Sole mini 23

[Compass790]

Anyone had experience with this model 20 hp 3 cylinder mitsubishi based diesel?
Just want to know if an owner liked it or anyone whose worked on them have any thoughts on quality, longevity & parts availability.
Thanks in advance if anyone can help

[Compass790]

Forgot to add the reason I'm asking is a used faulty one is for sale & I was wondering if it would make a good replacement for our noisy shakey yanmar ysm8 ( but otherwise pretty good motor) after a rebuild.

[Reefmagnet]

I pulled my old 3 cylinder mini 33 down and was happy enough with the internals and how it ran. Rebuild parts are cheap because the little Mitsubishi engines are built in India and used in a range of applications. Mine was damaged by a failed water pump">raw water pump seal, the design of which has since been changed by Sole.

[skipperpete]

Hi Compass 790, I’ve got one of these but have only operated it in the workshop so no “seatime”.
Solè did some smart things and some questionable things with their marinisation of this tiny Mitsubishi. There is no mixer elbow on the outside of the exhaust manifold, somehow , the raw water and exhaust is mixed in the exchanger end cap which is bronze and has the outlet pipe fitting cast into it.
The fuel lift pump is on top of the gearbox, and driven by a cam on the top shaft . The gearbox could be a variation of a “Technodrive” but whatever it is, it looks like it can only be replaced by the genuine part due to the flywheel housing connection.
Finally, the usual service parts seem to be exclusive Solè parts, I was unable to locate filters that fit and I never found a replacement for the raw water pump impeller.

While looking for a photo of the heat exchanger I discovered that my engine could be a Mini 26.

[Compass790]

thanks for making the effort to post Reefmagnet & skipperpete.
Sadly someone wanted the mini23 at auction far more than I did.
Still I've learnt a bit.
Liked the 3 cylinder with 3000 rpm max specs.
cheers fellas