The L-series

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

is an automotive

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

built by Powertrain Ltd, a sister company of MG Rover.

History

The L-series engine commenced production on 28 November 1994 and was the first Rover designed and manufactured '' direct injection'' Diesel for use in Rover Cars applications and derived from the established Rover MDi / Perkins Prima engine (Perkins BA / Perkins 4.20

naturally aspirated A naturally aspirated engine, also known as a normally aspirated engine, and abbreviated to N/A or NA, is an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure and does not have forced induction through a turboc ...

and Perkins BB / Perkins T4.20 turbocharged) used in the

Austin Montego The Austin Montego is a British family car that was produced by British Leyland from 1984 until 1988, and then by Rover Group from 1988 until 1995. The Montego was the replacement for both the rear-wheel drive Morris Ital and the front-wheel dri ...

Austin Maestro The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from November 1982 to 1986 by British Leyland, and from 1986 until December 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Austin Maxi a ...

, and Leyland Sherpa van sold by '

Freight Rover Freight Rover was a British commercial vehicle manufacturer based in the Washwood Heath area of Birmingham, England. History Freight Rover was created as a division of the Land Rover Group of British Leyland (BL) in 1981, creating a new singl ...

' in the '80s, later by LDV. The engine started production in low volume at

Longbridge Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within this place. Public transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus ...

for

Rover 600 The Rover 600 Series was a compact executive car range that was produced by the British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1993 to 1999. The exterior of the Rover 600 was designed by Rover, a reskin of the European Honda Accord#European Ac ...

only at first with later higher volume production at

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

for all other applications. The L-series was extremely versatile and has been fitted in the Land Rover Freelander, Rover 200 Mk3, Rover 400 Mk2,

, and European versions of the

Honda Accord The , also known as the in Japan and China for certain generations, is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, best known for its four-door sedan variant, which has been one of the best-selling cars in the United States sinc ...

and

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/Honda City, City and Honda Accord in Honda's global passenger car line-up. The first-generation Civic was introduced in July 1972 ...

. It has been successfully tuned to produce much higher power than standard. A development of the L-series engine ( G series) featuring a modern common rail

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

system was underway when MG-Rover ceased production, but the company's closure prevented it from being fully developed and released.

Technology

There are several forms of this engine. The first is a non intercooled, mechanically controlled fuel-injection system. This version is available in

Rover 200 The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by former British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005. There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The firs ...

and

Rover 400 The Rover 400 Series, and later the Rover 45, are a series of small family cars that were produced by the British manufacturer Rover from 1990 to 2005. The cars were co-developed as part of Rover's collaboration with Honda. The first-generation ...

models and the model designation ends in "D", i.e. SD, SLD etc., etc. The second is

intercooled An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines. Internal combustion engines Most ...

and has an electronically controlled fuel-injection system. This version is available in

and

models. The model designation ends in "Di", i.e. SDi, SLDi etc., etc. The last and most recent engine is intercooled and also has an electronically controlled injection system which is slightly more advanced and produces more

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). The symbol for torque is typically \boldsymbol\tau, the lowercase Greek letter ''tau''. Wh ...

but the same power output as earlier intercooled models. This is the version that is used in the

Rover 25 The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by former British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005. There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The firs ...

, Rover 45,

MG ZR The MG ZR is an MG (car), MG branded "hot hatch" version of the Rover 25 supermini class car, produced by MG Rover at their Longbridge plant in Birmingham from 2001 to 2005. Compared to the Rover 25, the ZR featured a number of styling modificat ...

, and MG ZS. All versions use Bosch fuel-injection equipment of various designs. An unusual feature is that the injector pump is driven by a toothed belt from the 'rear' end of the

overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustio ...

, itself driven at the 'front' end by another toothed belt connected to the

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

. The engine is extremely environmentally friendly in terms of its emissions. It is quiet in operation owing to its two-stage fuel injection & ECU controlling fuel for most models and timing for them all. The engine currently satisfies ECD III derogated Diesel emissions legislation when installed with an appropriate specified oxidation catalyst.

Sensors A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

around the engine constantly give feedback to the ECU regarding injection timing, engine speed, load, fuel and coolant temperature, boost pressure etc. to ensure that optimum running conditions are maintained. The basic engine is a conventional

4-cylinder The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized. Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engine, Wankel engines are o ...

with 2 valves per cylinder operated by a

single overhead camshaft An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine in which the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combusti ...

and

hydraulic tappet A hydraulic tappet, also known as a hydraulic valve lifter or hydraulic lash adjuster, is a device for maintaining zero valve clearance in an internal combustion engine. Conventional solid valve lifters require regular adjusting to maintain a ...

s. The

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

is made of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

with

aluminum alloy An aluminium alloy ( UK/IUPAC) or aluminum alloy ( NA; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There ...

cylinder head In a piston engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders, forming the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines the head is a simple plate of metal containing the spark plugs and possibly heat dissipation fins. In more modern ...

and

sump Sump may refer to: * An infiltration basin used to manage surface runoff water and recharge underground aquifers * Sump (cave), a permanently flooded section of a cave, where an underground flow of water exits the cave into the earth such that t ...

. An

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal, Inc. was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company, created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and The Signal Companies. It purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and adopted the Honeywell name and iden ...

GT15

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into th ...

supplies boosted air. A fully modulated, either air- or water-cooled

exhaust gas recirculation In internal combustion engines, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a nitrogen oxide () emissions reduction technique used in petrol engine, petrol/gasoline, diesel engines and some hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicle, hydrogen engines. ...

(EGR) system is incorporated into the intake/

exhaust system An exhaust system is used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes. Depending on the overall syste ...

. All accessories ( PAS, aircon, water pump,

vacuum pump A vacuum pump is a type of pump device that draws gas particles from a sealed volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. The first vacuum pump was invented in 1650 by Otto von Guericke, and was preceded by the suction pump, which dates to ...

alternator An alternator (or synchronous generator) is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field wit ...

) are all driven off a single poly-vee-belt drive with autotensioner.

Camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition syst ...

and

injection pump An injection pump is the device that pumps fuel into the cylinders of a diesel engine. Traditionally, the injection pump was driven indirectly from the crankshaft by gears, chains or a toothed belt (often the timing belt) that also drives the ca ...

drives are via two multi-toothed belts with either automatic or manual tensioners.

Related development

The

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

Td5 engine, a 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder

turbodiesel The term turbo-diesel, also written as turbodiesel and turbo diesel, refers to any diesel engine equipped with a turbocharger. As with other engine types, turbocharging a diesel engine can significantly increase its efficiency and power output, ...

used in the

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

and the Defender had the same bore/stroke dimensions as the L series and used the same pistons,

connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a reciprocating engine, piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank (mechanism), crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the p ...

s and crankshaft dimensions. However, the Td5 was not simply a 5-cylinder L series. It used

Lucas Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, or the Lucas, a 19th-century African-American singing group * Lucas, a 1960s Swedish pop group formed by Janne Lucas Perss ...

electronic unit injection, instead of the L series' direct-injection system, as well as a through-flow cylinder head and a very different ancillary equipment layout. The Td5 had been developed by the

Rover Group The Rover Group plc was the British vehicle manufacturing conglomerate known as "BL plc" until 1986 (formerly British Leyland), which had been a state-owned company since 1975. It initially included the Austin Rover Group car business (compris ...

under the codename 'Project Storm', which was originally to develop a replacement range of turbodiesels to replace the L series, with 4-, 5-, and 6-cylinder engines of 2, 2.5, and 3 litres respectively. When the Rover Group was taken over by

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

, they brought their own range of diesels which rendered the 2-litre and 3-litre Storm engines unnecessary. Only the Td5 entered production as this was the only diesel engine of BMW or Rover that would fit lengthwise in the Discovery and Defender with sufficient power output and had the then up-to-date direct-injection system.

Specifications

The L-series engine has been available in a number of power specifications: Turbo/Non-intercooled (ceased production in 2000)
Turbo/intercooled (Torque: at 2000 rpm.)
Turbo/intercooled
Turbo/intercooled (in later cars)
Turbo/intercooled (in later cars) General

Firing order The firing order of an internal combustion engine is the sequence of ignition for the cylinders. In a spark ignition (e.g. gasoline/petrol) engine, the firing order corresponds to the order in which the spark plugs are operated. In a diesel engi ...

– 1-3-4-2
Boost pressure –
Fuel pressure – maxv {{DEFAULTSORT:Rover L-Series Engine L Honda engines Land Rover engines Diesel engines by model Straight-four engines