jjones770
New Member
Hi. I'm considering purchasing a 1999-2001 540DA with CAT 3406E engines. These boats are difficult to find as this engine upgrade (over the 3196TA) was quite expensive when the boat was new. Knowing what I know about the 3196 aftercooler issues, I hesitate to go with CATs at all (I currently have bulletproof Detriot 6V92 DDEC) however I've heard good things about the 3406E. These engines are BIG and make almost 800 hp each so it would seem they are not working very hard to push the 540. Any comments? Things to look for...things to avoid...questions to ask? Most of the boats I'm looking at have 900-1500 hours on the motors.