Official Caterpillar3116/3126 Thread

Cat 3126 Oil Pressure Question
I have a new to me 2000 Sea Ray 410 Sundancer with cat 3126 engines. My recollection is that she consistently ran at 50-60 psi at cruise and just under 50 psi at idle. The last 2 weeks (air temp 90+ water temp 75 -85 degrees, engine temps 180-190) I am seeing just under 50 psi starboard, 51 psi on port at cruise rpm. At idle they drop to about 20-25 psi on both the helm gauges and the engine mounted gauges. Is this normal? Oil has about 50 hours on it.
Thank you in advance.
Scott
 
Maybe A Dancer said:
Greg,

In the process of setting up a zero baseline (as per Dr. Webster & Tom Mott) and having all the coolers serviced and tested* by MILEY CAT, I also removed and acid tanked the exhaust risers/elbows. I did one, CAT did the other.

There was a lot of growth in there.

When you are circulating the barnacle buster with a pump I wonder if it gets into all the nooks and crannies as the seawater does when running under pressure & exhaust?

Could this be an overlooked factor in your overheating issue?

*transmission coolers replaced with new

BEST !

RWS
Click to expand...
I am real real close to giving up and just selling the boat at this point. We moved it almost 3 months ago from Maryland to Virginia and it's just been sitting in the slip collecting bird shit. I have unsuccessfully tried to remove the stains from the bird shit, basically removing all the wax I paid to have put on it 3 months ago.

I had heat exhaustion again yesterday, second time, trying to get this overheating work done myself because mechanics won't come out or the marina won't let them on my boat.

I have plans the next two weekends, then literally one more weekend until end of September to do this work myself. I'm running out of things to chase and time to chase them. On top of that my body is killing me from crawling around in the engine compartment.

I'm going to talk to a broker tomorrow.
 
mrsrobinson said:
I am real real close to giving up and just selling the boat at this point. We moved it almost 3 months ago from Maryland to Virginia and it's just been sitting in the slip collecting bird shit. I have unsuccessfully tried to remove the stains from the bird shit, basically removing all the wax I paid to have put on it 3 months ago.

I had heat exhaustion again yesterday, second time, trying to get this overheating work done myself because mechanics won't come out or the marina won't let them on my boat.

I have plans the next two weekends, then literally one more weekend until end of September to do this work myself. I'm running out of things to chase and time to chase them. On top of that my body is killing me from crawling around in the engine compartment.

I'm going to talk to a broker tomorrow.
Click to expand...

That sucks, I'm sorry to hear this...
 
mrsrobinson said:
I am real real close to giving up and just selling the boat at this point. We moved it almost 3 months ago from Maryland to Virginia and it's just been sitting in the slip collecting bird shit. I have unsuccessfully tried to remove the stains from the bird shit, basically removing all the wax I paid to have put on it 3 months ago.

I had heat exhaustion again yesterday, second time, trying to get this overheating work done myself because mechanics won't come out or the marina won't let them on my boat.

I have plans the next two weekends, then literally one more weekend until end of September to do this work myself. I'm running out of things to chase and time to chase them. On top of that my body is killing me from crawling around in the engine compartment.

I'm going to talk to a broker tomorrow.
Click to expand...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey Greg,

You HAVE a good boat.

You only have to chase down this GHOST.

BIRD SHIT WASHES OFF !

It's the heat of summer and I do understand it looks bleak and hopeless to you, slugging it out every weekend, sweating your ass off and wearing your tired body down.

I get it.

Been there, done that, doing that and have the 2:00 AM leg cramps to prove it.

Then there's the Girlfriend issue, she doesn't understand the problem/situation or see it as you do.

You are so close - persevere and get this wrapped up. It's BOTH engines as related to the mud sucking incident. This is not a failure, it's a maintenance problem now.

Selling the boat now/throwing in the towel would be sad, especially as you are likely closer to victory than you may realize.

So....

Take a breath, a moment, a weekend and talk to those here who know - Dr. Webster and Tom Mott.

These gurus will be able to drill this thing down.

Do it in a PM, or in a call.

You are so far in, you owe it to yourself to take it (As in the Eagles song) to the limit.

Your ship aint sunk.

Too early to call for abandon ship.

and don't forget this advice: BIRD SHIT LOOKS LIKE SHIT AND IT STINKS, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY IT WASHES OFF !

BEST !

RWS
 
mrsrobinson said:
I am real real close to giving up and just selling the boat at this point. We moved it almost 3 months ago from Maryland to Virginia and it's just been sitting in the slip collecting bird shit. I have unsuccessfully tried to remove the stains from the bird shit, basically removing all the wax I paid to have put on it 3 months ago.

I had heat exhaustion again yesterday, second time, trying to get this overheating work done myself because mechanics won't come out or the marina won't let them on my boat.

I have plans the next two weekends, then literally one more weekend until end of September to do this work myself. I'm running out of things to chase and time to chase them. On top of that my body is killing me from crawling around in the engine compartment.

I'm going to talk to a broker tomorrow.
Click to expand...

another thought; maybe the raw water side isn’t the problem at all and it would be a good sanity check. You don’t want to do this long since the riser and shower head would be dry but how about running the raw water output into a bucket when idling or slightly above idle and see what the flow from each engines looks like?

the seawater pumps move a shit ton of water so it should fill a 5 gallon bucket in seconds. When we winterize it drains 7 gallons in less than 30 seconds.
 
Maybe A Dancer said:
Here's the flow diagram.

I'd give credit to the source, but I just can't recall where I got this.

BEST !

RWS
View attachment 131702
Click to expand...
Not sure how I initially missed this, especially after changing the impellers myself. That's why I cleaned the trans coolers first, thinking they were first in-line after the raw water pump. I saw the hose coming from the heat exchanger to the trans cooler while cleaning them but it never registered, duh.

Maybe A Dancer said:
When you are circulating the barnacle buster with a pump I wonder if it gets into all the nooks and crannies as the seawater does when running under pressure & exhaust?
Click to expand...

I wondered the same. The only thing I have to go on though is the videos I watched online. one from the manufacturer, showing the flow. This is the pump I used, flow seemed good/strong to me but I don't really know:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W5C9VLW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Maybe A Dancer said:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey Greg,

You HAVE a good boat.

You only have to chase down this GHOST.

BIRD SHIT WASHES OFF !

It's the heat of summer and I do understand it looks bleak and hopeless to you, slugging it out every weekend, sweating your ass off and wearing your tired body down.

I get it.

Been there, done that, doing that and have the 2:00 AM leg cramps to prove it.

Then there's the Girlfriend issue, she doesn't understand the problem/situation or see it as you do.

You are so close - persevere and get this wrapped up. It's BOTH engines as related to the mud sucking incident. This is not a failure, it's a maintenance problem now.

Selling the boat now/throwing in the towel would be sad, especially as you are likely closer to victory than you may realize.

So....

Take a breath, a moment, a weekend and talk to those here who know - Dr. Webster and Tom Mott.

These gurus will be able to drill this thing down.

Do it in a PM, or in a call.

You are so far in, you owe it to yourself to take it (As in the Eagles song) to the limit.

Your ship aint sunk.

Too early to call for abandon ship.

and don't forget this advice: BIRD SHIT LOOKS LIKE SHIT AND IT STINKS, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY IT WASHES OFF !

BEST !

RWS
Click to expand...
Geez, after that how can I sell :) I appreciate your thoughtful reply, I really do, thank you. Leg cramps, yes, had them again last night.

The bird shit does wash off, the left behind stains are bothering me though as now I think I need to get the buffer(s) back out to get it out of the gelcoat, only to have them shit on it again. Did you see the video I posted of it, it's not a little bird shit, it's a lot. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...&key=Uk16NGY1alNGSTVhM01GQmZnTzZFSUNqTEVOVzVn

The other new to me thing is grassy shit in the boat slip, it surrounded my boat so bad on Sunday I did not start the engines for fear of sucking it up. The marina has made it very clear "no refunds". I've asked for a new slip but don't expect anything. I met a new dock mate Sunday, owns a 97 400DA with 3116s, he moved there right after I did and guess what, he too is chasing an overheating issue after sucking up mud. I am only mad at the marina for not sharing any of this with me before I signed/paid for a 12 month slip, $7000. Had I known of the low water/mud, birds/bird poop, spiders and now this grassy weed crap I would not have slipped the boat there. This and then the marina literally kicked out the mechanic without talking to me first, without offering a compromise, without letting him finish what he had started. I would move it out tomorrow if I could get a refund.

And yes, than there is the GF. She is just not into the boat so it's turning into me, myself and I. She supports me though, just not that interested in boating.

@Strecker25 thanks, this is why I recently posted about a raw water pressure test. I do not have a baseline to compare to otherwise. I will do as you suggest the next time I am on the boat in 2 weekends.

I will stop venting now.
 
Last edited:
Greg - Have you offered to fly someone on this board out to look at your boat? I'm not trying to minimize your problem, but I feel you're overlooking something. The problem lies with both engines after you grounded. These engines are relatively simple. Fly someone out who is retired or has a flexible schedule. If the marina asks, it's your uncle on your boat. Just pay someone who knows and put the problem behind you.
 
Until you have cleaned out every single portion of the engine that raw water flows through, it will not be fixed. From what I can tell, it seems like you are removing small items and cleaning them separately.

If it were my boat, I would be moving to another marina for a few days as a vacation and bring in a mechanic who knows what they are doing.

These are pretty simple engines, heres a new one for you guys.....

Yesterday I was leaving Charlevoix in some pretty sporty conditions headed for Harbor Springs. I go to throttle up and my starboard engine wouldn't produce any power, limped into Bay Harbor, changed fuel filters, went back out and nothing changed. Immediately I am on the phone with my CAT friend trying to figure out what was going on. Worst case it seemed like I had an Injector cup issue.....We lined up a guy to come meet me in Traverse City on Friday...but this is Monday on our honeymoon.

I get to Harbor Springs, shoot a video of what the engine is doing in neutral to send to my CAT guy and start reviewing it. I had though I had heard electrical arcing but wasn't totally sure. The video shows the fuel shutoff under the governor sure enough arcing! The nut that holds the wire to the terminal was totally loose and sparking / arcing. Tightened her up and we are good to go!
 
Carver370 said:
Until you have cleaned out every single portion of the engine that raw water flows through, it will not be fixed. From what I can tell, it seems like you are removing small items and cleaning them separately.

If it were my boat, I would be moving to another marina for a few days as a vacation and bring in a mechanic who knows what they are doing.

These are pretty simple engines, heres a new one for you guys.....

Yesterday I was leaving Charlevoix in some pretty sporty conditions headed for Harbor Springs. I go to throttle up and my starboard engine wouldn't produce any power, limped into Bay Harbor, changed fuel filters, went back out and nothing changed. Immediately I am on the phone with my CAT friend trying to figure out what was going on. Worst case it seemed like I had an Injector cup issue.....We lined up a guy to come meet me in Traverse City on Friday...but this is Monday on our honeymoon.

I get to Harbor Springs, shoot a video of what the engine is doing in neutral to send to my CAT guy and start reviewing it. I had though I had heard electrical arcing but wasn't totally sure. The video shows the fuel shutoff under the governor sure enough arcing! The nut that holds the wire to the terminal was totally loose and sparking / arcing. Tightened her up and we are good to go!
Click to expand...
A thought - that arc'n probably took it's toll on that little Bosch relay that operates the fuel solenoid. It'd probably be wise to replace or at least have some spares on board.
 
A question- would anything be harmed by connecting a remote starter switch to the fuel shutoff selenoid terminals and useing it to shut down the engine while working in the engine room?
Good suggestion about replacements for the relay.
 
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