3116 Regular Maintenance Items - what are they?

cwiert

cwiert

Active Member
May 7, 2008
560
Chester, CT
Boat Info
1998 400 Sedan Bridge
Engines
CAT 3116 - 350HP
Aside from changing the oil and filter annually, what are some of the other regular maintenance items? And should they be done annually, or every so many hours?
Can they be done by a weekend warrior like myself, or is a specialist needed?

I just bought my boat with 350HP 3116s with 960 hours. Oil/filter are getting changed next week. All past service records are being sent to me. But I just want to make sure that everything that should have been done, has been done.

For example, how often should I change tranny fluid? Coolant?

Thanks.
 
You really need the manual for the engines and the boat. There is a lots to do at certain intervals both based on time and hours.

Oil and filter every 100 hours or yearly. Only use CAT SAEO oil or a single weight CF-4 oil. The latter is about impossible to find. Multi vis oils are a no no because the additives in them will clog the aftercoolers. Only use cat filters.

Transmission oil every year and clean filters.

Flush raw water side of cooling system every couple years with rydlyme or as needed for marine growth.

Change coolant every 5 years or when additives deplete. Use only Cat ELC coolant.

Change fuel filters yearly. Use cat filters on engine and racors filters in racors.

Have the valves and injector timing reset at 750 hours. If you have no record of this being done you will have to pay cat to do it.

Remove and clean the aftercoolers every 250 hours.

Clean air filters yearly.

Check engine propshaft coupler alignment after boat is taken out of water and returned. Wait 3 days after boat is back in water before checking and aligning.

If you are good at wrenching you can do most of these things with exception of the overhead adjustments as you need special tools.

Good luck, get the manuals.

Pete
 
peterkvs said:
You really need the manual for the engines and the boat. There is a lots to do at certain intervals both based on time and hours.

Oil and filter every 100 hours or yearly. Only use CAT SAEO oil or a single weight CF-4 oil. The latter is about impossible to find. Multi vis oils are a no no because the additives in them will clog the aftercoolers. Only use cat filters.

Transmission oil every year and clean filters.

Flush raw water side of cooling system every couple years with rydlyme or as needed for marine growth.

Change coolant every 5 years or when additives deplete. Use only Cat ELC coolant.

Change fuel filters yearly. Use cat filters on engine and racors filters in racors.

Have the valves and injector timing reset at 750 hours. If you have no record of this being done you will have to pay cat to do it.

Remove and clean the aftercoolers every 250 hours.

Clean air filters yearly.

Check engine propshaft coupler alignment after boat is taken out of water and returned. Wait 3 days after boat is back in water before checking and aligning.

If you are good at wrenching you can do most of these things with exception of the overhead adjustments as you need special tools.

Good luck, get the manuals.

Pete
Click to expand...

Raw Water Pump Impellers every year
Racor filters every 100 hours or as needed based upon fuel quality
As far as Aftercoolers - probably 600 to 800 hours would be good based upon what I saw in mine.
Oil - peruse this site there is a lot of good input but I (as well as many others) use Shell Rotella T1-30. As long as you change as per the correct intervals any good single vis. will be adequate.
Not known to many, there are 5 little check valves in the injector pump that get gummed up or damaged easily and need to be changed based upon pulsation shown on a fuel pressure test gauge. These little guys affect engine performance quite a bit and are easy to change and inexpensive.
And last but not least Change the Zinc's annually.
 
I use this oil from this site. It's free shipping and shows up in a couple of days. I use cat filters for fuel. NAPA 1798 will do just fine for oil filters. My engines have 1000 hrs on them and I am just continuing what the PO used.
Ihttp://www.kellerheartt.com/Shell-Rotella-T1-40-CF-CF-2-5-Gallon-Pail-p/550019892.htm
 
I do impellers every 300 hours. I got 700 hours out of the waterpumps which I just changed.
 
Simple way to avoid having stories told about you……….unless you are 4'-3" tall (5' on a 450DA) and built like a spider monkey, keep away from the outboard side of the stbd engine.
 
Thanks all. This is a good start. I did just get the manuals, so I've got some readiing to do.
 
I have a 2 questions regarding changing the transmission oil. I have 3126s with ZFMarine transmissions.

1. To drain the oil, do you just undo one of the 2 bolts at the bottom rear (where the shaft attaches?
2. I hear that the screen should be cleaned. Where is, and please confirm to just use some sort of brush and cleaning fluid.

tks

DAVE
 
What model gear do you have?

1) probably, but you can also use an oil extractor down the dip stick hole if you cant find room for a drain pan.
2) likely its behind a cover opened with a 32mm (i think) socket. clean with solvent and replace. On the cover is also likely a magnet that should be cleaned off as well.
 
Fill out your boat information and you will get real answers that are mostly correct. If we are working on a "boatless" all you are going to get are guesses.
 
Thanks for the heads up Frank. I just updated my profile. But to save you a click, the transmission details are as follows:

ZFMarine Type "IRM220 A-1". I have poked around the internet and details are sparse. There is ample room below the transmission for a drain pan.

tks

DAVE
 
Now you are cooking................!

I hlped a friend service the transmissions in a 400DB several years ago and I think the filter screen is behind a larger plug right below the oil pump. There were 2 drains, one on either side of the gear case right near the bottom of the case. If this is a new boat to you, I would drain t he oil there rather than with a suction tube and pump just so you can see what is in the bottom of the gear case.

ZF did, at one time, have their parts and service manuals on their website available as a free PDF, but I couldn't find them this morning.
 
What about sampling and analysis before the change? Important baseline data....
 
ttmott said:
What about sampling and analysis before the change? Important baseline data....
Click to expand...

Good point. Hopefully, since this is a new to him boat, that was already completed during the survey.

As an aside, what kind of transmission fluid you need/recommend for those ZFs mated to the CATs? I have the smaller engine (3116) but also have ZF trans. I'm assuming the same fluid is used, right?
 
cwiert said:
Good point. Hopefully, since this is a new to him boat, that was already completed during the survey.

As an aside, what kind of transmission fluid you need/recommend for those ZFs mated to the CATs? I have the smaller engine (3116) but also have ZF trans. I'm assuming the same fluid is used, right?
Click to expand...
For the ZF 80 / 85 and Hurth 800 it's ATF meeting the Dextron III specification. Dex/Merc also. Best to check http://www.zf.com/global/media/en_zf/lubricantslists/TE-ML_04.pdf
 
NO! Never make assumptions on lube type. I was helping another 400DB owner this week and he has 350 hp 3116 Cats coupled to ZF220A-1 transmissions. his transmissions require SAE 30 wt oil:

https://www.perfprotech.com/catalogs/zf-repair-manual-five/page/7

I have the same engines coupled to ZF 85-IV v-drives in a 450DA and I use Dexron III ATF.



Either follow the link at the end of Tom's post or better, look at the mfg. tag/plate on your transmissions. ZF puts the lube type on the mfg. serial # plate.
 
fwebster said:
NO! Never make assumptions on lube type. I was helping another 400DB owner this week and he has 350 hp 3116 Cats coupled to ZF220A-1 transmissions. his transmissions require SAE 30 wt oil:

https://www.perfprotech.com/catalogs/zf-repair-manual-five/page/7

I have the same engines coupled to ZF 85-IV v-drives in a 450DA and I use Dexron III ATF.



Either follow the link at the end of Tom's post or better, look at the mfg. tag/plate on your transmissions. ZF puts the lube type on the mfg. serial # plate.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I guess I'm still confused. The plate on my transmission confirms that I have the "IRM 220A-1" transmissions. It also says "Oil Type SAE 30 - API CD"

I go to the links posted above and see this on the ZF page:

Product Group:Lubricant Classes:
ZF 220 to ZF 60500

with all derived variants
A, V, IV, C, U, D, NR, NR2, NR2H, NR2B, TS, ATS, VTS, IVTS		04A / 04B / 04C
And this on the perfprotech page:
SAE 30*
SAE 30
102 cst (40°C)
11.6 cst (100°C)
100
Specifics:
MIL-L 2104C API classes
MIL-L 2104D CC-CD-SC
MIL-L 46152 SD-SE-SF
I don't know what any of that means and I still don't know what I need to buy. Can I simply go to Walmart and buy a good quality 30 wt motor oil? Or do I have to buy it special from CAT or ZF?

Again, sorry for my newbness. This boat, these engines, inboards in general, are all brand new to me. I've had gas IOs my whole life and this is all a whole new world. Thanks again for all your help and getting me through the learning curve.
 
cwiert,

I have had my boat for four years, and still learning all the details on this stuff. Doing some further research, I ran across this pdf that helps "start to demystify" oil requirements/specifications.

http://www.api.org/~/media/Files/Oil-and-Natural-Gas/Engine%20Oil/MOTOR_OIL_GUIDE_2010_120210.pdf?la=en

According to the information in the pdf, it seems that the API - CD category is obsolete. The document also states that Categories CH-4 and CI-4 can be used in place of the CD category. I also interpret that CJ-4 category exceeds performance criteria for both the CI-4 and CH-4 categories of oils.

Disclaimer here, we are discussing ZF transmission requirements and not CAT3116 engines. For the engines, I would suggest staying with Cat SAEO. Others will have differing opinions and you will need to make a determination for yourself on the engine oil.

Carrying on, as for the ZFs, I went over to Shell Rotella T1 Straight Grade information page and checked out the specs on the SAE30 http://rotella.shell.com/products/t1.html

What I did not find is a specific reference to the CH, CI, or CJ categories. What I did find was a reference to the MIL-L 2104C that you found on the perfprotech page.

Again, I am only 4 years old in this endeavor, but have been learning as you have. We should hear what others have to say about "what does all this mean", because I simply don't know - not sure I will ever know. Judge for yourself, but it seems that Rotella T1 may be a product option for the SAE requirements of the ZF transmission specs.

Good luck and have fun....
 
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