3116TA's - How much oil?

D

DS410

New Member
Oct 9, 2006
107
Baltimore, MD
Boat Info
Boatless
Engines
Boatless
Recently heard that CAT is recommending a reduction in the amount of oil in these engines from 24 quarts down to 20 quarts. This is supposed to reduce soot build up on transom. Anyone else heard of this?

David
 
ImpulseIII said:
Interesting...where did you hear this?
Click to expand...

Taking an engine maintenance course with my local Power Squadron. The instructor mentioned that he had heard it from a friend, (this friend had a really bad problem with soot and taking his oil level down cleared it right up), and wanted to know if we could confirm it. I plan to check with Albans, but thought maybe some of the CSR folks had already heard this.
 
DS410 said:
Recently heard that CAT is recommending a reduction in the amount of oil in these engines from 24 quarts down to 20 quarts. This is supposed to reduce soot build up on transom. Anyone else heard of this?

David
Click to expand...

Dave:According to the manuals and spec sheets, the 3116/3126 take 6.6 gallons or 26.5 quarts.
 
Sounds suspicious to me, but there may be some truth to it.

You have a high and low mark on your dipstick. The purpose of these marks is to reference the most and least amount of oil your engine needs to run. But, each engine installation is different, each boat is different and so each engine will be "full" of oil at a different spot within the marked range. I have no way to know how many quarts of oil it takes you to reach the lower or upper marks - heck I don't even measure in quarts, I buy 5 gallon buckets of the stuff.

With all that said, the engine will burn excess oil that you put in, and a healthy engine will basically stop burning oil when its own level of equilibrium is reached. That equilibrium point should be somewhere between the high and low marks on your dipstick.

You should check your oil regularly are make sure the level is above the lower mark. Do not add oil until it goes below the lower mark. You may find that you can go many hours without adding oil.

Maybe CAT has figured out that all of these engines reach equilibrium with a gallon less oil than previously thought, but I am suspicious of such a blanket statement.
 
The yard changed my oil when I took delivery in March. It was filled to the center point between the two ticks on the stick. In 72 hrs run time this season, that level has not budged. I do not know how many quarts/gallons they put in. I plan to change my oil in the next few weeks. I will try and determine how many quarts are required to bring the level back to where it is now, and I will then use that as my guideline.
 
You've got it Dominic, fill to the correct level. The actual amount of oil is only important if you want to plan how many buckets the wife has to lug down the dock.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I think I unintentionally mislead you into thinking I had a problem - I don't. Just something I heard that I wanted some confirmation on. Checked with Albans and they don't seem to have any service bulletins on this issue, so I'm going to assume it was custom advice for the guy who had the soot problem.

David
 
I'm late on this one since I've been on the boat, but.........

Caterpillar has a unique way of calibrating the dipsticks.......They fill the engine with the required minimum amout of oil needed to safely run the engine, then they hand mark the dipstick with a file. They add the remaining oil required and make another mark with a file at the top of the dipstick. This way, the engine has the proper amount of oil in it even if the engine sits on a slight angle on the engine beds.

I trust Caterpillar to know what their engines need a lot more than some guy on the dock who had a mechanic on his boat last year who told his brother-in-law to leave off the last 4 quarts of oil.

I fill my engines to the top mark so I can see any oil used but in 800+ hours my Cats have never used or leaked any oil. If your boat gets soot on the transom it is more likely a result of over propping or a fouled bottom, not how much oil there is in the engine.
 
I agree completely. However, theoretically, if one has "too much" oil in the crankcase, the connecting rods will spash it up too high on the cylinders and the oil rings may not be able to contain it all. Excess oil would be introduced into the combustion chamber and just get burned off, thus leading to soot on the transom. (did I get that right - I'm trying to learn)

BTW, CAT couldn't find any bulletins on this, so I assume it was just a suggestion to help this guy deal with his problem.

David
 
David,

Your "in thoery" supposition is generally correct.....i.e. if an engine is over filled with oil, the crankshaft journals splash oil up on the cylinder walls and it is drawn into the cylinders and burned. In fact, some of the Cummins guys are figuring that out now because Cummins pre stamps their dip sticks. Owners were filling Cummins engines to the top mark on the dip stick then experience some minor oil consumption until the oil level dropped to aproximately the halfway point between the sipstick marks.

This will not happen with Caterpillar engines because they mark the dip stick oil levels after the engines are installed in the boat, filled with the correct amount of oil and the running angle is determined.
 
fwebster said:
David,
..........Owners were filling Cummins engines to the top mark on the dip stick then experience some minor oil consumption until the oil level dropped to aproximately the halfway point between the sipstick marks.......
Click to expand...


A "Freudcatapillarian" slip.....:huh:
 
On a more serious note....I went to the local CAT store yesterday to pick up oil filters, fluid sample jars (6) and a "fluid-sample-taking-pump". Two Q's....1st Q....the oil filters that are on my engines now are # 116-9924. I don't remember where, but somewhere I heard or read that I could use the longer 1R0739 filter. I ended up buying the 116-9924 but I was wondering what others are using and if there is any real advantage worth going to the bigger filter...if in fact it will even fit. 2nd Q....the oil extracting pump is a neat quizmo, but the CAT dealer didn't have any of the plastic hose in stock. He said I could just go to home depot and pick it.... and probably a lot cheaper. I forgot to bring the pump with me today to size up at the HD during lunch. Anyone know the OD of the hose this pump uses....??

thanks,
 
Larger filter size means more filtering capacity in terms of quantity but not quality. If your engines were in trucks in a dusty condition like a gravel road vs. a paved highway, I could see an avantage to more filter volume, but in a clean marine engine room and an oil change interval about 1/2 the mfg's recommendation on your engines, why change.

If Caterpillar thought your engines needed the larger filters, then you'd have them on your boat. To see exactly what Cat says to use, get your arrangement numbers off the valve covers and look the oil filters up in your parts book in your owners packet. There will be serveral listings for the oil filter, so find the one for your arrangement no.

If you had Cummins or Mercruiser engines where the manufacturer makes decisions based on what is the most cost effective for them, then you might need to re-think filter sizes, but you have Caterpillars and Cat specs the best parts for the application so I wouldn't change.

And, I think the hose is going to be 1/4"......Cat uses the same clear/cloudy poly hose sold in home stores.
 
Last edited:
Just finished taking the Oil/AF/Tranny samples this morning. FWIW: As I stated above, the Oil extracting guizmo sure is a neat toy and worth the $29. I bought, and used, 25' of the 1/4" clear plastic tubing to take the samples. $.14/ foot at the local ACE HW store. I'm glad the CAT dealer didn't have any left...they said it was $17 for 25'.

I took the boat for quick cruise to warm things up and then took the samples. Taking the tranny samples was a little tricky. You have to get the tubing straight down otherwise you might think you're in the soup, but you're not.

Thanks for the help and advise....
 
Dominic: I have the shorter 116-9924 oil filters on my boat also. The Cat parts depot says that the long filter is, as Franks says, unnecessary for a boat. And frankly I measured both and I don't think the longer filter would into the space available on the stb engine. So in my opinion you made the right decision!
Warren

P.S.: The previous owner REALLY all of the filters on tight - so I had to buy a filter tightening tool.. but that won't happen next time as they are rubber-gloves-very-hand-tight now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,118
Messages
1,426,542
Members
61,035
Latest member
Lukerney
Back
Top