Fault feature extraction has a positive effect on accurate diagnosis of diesel engine. Currently, studies of fault feature extraction have focused on the time domain or the frequency domain of signals. However, early fault signals are mostly weak energy signals, and time domain or frequency domain features will be overwhelmed by strong background noise. In order consistent features to be extracted that accurately represent the state of the engine, bispectrum estimation is used to analyze the nonlinearity, non-Gaussianity and quadratic phase coupling (QPC) information of the engine vibration signals under different conditions. Digital image processing and fractal theory is used to extract the fractal features of the bispectrum pictures. The outcomes demonstrate that the diesel engine vibration signal bispectrum under different working conditions shows an obvious differences and the most complicated bispectrum is in the normal state. The fractal dimension of various invalid signs is novel and diverse fractal parameters were utilized to separate and characterize them. The value of the fractal dimension is consistent with the non-Gaussian intensity of the signal, so it can be used as an eigenvalue of fault diagnosis, and also be used as a non-Gaussian signal strength indicator. Consequently, a symptomatic approach in view of the hypothetical outcome is inferred and checked by the examination of vibration signals from the diesel motor. The proposed research provides the basis for on-line monitoring and diagnosis of valve train faults.