Official Caterpillar3116/3126 Thread

Received the estimate for the survey of the 2 3126 engines. Including travel time it's going to be between $3000-$4000. Thats more than I was thinking. Oh well....

More than we paid but our travel is only about 40 minutes each way. Did you get a task list of what would be performed?
 
The following is information that you have requested concerning the engine inspection of two (2) 3126 engines in a boat you are thinking of purchasing in our area.

We would travel to where the boat is located. Our technician would visually inspect both engines and piping for any type of coolant, oil or fuel leak. We would visually inspect the inlet air system for any type of boost leak and inspect the air filters. If you would like the technician could check and adjust the valves and injectors. The boat would be taken out and test ran to verify any type of leak after the engines got up to operating temperature and to verify oil pressure, fuel pressure, boost, etc. After the test run is complete an oil sample would be taken and ran through our oil lab and the results would be emailed to you. The technician would write up and note everything in a service report that you would get.

It is hard to tell exactly how long this would take, but I would estimate two (2) to three (3) working days. Our labor rate is $153.00 per hour regular time and $204.00 overtime. Our regular rate is good for eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday.

The technicians time would start when he leaves the shop and goes on until he gets back to the shop. Any parts would be charged out as needed. I would estimate the cost of this to be $3,000.00 to $4,000.00.
 
The following is information that you have requested concerning the engine inspection of two (2) 3126 engines in a boat you are thinking of purchasing in our area.

We would travel to where the boat is located. Our technician would visually inspect both engines and piping for any type of coolant, oil or fuel leak. We would visually inspect the inlet air system for any type of boost leak and inspect the air filters. If you would like the technician could check and adjust the valves and injectors. The boat would be taken out and test ran to verify any type of leak after the engines got up to operating temperature and to verify oil pressure, fuel pressure, boost, etc. After the test run is complete an oil sample would be taken and ran through our oil lab and the results would be emailed to you. The technician would write up and note everything in a service report that you would get.

It is hard to tell exactly how long this would take, but I would estimate two (2) to three (3) working days. Our labor rate is $153.00 per hour regular time and $204.00 overtime. Our regular rate is good for eight (8) hours per day, Monday through Friday.

The technicians time would start when he leaves the shop and goes on until he gets back to the shop. Any parts would be charged out as needed. I would estimate the cost of this to be $3,000.00 to $4,000.00.

you need to specify a few things. First, the boat must be run. While it is being run you need to request a blow-by test be performed. It requires them to bring a special meter so they need to know ahead of time. I would also request they not only visually check for boost leaks but rather check the boost pressure while running the boat. Have them take fluid samples from both mains oil, mains coolant, trans fluid, and generator oil.
 
Wow. My sea trial and inspection on my 3116’s was under $1000. Completed in about 4 hours. Included everything listed but the valve and injector adjustment. The tech did live close by so there wasn’t much travel time however.
 
Wow. My sea trial and inspection on my 3116’s was under $1000. Completed in about 4 hours. Included everything listed but the valve and injector adjustment. The tech did live close by so there wasn’t much travel time however.

same, mine was 850 and included everything listed except valve inspection (they were just done 3 months prior), fluid samples, and the blow by test
 
Wow. My sea trial and inspection on my 3116’s was under $1000. Completed in about 4 hours. Included everything listed but the valve and injector adjustment. The tech did live close by so there wasn’t much travel time however.

Exactly my experience...he was able to find a couple small leaks I needed to address and renegotiated the purchase price. Money well spent!
 
Kind of what I thought too. 4k for survey, with no work being done, is high to me.
 
Kind of what I thought too. 4k for survey, with no work being done, is high to me.

agreed. Please do the blow by test, it’s the best gauge of engine wear you’re going to get on a 3126 (plus oil samples to go along side).

make sure the oil has a few hours on it before sampling too
 
Tell me about your 3116/3126 survey findings and possible disasters? Anything major show up where you walked away?
 
Yeah that survey is very high. No more than 1000-1500 combined for the two including oil samples.

Doug
 
Tell me about your 3116/3126 survey findings and possible disasters? Anything major show up where you walked away?

I was given service records showing a repaired injector cup, overheads checked and adjusted (valve and injector timing dimension), impellers, filter change, coolant flush and replacement, and visual inspection. All had been done within 5 months of me buying the boat.

my survey didn’t turn up anything. The tech warmed the engines up, took the blow by test on each engine and showed us way under the max spec, and pulled samples from all engines.

I did my own inspection - the turbo oil return lines on both turbos needed to be tightened up as they were dripping after a run, aftercoolers had never been cleaned, and the turbos neither. I’ve done all of those deferred items this winter.

our boat turned up to only 2680/2605 RPM at WOT. It was expected, the 410 was overpropped from the factory. I repaired the driveline this winter (bent strut) and got both props pitched to 21.5 which should bring out max loaded rpm to 2850
 
Is this the boat with a couple hundered hours on the engines??

It sound to me like they were doing a basic inspection with fluid samples but adding in the valve lash and injector setting as well. If doing that service, that price is about right. The only issue is if you reject the boat, you bought the owner a nice engine service. If you get the boat, you know the job was done, and your good till the 2000 hr mark.
 
I was $1600 Ring Power in Tampa. 2 techs for about 8 hours and travel time on both ends.
 
Much better. It might not make any difference at all but now I know the entire intake side of the engine is spotless. My last thing to do is wipe down the inside of the airsep
E3BC46DF-CA67-474F-B34A-1B59A149EF7D.jpeg
E7C1AC10-BC1D-46FD-A339-F5F089F367F0.jpeg
 
Much better. It might not make any difference at all but now I know the entire intake side of the engine is spotless. My last thing to do is wipe down the inside of the airsep
View attachment 99868View attachment 99869
Ryan - I'm sure you know that you can get a K&N Filter Cleaning Kit at Advance/AutoZone etc. for $20 to clean and oil your Walter AirSeps...full instructions provided, does a greatjob.
 
Ryan - I'm sure you know that you can get a K&N Filter Cleaning Kit at Advance/AutoZone etc. for $20 to clean and oil your Walter AirSeps...full instructions provided, does a greatjob.

yep, that’s a good tip. I spent silly money on the walker kit, but it worked quite well
 
For those of you with EGT/Boost gauges, what are you seeing for both during cruise and at what RPM?

Curious what other folks see even, I know it will vary on boat.
 
This is what CAT publishes specifically for the 3126-TA 350 hp version (every engine has a similar set of curves published). I believe EGT specification is the stack temperature (measured after the turbo), and this is pretty consistent with what I have seen. Obviously hotter/colder air/water will drive these up/down a little, but what really drives it up is loading. If I use my tabs to bury the nose (so I can see over it) they climb by about 50-70 degrees. Back off the tabs, temps go right back down. Same thing will happen if you add a bunch of fuel, full beer coolers and people.

Also boost here is "In/Hg Gauge". The conversion to psi is roughly divide by 2. At 2400 RPM I usually see 780-800 *F and 19-20 Psi Boost. Best I can tell I'm right in spec.

CAT 3126 Spec_LI.jpg
 
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The other interesting note on this is that this engine is most efficient anywhere from 2000 to 2400 with very reasonable EGT based on the BSFC (basically amount of fuel required to produce a horsepower for an hour). Even at 2600 RPM, it doesnt take much more fuel, but your EGT start to climb.

I have my EGT gauges set green to 825, yellow to 900 and the redline over 900.
 
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Great info, thanks. My port was 850 at 2300rpm and starboard was over 950. Boost on both was 16psi. Those numbers were with full tab

I’m hoping that driveline repair, prop tune, and all the intake path cleaning I’ve done that I’ll see stack temps drop into the range you’re at and boost should come up a bit closer to 19/20.
 

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