CAT 3116 the good or bad engine ?

Please go back and re-read ttmott's post #18.

Don't ever tell a prop shop what to do……instead, always tell the what you need to accomplish. However, if you are already turning 2850 rpm's, I don't know why you want to mess with it.
 
Had dinner with my brother in law tonight who's a CAT mechanic. I asked him which he preferred, 3116 or 3126. Without hesitation he quickly said the 3126, hands down one of the best engines he's ever worked on.

I asked him why and he was going into a lot of diesel detail that didn't make sense to me not being that familiar with diesels. He said he liked the electronic over the non-electronic wasn't sure what he was talking about.
 
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I'm not overly impressed with my 3116s. Or any of the boat for that matter. :/
 
Hey Guys,

What specific issues or preferences are there with the 3116’s vs. 3126’s?
 
Sgrochow said:
Hey Guys,

What specific issues or preferences are there with the 3116’s vs. 3126’s?
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My philosophy is rather simple... I'd rather be over powered and under utilized, than under powered and over utilized.
 
Sgrochow said:
Hey Guys,

What specific issues or preferences are there with the 3116’s vs. 3126’s?
Click to expand...

I owned a 450DA with 3116's for about 25 years. I had no complaints, I never had a break down at sea, and the 3116's were very economical to run and and easiy and inexpensive to maintain. In 25 years, I reset the valves and injector timing once, cleaned the heat exchangers once and the aftercoolers once, all at the time Caterpillar recommended. The 3126's would have had 2X the number of heat exchanger cleanings and would have needed the aftercoolers cleaned twice instead of once.

The 3126's have seawater cooled after-coolers; the 3116's are jacket cooled or are cooled by the engine's antifreeze cooling system which frees the 3116 from getting marine growth fouling in the after-coolers. And the 3126 will require a higher zinc annode cost because the after-coolers are sea wter changed and have zincs in them.

The 3126 does produce slightly more hp, but it is at an rpm range you will almost never use because the net hp increase is at an rpm range above Cat's recommended cruise speed. I have sea trialed several 450DAs with 42 hp 3126's and the only real performance difference is about 2 mph at max cruise rpms of 2400.
 
To Franks post above about maintenance, and a thread I started recently, is it really more expensive to maintain and service diesel engines compared to a similar horsepower gas engine? I am starting to think not.
 
fwebster said:
I owned a 450DA with 3116's for about 25 years. I had no complaints, I never had a break down at sea, and the 3116's were very economical to run and and easiy and inexpensive to maintain. In 25 years, I reset the valves and injector timing once, cleaned the heat exchangers once and the aftercoolers once, all at the time Caterpillar recommended. The 3126's would have had 2X the number of heat exchanger cleanings and would have needed the aftercoolers cleaned twice instead of once.

The 3126's have seawater cooled after-coolers; the 3116's are jacket cooled or are cooled by the engine's antifreeze cooling system which frees the 3116 from getting marine growth fouling in the after-coolers. And the 3126 will require a higher zinc annode cost because the after-coolers are sea wter changed and have zincs in them.

The 3126 does produce slightly more hp, but it is at an rpm range you will almost never use because the net hp increase is at an rpm range above Cat's recommended cruise speed. I have sea trialed several 450DAs with 42 hp 3126's and the only real performance difference is about 2 mph at max cruise rpms of 2400.
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I will never contradict FW as he is my idle... But I have 3126's in my 450 and they have been flawless for my 14 years of ownership...
 
Very happy with mine, I majorly prefer my non electronic versions over the newer stuff.

I’ve been stuck delivering boats in very remote areas due to small electronic glitches with a sender or computer. Not a ton of fun.
 
mrsrobinson said:
To Franks post above about maintenance, and a thread I started recently, is it really more expensive to maintain and service diesel engines compared to a similar horsepower gas engine? I am starting to think not.
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Everyone's story is different. I am a fanatic for properly maintaining my equipment. I had a pristine 1988 390EC with 7.4L Mercs before we found the 450DA. We loved the 390, but we had 2 kids in college back then and maintaining the twin 7.4's was about like having a 3rd college student on the payroll. When we ended the first year with Cat diesels, it felt like we got a pay raise!
 
fwebster said:
Everyone's story is different. I am a fanatic for properly maintaining my equipment. I had a pristine 1988 390EC with 7.4L Mercs before we found the 450DA. We loved the 390, but we had 2 kids in college back then and maintaining the twin 7.4's was about like having a 3rd college student on the payroll. When we ended the first year with Cat diesels, it felt like we got a pay raise!
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That's very interesting. Where your 7.4's high hours? I had them for 9 years on my 400ec and other than regular maintenance never spent a dime on repairs. I had my 8.1's on the 420 for 10 years and other than the cool-fuel issue also never had any repair costs other than maintenance.
 
These were 1988 models and I never had a mechanical problem with either engine. Staying ahead of corrosion was the big reason for multiple sets of risers and manifolds, timing covers, seawater pump rebuilds, thermostat housings, etc. We sold the boat in 1997 after 9 years and she was in salt water every day of her life. I'd probably still have the 390EC today if she had been powered by 3208 Cats. Would I own another Merc powered gas boat kept in the water in salt water…….not on your life.
 
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