Sentinel Diesel Trucks in Australia

Good morning guys.
You are all at or, supposed to be at work whereby, I'm now off to bed! We are 11 hours behind you.
Thanks Werkhorse for finding the information - you're on a mission now! keep hunting.
We have a fella here in the UK who know everything there is to know about diesel Sentinels. He seem to have everything covered except exports to other parts of the world. Hope you guys can find a picture of one - a bit of a tall order but, who knows.
Regards.
Stephen.

Bugga going to work today ....... I'm on holiday .....

That info came from a 1959 British Transport industry book and a 1959 New South Wales RTA bible that I have

Hello Stephen, thanks for more info from the UK. I received my Sentinel Transport Newsletter today in the mail and found some more great photos of your restoration, great work there.
I am glad there has been some interest in this thread I started, shame no one seems to know of any survivors here though. At least we do have about 20 steam waggons though. I had only heard of one 20 years ago as stated in a scrap yard, lets hope one turns up one day.
Paul.

Hi Paul.
What a small world we live in! I received my STN last Monday so, you are not far behind.
Did you notice a few pages of diesels this time? They don't very often get a mention in STN as it is mainly steamer orientated.
How the www brings people together whether they are next door or thousands of miles away. It's cold, wet, windy and just miserable here today - I suspect it's a little hotter where you are.
I have been cleaning and pressure testing radiator gill tubes today (Monday) - each one takes about half an hour to do and, there are 25 of them. There is a lot of potential for leaks so, I'm taking my time to get it right first time.
Happy new year to you all.
Regards.
Stephen.

Were Sentinel the first to fit horizontal diesel engines ? I know Leyland, Gardner and Commer also had them.

The main point of difference was that Leyland, AEC, & Gardner made a horizontal version of their vertical motors for underfloor buses while the Sentinel (and the Foden 2 stroke?) was designed as horizontal from the outset. We'll leave Commer out of it to avoid getting into pedantics!

If you're talking the UK, yes, but in Germany Hanomag had one offered already in the mid 30s.

Re: Horizontal diesel engines.
The Sentinel horizontal diesel engine was designed and built from scratch by the company. Development started before the war. A petrol version was first built and tried out. Sentinel were keen to use petrol (gasoline) as a fuel in their forthcoming range of lorries. A couple of prototype 6/7 ton payload lorries were tested by the trade press in late 1945. These were quickly dismissed and production never materialised. Most of the other truck manufacturers in the UK were building trucks with diesel engines before and after the war. If Sentinel had any chance of survival with their new product, this had to be a diesel. The engine was rapidly developed from the petrol version with the help and assistance from Ricardo Ltd. Ricardo is a long established British company and are still trading to this day as automotive consultants.
Why Sentinel chose to mount this engine in this position remains a mystery. Perhaps they were confident that this position worked well in the 'S' series of steam trucks of the 1930's.
This engine location remained in production until the early 1990's in the M.A.N/ Bussing 'Unterflur' trucks. So, this wasn't so bad an idea after all.
Sentinel did experiment with standing their diesel engines upright during the early 1950's. Only one found it's way into a truck. This was a one off unit and was never put into production. Other vertical engines found their way into generator sets but, there appears to only be one that exists to this day.
Many operators chose to convert their Sentinel trucks to Gardner power. A couple of breweries in the North of England converted their entire fleet to Gardner using a horzontal version of the 5LW five cylinder, 100 hp unit.
Sentinel were happy with this conversion and carried out some at their works. The Gardner was a better, stronger unit plus parts were obtainable long after production ceased.
An old photo of a six cylinder horizontal engine can be seen here:
www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Gardner/GardnerLW33.htm
Sorry to ramble on guys but, you may find this interesting.
Regards.
Stephen.

Thanks Stephen, we dont know much about Sentinel ( or Bussing and Hanomag for that matter ) out here in the colonies so it is good to hear these stories. I reckon there must be someone out there who remembers the diesel Sentinels and will keep looking out for info.

Re: Sentinel horizontal diesel engines.
Pete: Thanks for your interest in this subject.
I have to be honest, the engine and gearbox in my Sentinel is just as it was when discovered. It is very dirty and rusty but, I have been assured it will start and run. I haven't started it yet as it hasn't been ran for 25 years! Parts for these are like rocking horse sh1t so, I don't want to cause any damage especially until the injector pump has been checked over and the governers are OK. My son and I will pull the heads off and take a look at the bores and maybe drop the bearing caps off to look at the shells. If everything is OK, we'll nail it back up and see how it goes. The lubrication is critical on any horizontal engine as the crank is rolling around in a 'dry' crank case. No splash lubrication with these babies! The filter is a 'by-pass' type also. This means the sump oil goes direct to the crank etc. and left over oil from the pump relief valve gets filtered. Frequent oil changes are essential. These engines use a straight '30' non detergent engine oil also. Old school straight oils are thick in winter and like water on a hot summers day!
There is an oil pressure gauge in the cab which is handy.
Getting back to the Bussing 'Unterflur' (underfloor), this German firm was absorbed by M.A.N in the 1980's.
A nice little clip of a horizontal engine in action can be seen here:

and here:

Take care.
Stephen.