has anyone ever seen a diesel converted to propane?

[rickf]

Here are some pics of just that.

 

[jrobinson5093]

was it machined to fit spark plugs in it? and if it as how did they time up the coils?

 

[rickf]

I have no idea, these pics are from a GL auction. PM me if you want the link. I did not want to run afoul of the policy of no auctions but I thought some of you would be interested in this engine.

Rick

 

[WillWagner]

That wasn't converted, it was made like that. Cummins makes quite a few LPG, CNG and LNG engines. The B, C, L, NT, and K engines are gassified.

 

[rickf]

The coils are wired into a harness that goes down to something at the bottom of the engine. It does not look like they are attached though. I enlarged it as much as I could and the connector looks like it is off to one side too much to be hooked up. You could time them to the flywheel and set it up where two fire at the same time, one on intake and one on exhaust. Same as newer cars. That way you would only need three timing points. I would think that with the compression that it would preignite? The flashpoint of propane has to be higher than diesel.

Rick

 

[rickf]

That wasn't converted, it was made like that. Cummins makes quite a few LPG, CNG and LNG engines. The B, C, L, NT, and K engines are gassified.

This is a G12 engine.
So is it a high compression diesel or a LP gas low compression engine?

 

[rickf]

OK, Will got me thinking. How about a Google search? Guess what? It is a gas engine.
False alarm everyone. Sorry.

100 KW | Cummins G12 | Gas Generator Set

 

[jjramrod]

A gas engine or a diesel engine can be made to run off propane. The problem with doing it with a diesel is that there is no longer the lubrication from the fuel. So very dry cylinders lots of power like running nitrous on a gas engine. Both can have the same side affects Blowing up. I've owned one that did just that.

 

[wreckerman893]

After 911 they installed a huge emergency generator at my Army Reserve unit (we were a division headquarters).

It was powered by a 60 series Detriot diesel converted to run on natural gas.

I talked to the guy that was installing it and he said it was not an uncommon coversion.....I think it still used compression to fire.....I dont remember seeing any spark plugs.

 

[jjramrod]

I sold a natural gas or propane generator a couple years ago it had spark plugs though never heard of a true detroit diesel running on natural gas. Although I have seen a 6.5 with a propane injection set up it blew the head and cracked the block. Real detroit diesel engines are hard to kill though. All the vehicles our power company use are converted to propane or natural gas but I guess if your a multi million dollar corporation you don't have to worry about maintenance.

 

[shotgun3030]

I used to work on big diesel engines, not uncommon to see a large cooper-bessmer converted to natural gas. These huge engines are started rolling on compressed air then they put the diesel to it, when they reach operating tempurature they switch them to natural gas. There was a electrical generating plant in a small town outside of wichita kansas that had a motley collection of large diesel engins, all of them converted to natural gas. Must of been 7 different types and sizes of engines there, all converted.

 

[ryan77]

The big the high rise condos i work on have generators that run off diesel or natural gas!! When they fire them up it sounds like a locomotive running in a closet!!!!!

 

[Darwin T]

there is a company that makes a conversion kit for the Cummins Engine and has for years. i will have to go back through some old favorites on my home computer and see if i can find the site.

 

[mhassett]

Yes, they are used offshore with natural gas aal the time.

 

[patracy]

They're still a diesel internally. But the injection pump, lines, and injectors are removed. The injectors are replaced with spark plugs or hot bulbs (like a GP, only shaped more like the element in a traditional light bulb).

 

[WillWagner]

On the gassified Cummins stuff, pistons and heads are way different than diesel. I'll take some pics of some L gas engines today.

 

[patracy]

Well I was relaying what I had been told about some buses that had been converted to CNG.

 

[rickf]

I would like to see the injection process for propane in a diesel. Since gas is compressable, unlike diesel, then it has to be injected at fairly high line pressure. At least above 600 lbs. to overcome compression pressure. Injectors will have to mechanically opened. It will not need the extremly high pressure of fuel because there is no need to atomize it. The lower flash point would raise my curiosity about timing. On a stationary engine I could see it because speed is constant but on a bus timing has to change.

Rick

 

[patracy]

It doesn't get injected through the normal fuel system a diesel would have. It's fumigated just like a gasser.

 

[dependable]

Westport Innovations inc . I think their main line of business is converting fleet diesels to natural gas. Partnered up w Cummins. Supposed to be the wave of the future, we'll see.