Perkins 103-10 engine

[Craig]

Guys,

I know a lot of you guys have experience with diesel engines other than Listeroids as part of your work etc.  So what I would like to ask is what are your opinions of Perkins diesel engines?  I have found what seems to be a good deal on an 8.5 kw genset with a Marathon head and a Perkins 103-10 prime mover.   The set is 7-8 years old and has less than 50 hours of run time.  Anything good, bad, or indifferent to say about Perkins?

Thanks,

-Craig

[Stan]

OK, so what are you going to use it for?  Is it just to sit there and be ready for some power outages, or is it going to be the primary source of power for an off grid situation that will require 24/7 running that is keeping someone alive by running machines that generate Oxygen or some other critical use?
Stan

[wrightkiller]

where are your pictures of it ??     Perkins are O.K. in my book   

[mobile_bob]

i too would like to see a picture

about 7 years ago, i bought a small aircooled diesel off craigslist
from a guy who told me it was a perkins

i never saw a single cylinder perkins, and never gave it much thought
it ran, was electric start and the price was right, so who cared...

contacted the local perkins dealer for parts and they told me perkins never made a single
aircooled diesel... i have no idea if that is true or not.

so later i just assumed it was a chinese copy of whatever, and someone had attached a perkins sticker to it.
or maybe perkins rebadged an import engine for some odd applications,, this engine looks to have driven a trash pump.

i would guess my engine to be ~10hp or so

it is a 45 degree of vertical cylinder orientation, nice finned jug that slides down studs to the crankcase much like a motorcycle
engine or vw aircooled.

so a picture of your might be interesting to see if it looks like mine?

bob g

[oliver90owner]

Pictures

Loads on Perkins website.  Is a one litre 3 pot engine running minimum 2200, max 3600rpm I think.

Regards, RAB

[Craig]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Stan - It will be used primarily for backup power

Wrightkiller - I haven't seen it yet so no oppoprtunity to take pictures

Mobile_Bob - It is a 3 cylinder liquid cooled Perkins 103-10 KD Electropak.  Runs at 1800 RPM.  I have no reason to believe it is a chinese clone.

Here is a link to the spec sheet.  http://www.perkins.it/103-10el.pdf

What I am asking here is if you folks have any opinions as to the quaility etc of a Perkins diesel as opposed to say a Kubota, Isuzu etc.  I promise you I will not buy a chinese clone.  I will be able to inspect the set in person before buying it.

Thanks,

-Craig

[mobile_bob]

don't get all nutted up about chinese clones, it was my mistake
i mistook your original post of X kwatt as X hp and figured your engine to be a single cylinder
my bad.

as to perkins engines, they are about as good as the get
certainly are worse engines on the market,

also of note some of the perkins small engine's are made by a japanese company who's name i don't recall
even if it is a rebadged japanese engine it will be a good quality engine in my opinion.

if it starts well, settles down and runs well, exhaust looks good, and the price is right
i would go for it

bob g

[Doug]

Could be MK power or Tohastsu Bob. Both make engines but not exclusively Kub and Nissan products. Giant machine shops that take on contracts when the parrent company has slack....

There is stuff out there we never see here like Yanmar boats. Yes they make hulls nice ones too.
Morrow steering systems great stuff never seen over here under its own name at least.

[Oiler]

Go for it.
I've had several Perkins powered tractors and combines, never had troublle.

Torsten

[ZackaryMac]

I work for a place that sells Cub Cadet Utility Vehicles (side-by-side with a dump box on back), and one option is a Cat diesel, 3 cyl, 20 hp water cooled. Looking at the engine, you can see a Perkins tag on it. Only assumption I can make from that is Perkins actually makes the engine, unless Perkins re-badged someone else's engine, which seems odd to me in this case.
 Good starting and running engine, customers claim they are great on fuel. They aren't quiet, noisy like my Kubota compact tractor.

Wish I could have one to play with. 

[Combustor]

Caterpillar have owned Perkins for a number of years now, as it suited them to buy in when they moved into many lines of small equipment for which they did not have
suitable motors. Most small Cat machines run Perkins models in yellow paint, and if they are good enough for Cat, they're good enough for me!  Regards, Combustor.

[Craig]

Hey guys, how is everybody doing?  So I've had this engine/gen set installed for a few months now and everything works very well. I completely serviced the engine with all new filters, belt, hoses, oil and antifreeze replacement etc. I've also balanced the circuits in my house / garage as best I could and am able too reliably run in the range of 59.5 - 60.3 Hz and 118v - 123v on both legs.  The biggest improvement came after I rewired my well pump for 220.  When the pump was wired for 110, the leg it was on would droop to 115v or so and the other leg would get as high 125 to 127v.  All better now.

I do have a question for you.  In warm weather, it runs rock steady at 180 degrees F. Now that the cold weather is upon us here in New Hampshire it runs around 160 degrees F after approx. 1 hours run time with a 35% load.   Is this normal?  I have read here that the Listeroid diesels are more efficient at higher temps. Would the same hold true for a Perkins 103-10 running at 1800 RPM?  Is there any downside to running this engine at 160 instead of 180 like additional wear or poor fuel economy?  I'm wondering if my thermostat is stuck open, or maybe the engine just doesn't get that hot?

Thanks as always,

-Craig

[fabricator]

I would cover part of the radiator to get the temp up, 160 is pretty low for a diesel, higher head temps give a better more consistent burn.

[fabricator]

I'm not positive but I think those engines are made in Japan by Shiabura.