Universal Diesel Substitute

[duffer1960]

I remember someone once posting who the modern day manufacturer of universal diesel is; ie where to get parts quickly and without paying the "Marine" price. I think it may have been Kubota, but I am not sure. Does anyone out there know? I am looking for a measley little gasket and am just trying to find a place locally that may have it in stock. FYI, the motor is a 5424/M30 and I am in the SE Michigan area.

[brak]

i don't know where to get that but I found boatdiesel.com to be pretty helpful with that sort of stuff.

[Rockter]

Call a Kubota fork-lift supplier. Do not mention marine applications.

[Valiente]

Universal/Westerbeke is a little tricky in that some of their diesel models were made by Mitsubishi and others by Mazda and then "marinized" (code for "triple the price of spares"). For instance, it took a fair bit of time and investigation to determine that my Westerbeke W-52 2.2 L diesel was in fact a Mazda R2 diesel as used in the Mazda B2200 and Ford Ranger pick-ups. I also learned that it was branded as a Perkins 4-135, but not many were made.

So much depends on which Universal engine model you have and when it was made....and then comes the detective work.

[JimsCAL]

The Universal diesels of that vintage were definitely marinized Kubota industrial engines. Not sure what Kubota engine model the 5424 was based on, but if you can find out, you can buy the non-marine parts at any Kubota parts dealer. Try some of the Catalina owner sites. I found lots of documentation for my Unversal 5411 on the Catalina 30 owners site.

[djodenda]

If it's a Kubota, then the Kubota model number is likely to be on the dipstick.