[cadman56]

I need some info on the Legacy's diesel engine. I was on Simplicity's website tonight checking out the Legacy's and one of the engine options was a B&S diesel. While looking at some used Legacy's I found they had a Diahatsu diesel engine in them. Does Briggs just re-badge the Diahatsu as theirs or what's the scoop here? I never heard of the Diahatsu engine before. Yanmar was the only one I knew of that was used in small/med sized tractors. How good is the Diahatsu? If maintained, how many hours would you get out of these engines? Are parts readily available for them? Any info you can give me on the Diahatsu diesel engine would be greatly appreciated. :thanku:

 

[cubguy2165]

I picked up 2 engines from my local dealer both blown,1-#1 piston 2.-#2 piston fried the dealer gave them both to me after they were warranted. I am slowly making 1 from 2.

The deal said they were not the best engine as he has warranted quite a few.

 

[Justy37]

Usually a well maintained diesel engine will outlast the tractor chassis. In this case no, not the best diesel design. Although they are fine if you do a lot of your own maintenance. Rebuilds and such. Parts are not as easy to come by either. Need to order them.

 

[UrbanTractor]

Yes, Briggs rebadges the Daihatsu.

Besides Yanmar, Kubota is the other big player in small diesels. Kubota probably has more over-all market share than Yanmar, though perhaps not in the smaller garden tractor market.

 

[firefighter5143]

what makes them a bad engine? I have two of them so I am just asking

 

[hammerdwn20]

i had no problems getting parts for mine. i bought a new block, piston, rings, bearings and seals, oil pan

 

[Jay H]

In this case no, not the best diesel design.

I'm a bit late to the party, but what makes the Diahatsu diesel a bad design?
My motor pulls like a freight train...? It's easy to service, starts unbelievable well in frigid weather, runs very smooth and I expect at least 3,000 hours of life out of it.

Diahatsu diesels are used in the commercial freight refrigeration market. The dealer I bought mine from has a customer using several Diahatsu powered Legacy's in a commercial setting with one motor well over 3,000 hours still going strong with no major work needed.

These motors should outlast the rest of the tractor.

 

[Justy37]

If you pull a Diahatsu apart. The oil galleries are tiny. On mine in the past. I disasembled the engine and drilled them all out. These engines are notorious sludge and carbon build up. Drilling it out helps reduce that. Also it's bad to run these engines on short trips. Get it hot so any moister in the oil is burnt out.

Tearing these engines apart is easy for the most part. I can replace the rings in about 45 minutes and ready to run. So they are quite easy to work on. But out of all diesel engines. It would not be a diesel I would buy. I would get a kubota, Yanmar, or something else.

 

[gburnett]

My not mean anything but over the last year I saw 2 Legacy diesels sell with under 1000hrs and both had serious engine issues.

 

[Jay H]

If you pull a Diahatsu apart. The oil galleries are tiny. On mine in the past. I disasembled the engine and drilled them all out. These engines are notorious sludge and carbon build up. Drilling it out helps reduce that.

Justy, do you work on these motors on a regular basis? Can you expand on what you are finding?

Also it's bad to run these engines on short trips. Get it hot so any moister in the oil is burnt out.

I think this statement would apply to most, if not all, motors.

I saw 2 Legacy diesels sell with under 1000hrs and both had serious engine issues.

Those two offset the two that I know of that have been in service at or over 3,000 hours with no major problems. The thing we don't know is how these two Legacy diesels that had major issues were maintained and how they were used.

I do remember reading that the 950 Diahatsu that is in the Legacy had the lowest warranty claim percentage (less than 1%) of all B&S motors in use by Simplicity. Though, the warranty period on a new Simplicity is two years, so that statistic doesn't help us too much as far as finding out how trouble free these motors run.

To the original poster cadman56, I'd suggest talking to as many service departments in Simplicity dealerships as you can to see how many of these Diahatsu diesels they see and what common issues come up.

But out of all diesel engines. It would not be a diesel I would buy. I would get a Kubota, Yanmar, or something else.

If you want a Simplicity diesel, the only choice is the Daihatsu motor until Simplicit switches to something else....

 

[gburnett]

Batting .500 is great in baseball pretty bad when it comes to engines blowing up.

 

[randyny]

Now, expect this thread to show up in Google searches about whether this motor is good or bad.

So, to add some more positive, I am an average-to-above average user. 7 years, 420 hours, many of which were hard hours, and it runs well. I have absolutely no doubt that this will last a looong time.

Then again, I am the guy who blows out a 9" Ford rear end during normal use. Because of it's robustness, the Ford 9" is one of the preferred rears for hot-rodders. Some guys have the luck I guess.

 

[Jay H]

Now, expect this thread to show up in Google searches about whether this motor is good or bad.

I did some digging...

The DM950D in use in the Legacy is a Japanese designed and built motor and Briggs only has a license to import and sell this motor in the US and in Europe. So, there is very little "Briggs and Stratton" in this "Vanguard" diesel in our Legacy's. It does not appear to be a Briggs design or even manufactured by Briggs.

There are some reports of weak crank issues with the DM950 non turbo unit, however I could not associate how old these motors were that might have weak crank shafts and I could find nothing that mentioned our motors have these crankshafts.

There are a few reports of motor issues on the turbo version of the DM950 IF one overheats the motor in severe duty use, but I don't necessarily blame the motor for that and we're not using the Turbo motor anyway. Most motors don't like being over heated either...

I've seen mention that the oil galleries are small as Justy mentions above.

When I took delivery of my '11 Legacy, my dealer warned me about the oil fill issue with these motors. You have to add the 3.5 quarts of oil (amount needed during oil change WITH filter change) s l o w l y and give the oil time to make it's way down to the pan. If you dump in 3.5 quarts quickly and then fire up the engine as soon as the last slurp of oil goes in the oil fill, you could damage the motor. My dealer advised me to add oil and just let it sit for 5 minutes or so before turning the key to start and there will never be a problem.

Looks like these Daihatsu diesels are used in Toro lawn equipment and in Kawasaki Mules too as well as other commercial applications.

If these motors are junk and have lots of problems or poor longevity, the internet would be full of stories. I think a well maintained Legacy diesel will last quite a while in a homeowner's hands. I'm not worried one bit about mine. You can find a problem with pretty much every manufactured product in the world that was made by a human. Nothing is completely bullet proof in all applications.