How to unlock the mystery of Perkins engine names

Have you ever looked at the name of a Perkins engine and wondered what all those numbers and letters actually mean? If so, you’re certainly not alone. But rest assured the nomenclature is anything but random.

It’s actually part of a carefully thought-out system that will tell you much of what you need to know about an engine once you learn how to read it.

Here is how it works. There are seven elements in an engine name:

Series
Cylinders
Emissions
Control
Displacement
Aspiration
Application

Each attribute is indicated by either numbers or letters according to their location in the name.

Series and Cylinders

This is indicated by the first group of numbers. If you round them off to the nearest 100, you now know the series. Perkins engine series currently run from 400 to 5000. The last digit in the number indicates the number of cylinders in that particular engine.

For example,

402D-05 is a 400 Series engine with 2 cylinders
1103C-33TG is an 1100 Series engine with 3 cylinders
1204J-E44TA is a 1200 Series engine with 4 cylinders
2806C-E18TTAG is a 2800 Series engine with 6 cylinders.

Watch as Perkins expert Mark Borst guides you through the naming process and what all those letters and numbers actually mean.

Emissions

Emission standards vary all around the world and Perkins engines are built to meet local requirements wherever they may be operating. The letter immediately after the series and cylinders number indicates the emission standards that engine meets.

A - Fuel Optimised
B - Tier 1 equivalent
C - Tier 2 equivalent
D - Tier 3 equivalent
E - Tier 4 equivalent
EA - China Nonroad Stage IV
F - U.S. EPA Tier 4 Final
FA - India CPCB IV
J - EU Stage V / US EPA Tier 4 Final

Control

All Perkins engines are either mechanically or electronically controlled. If there is no letter immediately after the hyphen it is a mechanically controlled engine. An E immediately after the hyphen tells you it is an electronically controlled engine.

402D-05 is a mechanically controlled engine
2806C-E18TTAG is an electronically controlled engine

Displacement

The next two numbers indicate the displacement of the engine in litres.

402D-05 is a 0.5 litre engine
1103C-33TG is a 3.3 litre engine
1204J-E44TA is a 4.4 litre engine
2806C-E18TTAG is an 18-litre engine

Aspiration

If there is no letter following the displacement number, the engine is normally aspirated. A T indicates a turbocharged engine. A TA indicates a turbocharged and aftercooled engine and a TTA indicates a twin turbocharged and aftercooled engine.

402D-05 is a normally aspirated engine
1103C-33TG is a turbocharged engine
1204J-E44TA is a turbocharged and aftercooled engine
2806C-E18TTAG is a twin turbocharged and aftercooled engine

Application

Perkins engines are broadly divided into two different application categories. Engines intended for power generation are designed for constant speed operation, while those intended for industrial applications are designed to operate over a range of variable speeds. A final letter G indicates a constant speed engine and the lack of a final G indicated a variable speed industrial engine.

1103C-33TG is a constant speed engine optimised for power generation
1204J-E44TA is a variable speed engine optimised for industrial applications

Putting it all together

Now that the mystery has been removed, here are some examples of how to extract the information encoded into the name of a Perkins engine.

Perkins® 402D-05 is a 400 Series engine with 2 cylinders, Tier 3 equivalent emissions, mechanical controls, 0.5 litre displacement and normal aspiration intended for variable speed industrial applications.
A Perkins® 2806C-E18TTAG is a 2800 Series engine with 6 cylinders, Tier 3 equivalent emissions, electronic controls, 18 litre displacement, twin turbocharged and aftercooled and intended for constant speed power generation applications.

Just remember: Series, Cylinders, Emissions, Control, Displacement, Aspiration and Application and you will have one of the keys to finding the right Perkins engine for your next project, no matter where in the world it may happen to be.

Find out more about our engine range.