My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

[fishfeatures]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

In doing research when writing my "LeeRoy's Ramblings" for OMC 9.9/15hp motors, I came upon a few tidbits of information on running these motors on kerosene.

Nothing I can find directly from OMC however. But mainly from Australia & yes what "fishfeatures" mentions is just what I came up with. One report from a marine mechanic that got one in for repair was that there was a small gasoline tank under the cowling with a shut-off valve to use for starting, then when warm, shut that valve off & the kerosene one on. He also said it had a thicker headgasket, but never removed the head to see if it was a thicker one or 2 regular ones.

I think using a small fuel tank & OMC quick coupler to start the motor with & changing over to a main tank coupler would work great.

In all my parts list examination I have never found a headgasket labled for kerosene.

Now think about the British Sea Gull motors. These ugly motors are used mainly on long range sail boats & are strictly kerosene. The word was kerosene does not deteriorate over time like gasoline & is not as volotile (dangerous in confines when at open sea).

I see no reason for it to not work & also require no fuel/oil mix. May not have the same power as gasoline however but will give a heck of internal lubrication.

As AlTn said google, "kerosene outboards" & come up with this or http://www.marineenginedigest.com/specialreports/kerosene-outboards.htm

Keep us posted if you do this !!!!!!

Nice post thanks for that Machinist. every little bit of positive info helps.
It may be a non runner as we have seagulls over here but none I've seen run on Kerosene, but man i think it's worth a shot.

 

[AlTn]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

in the threads that google linked it seems that the kerosene outboards had 1/2 the life of the gas ones..fwiw

 

[fishfeatures]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

in the threads that google linked it seems that the kerosene outboards had 1/2 the life of the gas ones..fwiw

I noticed that and was wondering why??
maybe some regular maintenance or head gasket changes, plugs , may lengthen this , but we won't know why they have shorter lifespan until we see what exactly happens the powerhead why it goes, as I can't find any info into why they last half as long.

That's another reason to test and post results so you guys here on Iboats that can debate the why and why nots on why it failed or maybe succeeded (types he with fingers crossed)..

 

[kbait]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

1/2 the life? What's 1/2 of forever?

 

[fishfeatures]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

1/2 the life? What's 1/2 of forever?

exactly !!!! well said kbait.....

 

[nwcove]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

yikes! i can see kerosene working, but how much unburnt fuel would get spewed from the exhaust? a two stroke is inherintely inneficient on gas, how bad would it be running kerosene? cant wait to hear the good and bad on this experiment!

 

[kodibass]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

fishfeatures' Well this just happens to be the kinda thing that I think is fun to try' Because of your thread I will do just that, I have several old 25-35 hp Jonny/rudes that I care next to nothing about' I will start one with my small test tank (50-1 gas mix) then switch to the kerosene & see what happens, I'll post results from my test. should be fun!

 

[fishfeatures]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Great Kodibass...... looking forward to your posts.....

 

[seahorse5]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Years ago I worked on Kerosene outboards. Johnson had a 12 hp model only used in Europe. It was a detuned 20hp that had very low compression to work with kerosene. It started up on gasoline then you moved a valve to start burning kerosene after the motor warmed up.

The motor carboned up quickly and needed the head removed and the carbon scraped off the piston and out of the exhaust ports.

If you are going to convert an existing gasoline engine, then good luck to you. You have to lower compression and you have to calibrate the carburetor to flow the heavier and less volitile fuel plus fashion a selector valve. The sparkplug will also have to have a hotter rating to keep it from fouling. It sounds like an expensive trial-and-error type of conversion.

 

[ultra353]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Thats what i was thinking too seahorse5, lots of carbon build-up and fouled spark plugs and unburt fuel into the water. I thought you would have to increase compression to get the fuel to combust properly, just like a diesel?

 

[ACAMS]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

I am going to say it will not even run!

That would be like getting it to run on diesel.

 

[hooter85742]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Kerosene, gas, diesel,. as far as I know diesel takes High preasure to light in an engine an no spark, gas takes a lower preasure and needs a spark. Kerosene is in the middle of the two right. its a mix of the two. it has a flash point. So would not need to lower the comprestion ratio really you'd need to up it. to back my thoughts up I looked this up on ehow. com and here is gas vs diesel


The diesel's compression ratio is about 17:1 compared with gasoline's 9:1, giving it higher torque for better pulling power, but the transmission and axle ratio also play in towing capacity and the right combination could make the gasoline engine an equal performer, according to trucktrend.com.

Speed
Gasoline engines generate more horsepower for superior acceleration and speed, such as General Motors' 340-horsepower, 8.1-liter V-8 gas engine compared with GM's 300-hp 6.6-liter turbodiesel, according to trucktrend.com.

Fuel EfficiencyDiesel burns at a higher intensity than gas, therefore making it more fuel efficient of up to 8 mpg more than gasoline engines, according to trucktrend.com.

Cold Starts
Diesels use heat, not spark, to ignite the air/fuel mixture, making starting a diesel in cold weather a challenge, according to trucktrend.com.

And to show you where Kerosene is too diesel here is how to use kerosene with diesel.

Kerosene is blended with diesel fuel to improve winter fuel operation. Kerosene blended diesel fuel is mixed with ratios from 80 parts diesel, 20 parts kerosene to a maximum 50 part to 50 part mixture depending on the severity of cold weather. While kerosene has an ignition quality similar to #2 diesel fuel, it is too thin to work well as an engine fuel alone and has poor lubricating capabilities inherent in heavier #2 diesel. Kerosene can be mixed with diesel fuel by the truck owner or operator.


So now you see the different uses of these fuels so you may be able to use kerosene but you might have to up the comprestion ratio and might still need so oil added to it for lube. But I could be all wrong. the best way would be to just try it and if it works or not you know what to try to make it work.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Kerosene, gas, diesel,. as far as I know diesel takes High preasure to light in an engine an no spark, gas takes a lower preasure and needs a spark. Kerosene is in the middle of the two right. its a mix of the two. it has a flash point. So would not need to lower the comprestion ratio really you'd need to up it. to back my thoughts up I looked this up on ehow. com and here is gas vs diesel


The diesel's compression ratio is about 17:1 compared with gasoline's 9:1, giving it higher torque for better pulling power, but the transmission and axle ratio also play in towing capacity and the right combination could make the gasoline engine an equal performer, according to trucktrend.com.

Speed
Gasoline engines generate more horsepower for superior acceleration and speed, such as General Motors' 340-horsepower, 8.1-liter V-8 gas engine compared with GM's 300-hp 6.6-liter turbodiesel, according to trucktrend.com.

Fuel EfficiencyDiesel burns at a higher intensity than gas, therefore making it more fuel efficient of up to 8 mpg more than gasoline engines, according to trucktrend.com.

Cold Starts
Diesels use heat, not spark, to ignite the air/fuel mixture, making starting a diesel in cold weather a challenge, according to trucktrend.com.

And to show you where Kerosene is too diesel here is how to use kerosene with diesel.

Kerosene is blended with diesel fuel to improve winter fuel operation. Kerosene blended diesel fuel is mixed with ratios from 80 parts diesel, 20 parts kerosene to a maximum 50 part to 50 part mixture depending on the severity of cold weather. While kerosene has an ignition quality similar to #2 diesel fuel, it is too thin to work well as an engine fuel alone and has poor lubricating capabilities inherent in heavier #2 diesel. Kerosene can be mixed with diesel fuel by the truck owner or operator.


So now you see the different uses of these fuels so you may be able to use kerosene but you might have to up the comprestion ratio and might still need so oil added to it for lube. But I could be all wrong. the best way would be to just try it and if it works or not you know what to try to make it work.

First off.. kerosene is not a mixture of diesel and gasoline...
:facepalm:

Allot of generality's, and misguided guessing here, all based on info scraped together from specific vehicle info on an automotive web site.

 

[nwcove]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

i admittedly know next to nothing about diesel engines, but dont they need the high compression to ignite the fuel?....i know that compression does cause heat, but , heat supplied by glowplugs is only for cold starts? ( just referring to some of the info given in the post by hooter)

 

[ACAMS]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

Kerosene and diesel are very similar, with kerosene being a little better and cleaner. I have a steam cleaner designed to run on kerosene, but if diesel is cheaper I use diesel.

Now for the engine part .... back in the late 70's and early 80's GM made a diesel out of their 350 Oldsmobile engine.
The gas version had on average 9:1 compression, and the diesel had 22:1 compression.

Back in the 50's Farmall had a tractor that would start on gasoline then run on diesel and it had fairly low compression, so it may run if you could ever get it to start. http://www.chatstractors.com/071315_Farmalll_450_diesel_tractor.htm

I would suggest getting an LP conversion, or make one and use LP gas.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: My 60hp Johnson on Kerosene ... is it possible??

dont they need the high compression to ignite the fuel?....

That is correct. The heat of a diesels compression is what causes the fuel to ignite when sprayed in by the injectors.

heat supplied by glowplugs is only for cold starts?

That is correct. The glow plugs assist in raising the temperature of the combustion chamber on a cold engine.