[hps aulakh]

i have got hold of an RET 4 jeep engine in a running condition.it was manufactured by kirloskar engines in early eighties and was made as a conversion for petrol jeeps.its weight and sound level was lesser than the mahindra B275 engine.i had one in a 91" which was sold after clocking nearly
1,20,000 kms.had an excellent pickup and the top end was over a 100 kmph.
can any member explain the causes for its failure.

[rajeev k]

I remember the launch of this engine but was noisy and not accepted in the market. I am not aware of much farther though I have seen couple of Jeeps then powered by RET 4

[jeepster]

Originally Posted by hps aulakh

i
can any member explain the causes for its failure.

was it also called the P4??

AFAIK they failed due to high number of broken cranks.

rgds,
Nikhil

[Frankenstein]

Originally Posted by hps aulakh

i have got hold of an RET 4 jeep engine in a running condition.it was manufactured by kirloskar engines in early eighties and was made as a conversion for petrol jeeps.its weight and sound level was lesser than the mahindra B275 engine.i had one in a 91" which was sold after clocking nearly
1,20,000 kms.had an excellent pickup and the top end was over a 100 kmph.
can any member explain the causes for its failure.

The kirloskar RET 4 was one of the 1st diesel engines to be plonked in a JEEP much before the Matador 305 and later the great 307 in Hyderbad. Bharath motors Naryan Reddy was the person who revolutionized the Kirloskar transplants here ,more than 500 transplants. This was the time when people dumped the Go devil and hurricanes . Its a good engine period . Better to the B 275 international but thats it, nothing great. The RET 4 needs a very good battery to start which were rare in those days , so they used to make the air cleaner sniff petrol to get a quick start. These engines were later replaced by the 305s then the 307s and now the best of the lot the Isuzu 4FG1.

It was not a failure, people used them long enough and finally better engines came to the market . Every senior jeeper here can relate to this engine in their childhood.

RET 4 is not the perkins p4 .

If you want any particular info then i can ask Narayan anna.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by hps aulakh

i have got hold of an RET 4 jeep engine in a running condition.it was manufactured by kirloskar engines in early eighties and was made as a conversion for petrol jeeps.its weight and sound level was lesser than the mahindra B275 engine.i had one in a 91" which was sold after clocking nearly
1,20,000 kms.had an excellent pickup and the top end was over a 100 kmph.
can any member explain the causes for its failure.

It was basic, simple,easy and above all cheap to repairs and maintain.
It was almost like a water pump engine we find in villages.
It was very noisy,but had a high torque and low RPM which was a added feature.
Failure I think because it was very noisy.It can still be found in Jeep Taxi in Kutcch and Bhuj.

[sammyaulakh]

@nikhil,
P4 was manufactured by Perkins India as well as Simpsons for industrial use.later on escorts used this engine in the tractor called escort 47.subsequently mahindra used the same engine for their 101" chassis jeep, which was a failure eventually they used the engine for the 500 series tractor which was also discontinued.Whereas RET4 was manufactured by kirloskar as stated above only for jeeps. the RET4 was much lighter, quicker, frugal , silent and lesser prone to problems compared to P4 and B275. P4 had an inherent problem of leakage due to leak of compression from the pistons into the chamber and causing back pressure.

[nnn]

In my younger days, I had a RET 4 in my army disposal Willys in the early 80's. Great engine with amazing pick up. Great top Speed. Amazing Torque. 72 Bhp was amazing for those days when Mahindra Diesels were all of 48 Bhp (if I remember correctly) or so. Good fuel consumption (12 Km/Lt) . Very reliable engine. It was easy to break the rear axle on the Jeep with this engine trying to do a Wheelie, which was never achieved.

A bit rough and very noisy by today's standards. The Mahindra Turbo DI is much better.

[Sutripta]

Hi,
There was also a RET3 for Ambassadors! Both the RET 3 and RET4 came with adapter plates and bell housings, so conversion was very easy.

Engines had an oil consumption problem, and short (compared to other diesels) life. Also, in Bengal, RTOs would not endorse the engine transplant.

In a similar vein, what happened to the Jaya diesel?

Regards
Sutripta

[vipinmohan]

would like to know whether this RET4 jeep engines bear the series 60-1001-xxxxx engine number?