Talk:Perkins 4.236

Article has lost its focus

The Perkins 4.236 is a very specific engine, to which a turbo could be added, making it a T4.236. There is certainly a large degree of commonality with the 4.248 evidenced by the Perkins Service Data; Part 1 Mature Products (up to 8,85 litres) Booklet (1997), but to go beyond that is stretching a point too far. Perhaps the solution is to rename this article as Perkins 4.236 series

At perkins.com you can find pages detailing their "Heritage" and telling the story of the 4.236, mentioning a number of other engines as "derivatives". From 1974 these received new engine codes commencing "L", e.g. "LJ" which was the old T4.236.

There is also a page at perkins.com detailing the history of the 6.354, as a totally separate engine in its own right, particularly as it was developed and produced three years before the 4.236. Again there are a number of derivatives, from the 6.306 to the 6.372, prefaced with engine code "T" from 1974.

All of this comes from Perkins themselves, which isn't necessarily good enough to support an article from scratch, but it is enough to show that much of the current article is seriously WP:OFFTOPIC

WendlingCrusader (talk) 16:12, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

The 6.354 is the six-cylinder version of the 4.236, which is why I placed that content here. I would not call it a totally separate engine. Not a hill worth dying on, though - if you think there is something to be gained from splitting off the sixes from the fours, by all means, WP:BEBOLD and so on.

The 4.248 is just a derivative of the 4.236, in exactly the same way that the 6.372 was derived from the 6.354 (identical bores and strokes). As an example, Ford 335 engine includes the 351 and 400 derivatives, but is simply named after the first version of the engine. While Perkins did call it the 4.236 series, they also refer to the 4.212, 4.236, and 4.248 as the L engines (page 1.06 of the 1997 booklet). Creating three separate articles for three near-identical engines, nearly all parts are interchangable, would be a WP:CONTENTFORK issue and would not serve the reader. Best,  Mr.choppers | ✎  19:42, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

@Mr.choppers We seem to be in agreement, mostly, which is good.

1. I feel the best solution is to rename this article as Perkins 4.236 series
2. And - there is definitely something to be gained from splitting off the sixes from the fours, as do Perkins themselves.

Part #1 allows us to retain all the L-series as part of the 4.236 family.

Part #2 requires creating a new article for the 6.354 series, which some editors see as the Holy Grail, but I'm quite content to walk away from that; I just try to improve articles, not create history LOL! Thx for your input - I'm sure we will talk again.

WendlingCrusader (talk) 20:11, 16 March 2026 (UTC)