Official Caterpillar3116/3126 Thread

All great suggestions and thank you. The marina absolutely will not let anybody on the dock unless they check in with them first, and show them insurance and a contractor's license. And they have to check in every day they're on the boat, if it's consecutive days. I shared that my girlfriend's brother-in-law who used to be a caterpillar mechanic helped me and they were annoyed with that.

There's no Marina around here who's going to let me move the boat temporarily there and have a mechanic work on it, good suggestion though. If you're suggesting taking the boat to a marina that has a diesel service shop to let them work on it, good idea, but there's only two in this area. Both said they will not work on my boat unless I'm a slip holder.

I'm also not comfortable moving the boat at this point, at least anything above idle speed, and then who knows what could happen once out on the water with the overheating.

My strategy to date has been to chase and clean things in order from the seacock to the raw water pump to the exhaust. Do one, take the boat out to test, if still overheating move on to the next one. I appreciate those who would tear everything off and clean them, I don't have time for that right now, plus I'm still learning all of this, but it may ultimately be that in the end.

Nothing would make me happier at this point then to write a check to have this work done, so I can start using the boat on the weekends.
 
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All great suggestions and thank you. The marina absolutely will not let anybody on the dock unless they check in with them first, and show them insurance and a contractor's license. And they have to check in every day they're on the boat, if it's consecutive days. I shared that my girlfriend's brother-in-law who used to be a caterpillar mechanic helped me and they were annoyed with that.

There's no Marina around here who's going to let me move the boat temporarily there and have a mechanic work on it, good suggestion though. If you're suggesting taking the boat to a marina that has a diesel service shop to let them work on it, good idea, but there's only two in this area. Both said they will not work on my boat unless I'm a slip holder.

I'm also not comfortable moving the boat at this point, at least anything above idle speed, and then who knows what could happen once out on the water with the overheating.

My strategy to date has been to chase and clean things in order from the seacock to the raw water pump to the exhaust. Do one, take the boat out to test, if still overheating move on to the next one. I appreciate those who would tear everything off and clean them, I don't have time for that right now, plus I'm still learning all of this, but it may ultimately be that in the end.

Nothing would make me happier at this point then to write a check to have this work done, so I can start using the boat on the weekends.
I've read most of your saga but am a bit confused; not hard to do, ask anyone. Exactly precisely in bulletized order what have you done or had done relating to the engines' cooling systems?
 
I've read most of your saga but am a bit confused; not hard to do, ask anyone. Exactly precisely in bulletized order what have you done or had done relating to the engines' cooling systems?

I'd also suggest at this point a separate thread and maybe start with what Tom is asking for? I'm sure none of us mind the discussion in this thread but it would certainly help down the road if one of us run into something similar
 
I'd also suggest at this point a separate thread and maybe start with what Tom is asking for? I'm sure none of us mind the discussion in this thread but it would certainly help down the road if one of us run into something similar
  1. Boat ran strong, 180 degrees both engine first 12 hours post purchase
  2. Sucked up mud entering new creek/marina, both engines overheated, alarm came on
  3. Sea strainers were packed with mud, cleaned them and back flushed seacocks, ran engines at the slip, 160 - 170 degrees
  4. As part of service I was planning to do anyway: replaced all fuel filters, belts, starboard engine fuel primer pump and did the valve lash adjustment. Did not have the tool to set the injector height so that is on the to do list. Took boat out same day for test run. Engines ran at 180 degrees until on plane at 2000 +- RPMs, temps immediately spiked to 200+
  5. Replaced raw water impellers. No broken fins found. Removed end caps on heat exchangers. Looked mostly clean/good to me. Took the boat back out, same result.
  6. Mechanic started to flush the raw water side of port engine with barnacle buster, marina asked him to leave. Started engine 3 hours later to remove the barnacle buster.
  7. Removed, cleaned and reinstalled trans coolers on both engines. Replaced zincs. Looked mostly clean/good to me. Took the boat back out, same result.
  8. Flushed port engine aftercooler with barnacle buster (see video above) since this is the one the mechanic started with. Nothing looked bad to me in the flush. Too much grassy crap in the water so I did not start the engine to go out for a test.
  9. Ordered new raw water pump backing plates and various hoses from Carter Machinery this weekend. I recall seeing some minor grooves on the back of the plates when I changed the impellers, I do not what's acceptable, what's not, so I figured go ahead and replace them.
  10. My next step is to barnacle buster the port heat exchanger.
As I removed hoses/parts I back flushed with the dock hose/spray nozzle. The dock has amazing water pressure. I have not seen any signs of mud or blockage.

New thread: http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...ting-running-hot-after-sucking-up-mud.110441/
 
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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.

1000% good idea. I have one in my shopping cart now. Since I’m on a trip this will have to do, once I’m home I’ll probably just swap it out anyway.
 
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.



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


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.
The birds are sitting on the bow rail of the boat and shitting, Hang some pieces of fishing line on the bow rail this will keep the birds off the bow rail.
 
The birds are sitting on the bow rail of the boat and shitting, Hang some pieces of fishing line on the bow rail this will keep the birds off the bow rail.
Thanks, yep I did exactly that on Sunday before I left, I think someone on this forum recommended a kit from Amazon that I bought. I also purchased three owl solar things that are supposed to make noise, shoot beams and such, I installed them as well.
 
It sounds like you hit all the raw water choke points accept the after coolers. I would remove and tank them. Running water or barnacle buster is going to take the easiest path. There may be a path that it is running thru that is not sufficient for cooling. Picture the inside of a car radiator. Pack it full of mud. Then run a hose thru there until you get flow back out. There will still be a butt load of mud in there. Just a thought and it is a periodic maintenance item. I wish you luck
 
It sounds like you hit all the raw water choke points accept the after coolers. I would remove and tank them. Running water or barnacle buster is going to take the easiest path. There may be a path that it is running thru that is not sufficient for cooling. Picture the inside of a car radiator. Pack it full of mud. Then run a hose thru there until you get flow back out. There will still be a butt load of mud in there. Just a thought and it is a periodic maintenance item. I wish you luck
Thanks, yeah, I already have the new gaskets to reinstall them, so I think I may tackle removing them soon.
 
  1. Boat ran strong, 180 degrees both engine first 12 hours post purchase
  2. Sucked up mud entering new creek/marina, both engines overheated, alarm came on
  3. Sea strainers were packed with mud, cleaned them and back flushed seacocks, ran engines at the slip, 160 - 170 degrees
  4. As part of service I was planning to do anyway: replaced all fuel filters, belts, starboard engine fuel primer pump and did the valve lash adjustment. Did not have the tool to set the injector height so that is on the to do list. Took boat out same day for test run. Engines ran at 180 degrees until on plane at 2000 +- RPMs, temps immediately spiked to 200+
  5. Replaced raw water impellers. No broken fins found. Removed end caps on heat exchangers. Looked mostly clean/good to me. Took the boat back out, same result.
  6. Mechanic started to flush the raw water side of port engine with barnacle buster, marina asked him to leave. Started engine 3 hours later to remove the barnacle buster.
  7. Removed, cleaned and reinstalled trans coolers on both engines. Replaced zincs. Looked mostly clean/good to me. Took the boat back out, same result.
  8. Flushed port engine aftercooler with barnacle buster (see video above) since this is the one the mechanic started with. Nothing looked bad to me in the flush. Too much grassy crap in the water so I did not start the engine to go out for a test.
  9. Ordered new raw water pump backing plates and various hoses from Carter Machinery this weekend. I recall seeing some minor grooves on the back of the plates when I changed the impellers, I do not what's acceptable, what's not, so I figured go ahead and replace them.
  10. My next step is to barnacle buster the port heat exchanger.
As I removed hoses/parts I back flushed with the dock hose/spray nozzle. The dock has amazing water pressure. I have not seen any signs of mud or blockage.

New thread: http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...ting-running-hot-after-sucking-up-mud.110441/
After you did #3 did you take the boat for a test run to up to plane to observe temps?

I look at all that was done in #4. Two things that could contribute to overheating were touched, the belt and valve lash. I'd review both.

There's been quite a few CSR guys that have sucked up mud over the years. Clean out the sea water strainers, maybe change impellers and away they went. With all the checks for blockages you've done I'm beginning to think mud ain't your problem at this point.
 
BF2A8B24-F003-45EC-AF3E-FE33035DB179.jpeg
^^^^ That’s a great question. I know your girlfriends brother etc was a Cat guy but if he doesn’t know precisely what he’s doing to run the overhead it could be tuned incorrectly. If the fuel setting is off, you could be running too hot making too much power from what my guy says.

You need the correct kit from CAT to do it properly and it can be done incorrectly pretty easily…. I know from experience. The last I checked that was about a $2,000 kit that I doubt he had just laying around.
 
Since you replaced belts, have you checked they are still in place and tensioned correctly? Maybe they loosened up, and once above idle are not spinning the water pump.
 
View attachment 131829 ^^^^ That’s a great question. I know your girlfriends brother etc was a Cat guy but if he doesn’t know precisely what he’s doing to run the overhead it could be tuned incorrectly. If the fuel setting is off, you could be running too hot making too much power from what my guy says.

You need the correct kit from CAT to do it properly and it can be done incorrectly pretty easily…. I know from experience. The last I checked that was about a $2,000 kit that I doubt he had just laying around.
He had the tools to do the valve lash. He did not have the tools to do the injector height adjustment. He suggested I purchase that and he can come back to do that.

I watched him, and watched online videos of both, they matched. Am I missing something? I am not debating you. It's kind of hard to go back to family and say "You may have screwed up, did you?"
 
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Since you replaced belts, have you checked they are still in place and tensioned correctly? Maybe they loosened up, and once above idle are not spinning the water pump.
Yes, but not with the engines running. I know, I know, I should have taken care of the overheating issue before I did anything else.

I made an assumption after cleaning the strainers and back flushing, and the engines were running at/under temp at the dock that all was well. Lesson learned.

Please start sharing your comments in the new thread I created for this discussion: http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php...ting-running-hot-after-sucking-up-mud.110441/
 
Picked up some replacement hoses today at Carter machinery, I don't see any reason to paint them white, is there one?

PXL_20220810_164123720.jpg
 
Picked up some replacement hoses today at Carter machinery, I don't see any reason to paint them white, is there one?

View attachment 131843
Here's a thread on this forum. @fwebster weighs in.
I personally am planning not to paint them and will mark with the date changed.
I can't think of a reason why they would be painted to improve service life. In fact, just the opposite.
They are not painted in aviation applications, unless there is some specialty coating for environmental reasons.
 
Here's a thread on this forum. @fwebster weighs in.
I personally am planning not to paint them and will mark with the date changed.
I can't think of a reason why they would be painted to improve service life. In fact, just the opposite.
They are not painted in aviation applications, unless there is some specialty coating for environmental reasons.
Thanks for the thread reference, seems everyone's in agreement.

Same thought by me, I don't plan to paint them so at a minimum I know which ones I've replaced. My caterpillar mechanic family guy said he doesn't understand why they paint them either. He said the marine ones get sprayed white, literally everything is sprayed white, like Frank said in his reply. He sees this with other machines as well.
 
Thanks for the thread reference, seems everyone's in agreement.

Same thought by me, I don't plan to paint them so at a minimum I know which ones I've replaced. My caterpillar mechanic family guy said he doesn't understand why they paint them either. He said the marine ones get sprayed white, literally everything is sprayed white, like Frank said in his reply. He sees this with other machines as well.

probably because Ring or whoever marinized them for Sea Ray sprayed them white after they arrived assembled from Caterpillar and it would be a heck of a lot easier to just spray the whole thing rather than mask off the hoses.
 

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