trying" and so did the entire trip at the posted speed limit -- doing the normal 10-15 MPH over the speed limit kills fuel economy.
I do find it interesting that the US is considered an environmentally irresponsible country, with Europe much more progressive. But, diesel is ubiquitous in Europe, and can't get through the US environmental regulations (putting aside issues like cost and customer preference). It's always struck me as an odd situation.

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Enjoyed your response.
I would speculate that the reason why most of the World uses diesel extensively, while the US not so much, is that you have always had relativly cheap petrol, making the acquisition of a diesel car/ small commercial, questionable economics.
My wife's Hyundai i30, 1.6L, turbo diesel delivers a consistent 5L/100km (51.5mpg?) no matter how hard you drive it.
My Ford Ranger, 3.2L, turbo diesel, delivers 7L/100 km on a long trip at 110 kph. Towing a large two horse float (trailer) it goes down to 14L/100 km.
While a small turbo petrol may equal, even better my wifes mpg, there is no way a petrol will deliver the economical towing capacity of a diesel.

rswapp said:

Simple answer is no.
The compression is too high for a standard gas engine to be converted to diesel then there is the following.
You will need a custom cylinder head with precombustion chamber, glow plugs, fuel injectors with heat shields and an injection pump that is able to properly supply adequate high fuel pressure to the injector of several thousand psi and then time it all to work with either gear drive to the crank or roller chain.
Diesel engines do not use carburetors they use a high pressure injection pump, the good diesels like cummins use mechanical pumps.
Then the internals, beefed up crank shaft, bearings, rods, piston and rings.
Look back to GM's flop of the early diesel conversions, bent connecting rods, broken rings, blown head gaskets. Not that the duratrash from Isuzu is much better.

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FYI - From my limited understanding. There have been two main types of diesel cylinder heads;
Precombustion (PC). An excellent but expensive system. Tolerant of fuel quality & to a small extent contaminants. Does not lend itself to fast exceleration. I have never seen a cross flow pre combustion head engine.
Direct injection (DI). Came into its own when cross flow combustion systems became more common. Piston has a "swirl chamber" cast/machined into top for better air/fuel mixing. Injectors less tolerant of low quality fuel and contaminants. Potential for more rapid exceleration. Less costly to manufacture.
Non turboed diesel usually run 20-22:1 compression ratios
Both systems can be turbocharged. Speculation; DI lends itself to lower compression engines, which reduces cost & weight.
Very early diesels did not use injectors - I had a diesel model aircraft engine, it did not use an injector.
Older diesel engines all used mechanical pressure pumps of one sort or another to supply high pressure fuel to the injectors. The most common were inline and rotary.
Not sure but think the current very high pressure, Common Rail diesel, will still use a mechanical pump to deliver the pressure to the Rail. Timing is now done electronically (computer) opening/closing the injectors.

Skippydiesel said:

Had a W123 240D, 3 x W123 300D's and a W116 240D - LOOOVE diesel.
While the naturally aspirated variants are very sloooow to accelerate - man do they just keep going! 160 kph, noooo problemo! and as solid on the road at that speed, as they are at 60 kph. One of my 300Ds was a station wagon 5 speed factory manual. Fully laden (adults & gear for a weak on the road), high speed cruising, 7 L/100 kilometres ( 33 miles /gal?) - this in a 1985 built vehicle!!!!

• Your generalisations on oil capacity/filters is BS.
• Your statement on turbo charging is also BS - while a turbo will generally improve a diesels performance (just like a petrol) is not actually required.
• Diesel engines, of the same swept capacity, will in general outperform & use less fuel than a petrol when it comes to work (torque) - not many petrol trucks & tractors around these days.
• Car (petrol) drivers do not, in general, like the lower acceleration of diesels, the smell of the fuel & exhaust and the usually higher purchase price.
• Diesel engines will usually outlast their petrol equivalent - the exception being where the manufacture tries to achieve petrol type exceleration/weight /cost. These engines have a troubled history & are most often rubbish. Dont purchase a diesel if you \want to get burning rubber at the traffic lights.
• For a diesel powered vehicle variant to be cost effective, you must be doing high mileage or towing/carrying (working)
• Industrial equipment (large mowers, etc) are usually diesel due to the better torque characteristics of the engine & the lower fuel consumption.
• In service time, injectors/turbos will wear out, no matter petrol or diesel.
• What the uneducated /fashion/market driven public do/purchase is little indication of any products actual worth.

In short you don't actually know what you are talking about

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But you took the topic away from where the question was asked and took it into tractor trailers, and automobile engines of the diesel variety.
Some of the things you said that are absolute fact like diesels almost always outlive their gasoline counterparts, wow true, that is because these diesel engines were designed from the ground up to be diesel engines.

No one here was having a discussion about whether a twin gasoline engine or a 3 cylinder yanmar diesel as to which one was better than the other.
They were only asking if you convert a Briggs & Stratton engine over to run on diesel.
The quickest and best answer is that it wouldn't be worth your time.

Like one of the other answers stated, while it is technically possible to do, it still wouldn't work well and it would have no longevity.
In fact, just to get it to function at all you probably couldn't even use the original block so would it still be a Briggs & Stratton engine?

You could build or buy a custom block and use some of the Briggs & Stratton parts but that goes back to the original best answer... It wouldn't be worth your time, or money.

Diesels can certainly be great when done right but there is nothing going to be done right about trying to convert a 44XXXX series Briggs to run on diesel.
Propane or natural gas is quite simple and will work just fine.

Propane's probably the easiest because you can have little tanks like the little green ones or you can run it off a torch bottle but actually I'm thinking push mowers here and you could take you a barbecue grill 20 pounder and put a hanging bracket right between the handles of your lawn mower or even a little platform there about 8 in off the ground and run your lawn mower for a long time on propane.

I will say that while propane and natural gas both burn cleaner, you are likely to have more problems if you put a lot of hours on one of these engines with propane or natural gas then if you just use gasoline like they were designed.
More likely to have valve problems using propane than gasoline BUT sometimes this is a moot point because most of these engines never get enough hours on them and their lifetime to ever come close to wearing anything out.
They simply have some needed repair at one time or another and they're replaced or junked because of that.

I can't tell you how many 17 to 24 year old riding lawn mowers I have serviced and how many I have seen replaced that were only maybe 15 to 22 years old because they needed some repair and mainly because most shops are so expensive it just wasn't worth putting that kind of money into it.

Not a single one of these engines was ever worn out and they probably could have easily gone another 10 plus years had they have had a simple repair.

In my area the average person with a 42-in rider plus between 25 and 35 hours per year maximum.
Some people in some areas don't put that many hours on them and of course some do more but unless you're cutting more than one lot or trying to cut commercially, people in my area do 25 to 35 a year.

You can do the math but I see so many lawn mowers disposed of and replaced when they don't even have 225- 275 hours on them.

In fact, in the 10k+ of mowers that I have serviced over the past 14 years really do I see any above 325.

This is simply because by that point they have had the mower so long that it's really old to them and it's getting pretty janky and probably has really floppy steering and the seats all chewed up and all that so they're ready for a new one.

Only occasionally will I see one in the 400s and that's been twice.
I keep track of all these numbers quite religiously.
The highest hour engines I have had come in were 879 on a John Deere commercial that was a private owner for five or six years and was about 11 years old when I saw it.
Had another Husqvarna zero turn with a twin Briggs 44xxxxx that to my amazement had over 1200 hours on it.
A lawn tractor style with 742,
And only one or two up there above 425.
99% of the ones that have come in have had under 375 on them and the majority of them have been in the low to mid 200s.

Anyways, converting a Briggs or any other gasoline engine for a lawn mower over to diesel is going to make its life expectancy under 1 hour.

bentrim said:

Don't think it is possible. Not enough compression, the block is not strong enough to handle the compression increase, the rods are too weak, no way to put injectors in the head.
As for a turbo many farm tractors have not used a turbo the AC D19 was the first, then other manufacturers started using them. There was a company M&W that made kits to put them on nonturbo engines. Some successful and some not. If memory is right the 4320 was JD first attempt. Many early farm tractors were not turboed and ran and worked just fine. That said some farmers installed turbos and turned down the fuel to get original HP they did it for better fuek efficency.
If you wanted to try anything it would be easier to convert it to ALL FUEL. These used "tractor fuel often refered to as distolate" You need two fuel tanks a small tank for gasoline for starting and a large tank for fuel. Start on gas warm up switch to fuel, to shut off switch back to gas so it will start next time. The problem with tractor fuel is there is a substantial power loss.

Forgot Briggs did has a three cylinder diesel made by Dihatsu and Toyota They have been out of production for many years because of many issues.

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I think you may be a little confused.
Turbo diesel have been around since 1925. In serial production since 1951.
Most smaller (sub 150 hp?) tractors were naturally aspirated until about 2000?
Turbo charging can confer more efficient/complet fuel burn = better engine efficiency/power output and lower emissions. In turn smaller, lighter/cheaper/lower fuel consumption, engine can be used to do the same work of a larger. In road use you may see a small capacity turbo diesel engine being used, as an alternative to a much larger petrol engine , in the same chassis.The small diesel preserving the handling characteristics, delivering much greater fuel economy, at the same speeds while sacrificing exceleration. In recent times there has been a lot of effort put into cars/small commercials to improve the acceleration. The main thrust being twin turbos. Unfortunatly this is a much more complex innovation, greater cost and may also diminish (to some extent) one of diesels greatest feature, fuel economy. It doesn't make a lot of practical sense, as diesel car buyers usually accepting the lower acceleration.
Petroleum Distillate is" a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons obtained from crude oil through a distillation process". Examples include gasoline, kerosene, and mineral spirits, etc
Distolate (not much used) has come to mean diesel.
Gas (USA) is just another name for petrol.
Gas (the rest of the World) is usually Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) although Hydrogen gas as fuel is in development.
Fuel is a generic term, means any burnable material used to power/heat
Some counties have agricultural (tractor?) diesel, the only difference being the lower/nil fuel tax regime and in some cases a die that can be detected in low concentration, if used in a road vehicle - big fines ensue.
Well before my time, there were engines that could be run on petrol and or kerosene (kero burners). As you say; start/finish on petrol, run on kero. I stand to be correct - these are not diesels (compression ignition) being spark or glow plug ignition.

The problem with tractor fuel is there is a substantial power loss.

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I am not sure what you mean by this.
Diesel fuel containers more energy /L than petrol.
Does not burn as fast as petrol, so does not easily lend itself to the acceleration much prized by most car/motorbike users.
Diesel engines are typically significantly heavier (more robust construction) than petrol, resulting in a lower power: weight ratio. This impacts on acceleration and road handling (cars).
Diesel engined usually deliver significantly more torque (the ability to do work) than an equivalent capacity petrol engine and for less fuel consumed. Thus they are preferred by industry (inc agriculture).
Diesel fuel, designated for agricultural use, does not differ, in performance, from road use diesel - this is usually a fuel tax arrangement.

biggertv said:

Screw Diesel. Go with Propane. Plugs will last 4ever and you'll have to stick to strict runtime oil changes because oil always looks new as the day you changed it. Conversion kits are out there and reasonably priced.

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Propane has significantly lower energy/L than either petrol or diesel. The effect is lower power, more gas consumed /hr/kilometer than a liquid fuel.
Can be attractive as often much cheaper than liquid fuels.
Does not have the "lubricity" of liquid fuels so may cause accelerated wear of valves, etc
Must be transported within a pressure vessel - weight/complexity.
Can not be successfully used without some form of conversion kit.
It has been used in a "shandy" with diesel - don't know much, supposed to deliver significantly more power/lower emission - never caught on.
The colour of sump oil is not a good indication of its condition or continued use.

biggertv said:

Screw Diesel. Go with Propane. Plugs will last 4ever and you'll have to stick to strict runtime oil changes because oil always looks new as the day you changed it. Conversion kits are out there and reasonably priced.

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I am a fan of propane as autogas fuel. Curious about your oil change interval statement, if it comes out looking clean and not smelling burnt (assumption). How are you know the oil needs changed at same intervals? Is there any data from oil sample tests (Blackstone Labs, or similar) that prove out the same oil change interval is true for gasoline and propane fuels? I am of the understanding propane burns cleaner, I would think that the oil would contaminate more slowly. Does the oil just wear out at a certain rate with no other factors?

13brian said:

I am a fan of propane as autogas fuel. Curious about your oil change interval statement, if it comes out looking clean and not smelling burnt (assumption). How are you know the oil needs changed at same intervals? Is there any data from oil sample tests (Blackstone Labs, or similar) that prove out the same oil change interval is true for gasoline and propane fuels? I am of the understanding propane burns cleaner, I would think that the oil would contaminate more slowly. Does the oil just wear out at a certain rate with no other factors?

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I am but an old farmer, limited understanding, just accept the recommendations of what seems rational.

Modern crankcase oils containe many additives, to help them performer to the standards the engineers/chemists demand.

When the oil is fresh, the mix is in balance & contains no foreign contaminants.

Subject the oil to;

• Heating & cooling cycles
• Byproducts of combustion
• Unburnt fuel
• Moisture
• Pressure
• Oxidisation
• Metal particles in suspension
• Atmospheric dust
• ?

and the additives start to be consumed, overwhelmed and out of balance.

The oils ability to keep metal components apart will be reduced. Eventually the engine will experince accelerated wear.

My understanding is that used oil can be recycled, that is cleaned, new additives mixed and the oil can be used again.

It seems to me that no matter the fuel type, burnt in the engine, at some stage the crankcase oil should be replaced, no matter how clean/dirty it may look.