Diesel Running Backwards

[stevem5215]

Some engines will jump their timing chains if turned backwards. (or belt) Always follow the manufacturer recommendations to keep these types of problems at bay.

 

[Mike Madison]

The old Lanz one cylinder diesels didn't have a reverse gear. To go in reverse you stopped the engine and then kicked the flywheel in the opposite direction. Same for Yanmar one-cylinder marine diesels. They ran fine backwards.

 

[JRH02]

I saw a feature story about a ancient tractor - single cylinder two cycle diesel. It was designed with no reverse gear as it wasn't needed. To reverse the engine direction the RPMs were reduced to the point where a compression stroke wasn't completed and the "kick back" was completed in reverse. I seem to remember there was a slight compression release involved so it completed the first few rotations the other direction. It would run on many difference fuels. It was quite enjoyable to watch.

Oops - I just saw that

Mallet​

posted the video. Thanks!

 

[hawk hunter]

I saw this once when my father was pulling a heavy load on the farm with a Case 1030, he pushed in the clutch right S it was stalling and it ran in reverse, he was totally confuse and almost ran into the granary he was trying to pull, I waived and had him shut off the engine. Not sure but think the 1030 must be a 2 stroke diesel, and maybe yours may be too?

 

[RickB]

Sorry, but they aren't held in position by the tabs, they are held in position by the clamping force when the rod or main caps are torqued. The tabs are only for locating them in the correct position when installed.
As mentioned by another poster, Detroit Diesels were designed to turn in either direction, as many marine applications did with twin engine installations. The rod and main bearings are the same. They could care less which direction they are turning, as long as they have a supply of oil.

DD engines were not designed to run in either direction. Unique designs allowed each engine to run in the required rotation for specific applications.

 

[rodger best]

So I discovered something I was unaware of and just wondered if this was common knowledge. When using my logging winch, and bogging it down to the point of almost stalling, the engine would start running very oddly. After shutting it down I noticed the cable was unwound and tangled inside the winch. This happened twice before I discovered why. Apparently the engine under stalling conditions can start to run backwards, taking air in from from the exhaust and exhausting through the air intake, not a good condition for the engine. And in the process running my winch backwards and tangling up the cable. Anyway, now I'm more careful about how I run it with the winch. So is this common knowledge that I somehow previously just missed?

way way back in time they would be called direct reversible. no reverse gear you shut down the motor and restarted running backward when you needed to back er down. saw one on a boat when i was a kid i belive it was an atlas. big huge pistons and about the simplest engine, my dad did a repair on it. it was pretty interesting.but yep they will run backward but need to be set up for it

 

[deberha2]

I had a 351 Mustang with EFI set up for road racing. One time I spun out on track and after coming to a stop the engine was running bad, first gear was now reverse and reverse was forward. Weirdest thing but the engine was probably running backwards. Shut it off and restarted and all was good.

 

[OTHill]

I ran an 80 JD diesel as a teenager and if you lugged it down to the very last pop and pulled the clutch it would start backwards. At that time I thought it was kinda cute. Never seemed to harm the engine.

 

[LibraryMark]

I have an army deuce-and-a-half truck that I bump started once while rolling backwards down my driveway, but I didn't take into account that I would have to put it in reverse to pull if off. Sure, it ran, but all my forward gears now acted very strange and black smoke was coming out the air intake. I shut it down quickly and thought about it for a little bit then felt very stupid.

 

[mike peyerl]

So I discovered something I was unaware of and just wondered if this was common knowledge. When using my logging winch, and bogging it down to the point of almost stalling, the engine would start running very oddly. After shutting it down I noticed the cable was unwound and tangled inside the winch. This happened twice before I discovered why. Apparently the engine under stalling conditions can start to run backwards, taking air in from from the exhaust and exhausting through the air intake, not a good condition for the engine. And in the process running my winch backwards and tangling up the cable. Anyway, now I'm more careful about how I run it with the winch. So is this common knowledge that I somehow previously just missed?

I've had that happen a couple times now I set the cable lock when I'm pulling hard and it won't let it run backwards