Isuzu Diesel 4BD1

[tk064]

There is a short thread running in the old dodge forum about the 4 cylinder Isuzu engines.



I know it is off topic, but was wondering if anyone had any experience with them. Looking for a 4 that is smoother than the 4BT if possible.



Thanks for any info.

 

[Copterdoc]

isuzu

I put a isuzu 4 banger in a nissan pickup a couple of years ago. Nice little truck, but very underpowered. The isuzu will run forever, I pulled mine out of the weeds. It was 20 years old and I had it running in 5 minutes, But it is not even close to being in the same power class with the cummins. It would pull its guts out just to push the little nissan around. it now resides in the junkyard as a trash hauler. I posted a couple of pics of it way back when. It is under "shop truck" in the conversions forum. copterdoc

 

[DT]

The little isuzu 4- bangers that were put in chevy luvs and little isuzu pickups are completely different animals than the 4BD1.



The 4BD1 is a very good little engine... In fact, everyone here will probably hateme, but it's a better built engine than the 4bt (or 6BT).

As you probably know, it is direct injected, has replaceable chrome dry liners, inline injection pump, all valve guides and seats are replaceable, solid roller lifters, etc...

I, however am not sure how it does on vibration, though. Just look at all the little isuzu cabovers running around and see how much they vibrate... Although you have to watch out, I think about '92 or '93 they came out with the 4bd2-tc, which is indirect injected.

I have the six cylinder version of the 4BD1T in my truck, the 6BD1T. It is a very good running engine, pulls good.

http://www.picturetrail.com/turbokid1

 

[tk064]

Do you know any good links to sources of info for the engine models? The site I was looking at lists models of 4BD1T, 4BD2TC and 4HE1XS.



The 4BD1T is clearly the most attractive by price. The hp is listed as 120, 135 and 170, respectively.



There were similar responses to yours on another site. Very positive opinions by the people who drive the cabovers with the 4BD1.



Thanks, Tim

 

[Todd G]

I've owned 6 Isuzu NPR's and 1 FSR over the years. Their motors are very reliable and easy to maintain. My delivery drivers would make up to 50 stops a day going from full throttle to shutoff in 2 seconds. No waiting for turbo to run down - nothing.



Most of the NPR's were the 135hp version, but had one with the 175. That thing was quick for a 10k truck! It would be a fantastic conversion for a 1/2 ton. I used to average 14mpg on the NPR's using the previously described driving methods. With a much lighter pickup, I think 30 is possible.



The only things I ever had go wrong were an occasional burned piston and bad turbo. This would happen at about 200k miles. The piston would cost about the same as a turbo - $800 or so. All repairs were done with the motor in the truck. Easy to replace chrome liners you know. I've had motors last 350k.

 

[DT]

I haven't really found any info on the engine models on the net, though I do have a spec sheet with the 6bd1 and 4bd1 (non turbo)... I also have a service manual that lists info on the 6bd1t, basically the same as the 4bd1t...



I would definitely go with the 4bd1t... It is all mechanical, and direct injected... when you start getting into the newer ones you get electronic controlled, and as I said, the 4bd2-tc is indirect injected... The 4he1xs may be direct injected, but if it is, it is probably totally computer controlled...



I would worry about the 120 hp rating on the 4bd1t... that can easily be turned up to 150 or more...

My engine was originally non turbo'd and rated at 121 hp... The factory specs on the valve cover said 6 degrees timing for emissions, I advanced that to 16* and turned the fuel up, voila! I estimate using a "poor man's dyno" that I'm making about 200 hp...



I would definitely recomend the 4bd1t...

If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail me at -- email address removed --

 

[tk064]

On the M37 forum one guy who has delivery trucks said that his 4BD1 trucks are quieter/smoother than his 6B trucks. I don't know about that, but if it is even close that would be WAY smoother than a 4BT.



There certainly aren't any good Isuzu diesel forums out there, that I can find at least. I think I'll need to go down to the GM truck center and see what the diesel mechanics have to say.



Thanks for the info (or any additional info)



Tim

 

[50BMG]

What is the maximum amount of power (horsepower and torque) that could be squeezed out of an isuzu 4bd1t reliably? I think that there are 500 horsepower and 600 horsepower 4bt cummins I have even heard of a 800 horsepower 4bt cummins but I'm sure that it must have been all custom and reliably wasn't there.

 

[Killer223]

OMG thread resurection!!! from 2003 to 2018!!!!
WOW!!!!

 

[50BMG]

Yeah, I have a tendency of doing that. I hope that it doesn't cause any problems for anyone on the forum because I keep resurrecting old threads.

50BMG

 

[Regcabguy]

My friend had an Isuzu powered S-10.
Noisy,smoky,rattly and underpowered.
Reliable and good economy? You bet.
He put 160K on that thing and had the water pump go out. Lots of Mexican diesel run through it.

 

[50BMG]

Ok Regcabguy, a few things 1. did your friend have an isuzu 4bd1t in his S-10 or one of the 4 cylinders that were used in the chevy luv`s there's a huge difference, 2. reliable and good fuel economy are both good things, 3. noisy rattly and smoky are just common things in older diesel engines, 4. underpowered if your friend had a isuzu 4bd1t in his S-10 then there's probably no way of easily getting 400 H.P. - 500 H.P. out of one is there ? I thought that isuzu 4bd1t engines were on par with 4bt cummins just slightly shorter and smoother running, I have been mistaken before guess I should do some more research.

50BMG