When I was young I shown how to run a 500KW genset. We had six of these at the transmitting station where I worked. Three were by English Electric and really good. The three others in a different building were not so good. As the station was not completed until 1941, the engines were just concreted into the floor, no cork mats or anything like that! The engines produced 750BHP at 300 revs per minute. Consumption at full power was allegedly 29 gallons per hour. Before starting up, the oil gallery would need be pumped up to 10psi with a semi-rotary handpump. Phew that was really hard work! As soon as pressure had been obtained one would shout "go" and a mate would apply the air (300psi from a really huge and scary iron "bottle" held together with rivets) There would be a loud chuff and the 4 ton flywheel (that was driven by a 6 ton crankshaft) would begin to turn and loud bangs would begin to occur. At this point opening the throttle would cause a little earthquake as the monster roared into life. The canteen was above the powerhouse so it was important to level the tables exactly when the engines were running as otherwise ones dinner would get vibrated onto the floor! At another transmitting station (Daventry?) they didn't bother to pre-oil and their engines broke down big time, absolutely wrecked so they had to have new ones which we all thought was absolutely disgusting - in fact we thought that the guilty ought to be paying for the new engines themselves. At another station run by VOA their diesels had electric starters. The pinions (which allegedly cost £200 even back in the sixties) would fail repeatedly on these so we were not impressed. Electric starters on machinery of that size is not a good idea. Our not-so-good engines were also troublesome. The worst blow-up was caused by a sticking piston. The rotation of the crank tore off the big end cap and the next turn smashed the con-rod out through the crankcase. Amazingly the engine was repaired OK! In short our engines lasted quite well considering that the lube oil was cheap reclaimed oil ( green Sternol I seem to remember). A major problem not so easy to fix was corrosion in the cooling system, still as the installation had been a wartime quickie, 25-30 fairly reliable years wasn't too bad. The eventual problem was leaking liner seals, not a five minute job to fix. Many of these problems can also occur on a diesel powered car but improvements in metallurgy, oils and inhibitors can make your little engine last almost as long as a big un. Always remember though that bad injector spray pattern can "kill" a good engine as the heat gets in the wrong place.
By the way the latest ships engines make these old 750BHP jobs look like toys but the amount of fuel to produce 100,000BHP is quite horrendous.

main reason that these big 500hp inline six, diesels make so much power and yet, still last forever, is for one great cooling and great lubrication.and two, they make all of there power in the 1200 to 2600 rpm range, Lower rpms means longevity.

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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

Not just that but those 500hp engines are 14L+ in displacment so they are low stressed. Thats only 35.7hp/L, a 350 Chevy makes around 52hp/L.

Where they shine is torque, all 1800+lb/ft of it.

Yeah, the Cat C-15 king of the road makes over 2000lb-ft at idle.

First, most of these don't go 1,000,000 without opening them, most get an in-frame long before that.

Second, the operating conditions are so much different, start and warm up, drive all day, 100,000miles/year is common.

My tires (Michelins) are warranteed for 7years/700,000miles, figure that one out. They're also over $500/ea and rated for about 7,000lbs/each.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

On ships generators of say 500 kW, we would run them 45000 hours before overhaul. Infrequently there were major failures. 44000 hours at an average of 40 mph would give 1.75 million miles if that's any comparison. On another ship we had Cat come and commence a major overhaul and when they had gone through 4 of the 16 cylinders they were willing to close it up with overhauled heads and accessories. The remaining 8 cylinders got only overhauled heads with the bottom end left untouched. With that they warranteed it for a year which is what we would have got with a new or fully overhauled engine. These generators were running at 85 to 110% rated load at all times.

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Retired Marine Engineer
2005 E320 CDI
1987 300 Turbo Diesel @ 300,000 kM going
1974 240 D 300,K Miles when given away gone
1970 200 D gone
1969 190 D gone

close to 10k for 18 new wheels .. and then tax and labour...

ouch..

Do you still call something a Yacht when it gets over 100 Foot or 200 foot?

Lots of Oil and Gearing... notice how all road tractors have a lot more of them than we do? Keeps em working in the right zone all the time. We need about 8 gears on our car and small truck Diesels. Would do us a world of good.

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

Only new money and Europeans use the term yacht, they are actualy boat's.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Traditionally, Yacht was a sailing vessel.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff