3126 CAT needs replacement!

So far, neither the insurance company, nor Caterpillar (no core charge) have expressed any interest in the old engine. So, I am going to explore ways to sell it....to an engine rebuilder maybe, or maybe put it on ebay....or someone here???

I believe the old engine has value. They are no longer manufacturing the 3126 engine, so anyone that has a twin, and needs to replace one of the engines, should have some interest in this engine...since it only has 600 hours on it.

I haven't thought about upgrading the other engine to 420 HP, but just seeing how much the charge was for removing the engine from the boat (about $5,000 in labor alone), I am not even going to explore that one!

I have not gotten an insurance renewal yet, so I don't know if they are going to whack me with an increase....but if they do...I will shop it around.
 
These do not seem to be new from Caterpillar. I will be getting a two year warrantee directly from Caterpillar.

If they are new, not sure why you would need a dyno report?
 
Glad it worked out for you.

When I bought my 410 DA, I gave serious consideration to the cost of rebuilding these motors and ended up buying a gas burner instead of diesel just for that reason.
 
mistercomputerman said:
Glad it worked out for you.

When I bought my 410 DA, I gave serious consideration to the cost of rebuilding these motors and ended up buying a gas burner instead of diesel just for that reason.
Click to expand...

Shoot you could rebuild both your motors for like $10k!

Doug
 
I sort of doubt the $10K number on a boat like the 410DA. I would imagine that cylinder rebuild kits, if that is all that is necessary, might be in the $3500ea area, from the description of what happened, it sounds like an injector came apart which caused a rocker arm to bind and a pushrod to bend, parts got in a cylinder and there is likely liner, valve, piston and head damage in at least one cylinder, but maybe more. You might do an inframe rebuild if the crank and rods are ok, but there is no room under the engine to work or above the engine to jack it up. The rebuild cost for a 410DA would have to include removing the engine from the boat which means removing the cockpit interior and the entire cockpit sole. It ain't pretty and it takes a good long while.
 
He was probably talking about rebuilding the gassers. Still, $10,000 seems low unless you do it yourself.
 
searaycruisn said:
So far, neither the insurance company, nor Caterpillar (no core charge) have expressed any interest in the old engine. So, I am going to explore ways to sell it....to an engine rebuilder maybe, or maybe put it on ebay....or someone here???

I believe the old engine has value. They are no longer manufacturing the 3126 engine, so anyone that has a twin, and needs to replace one of the engines, should have some interest in this engine...since it only has 600 hours on it.

I haven't thought about upgrading the other engine to 420 HP, but just seeing how much the charge was for removing the engine from the boat (about $5,000 in labor alone), I am not even going to explore that one!

I have not gotten an insurance renewal yet, so I don't know if they are going to whack me with an increase....but if they do...I will shop it around.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear they agreed to pay up for the new engine. I wish I had seen this thread earlier. Now I know I do not have a diesel boat, but I own a Peterbilt truck and am VERY familiar with Cartepillar Diesel. My truck has a C16 600hp. I'd like to answer some questions that I saw posted.
Injectors can cause severe engine damage that can lead to an inframe or rebuild. A common way is they drop their tip into the cylender and the next time the piston comed to TDC (Top Dead Center) the broken tip cracks the piston crown. You'll know it if you ever hear one. It will still run. The exhaust will be so black in and out of the boat youd swear it on fire. Sooty exhaust will fky out the exhaust as well as the blow-by tube (crankcaes breather) Seen it happen to a Detroit Deisel in a Freightliner (Sorry Nightmare:grin:).
I have had injector troubles in a 3406E. The injector cup seals went bad and I was mixing Fuel into the water and water in the fuel. When the water contaminates the fuel the injector looses lubrication and gets harder to open. They are opened mechanicly by the cam. When they fail in this mannor they usually fail closed. They won't open freely and the cam is pushing on a now jammed injector, on a 3126, with its in-block cam a rocker arm or pushrod will fail. On my 3406E an overhead cam motor, the roller rocker fails. I have broken many on that truck.
If I were you I'd keep the old engine and install the new pushrod. You never know. You may want a good engine in the future.
I am very suprised they are replacing the whole engine over a bent pushrod. Guess its because you got a lawyer involved.
I have owned my own trucks since 2000. My first was a 1995 Freightliner with the 3406E 455Hp. I now have a 1999 Peterbilt with originally was a 3406E 550 Hp. That engine failed, (Spun #3 rod bearing) I replaced it with the C16 600Hp. I have owned nothing but CATs and this advice I give by learning by school of hard koncks and THOUSANDS in WAISTED cash. Have NOBODY except Caterpillar mechanics work on your CAT engines. This excludes PMs however, any monkey can change fuel and oil filters and add oil. A good Caterpillar Dealer mechanic eats, sleeps, and breathes nothing but CAT. They are more expensive but you will save in the long run.
My Catrpillar engine gives me my living. My truck MUST run perfect. I trust nobody else to keep my livelyhood running. So far it has served me well.:thumbsup:
Not to sound like a know it all, but most truckers can't afford nice diesel boats, and thats fine, no putdowns there, god bless you who can and do, however us Owner Operators tend to know our engines. We have no choice. Hope I can Help
Steve
 
I just replaced a 1996 3126 with 337 hours because of a broken valve. I went the short block route w/ new head....it cost me 30K with a new turbo and expenses from the yard. CAT had problems w/ valves, but so far they are not willing to participate
 
Caterpillar fully warrantied the bad valves (TRW soft valves) until about 1/2006. Cat dealers either rebuilt the engines or replaced the entire engine as needed. This problem occurred usually within the first 125 hours of run time on new engines. With your low engine time, you might get your Sea Ray dealer to help you plead your case with Caterpillar, but at 13 years old and more than twice the run time, your engines do not fit the usual parameters for the soft valve failures......i.e. under 125-150 hours and under 2 years of age.

Sorry you are having to deal with such a major failure.
 
Dago,

The cost of the brand new engine and installation was around $37K. Part of the reason for my complete engine replacement was that the yard kept saying that it would not be much more to replace the whole engine, then to rebuild the existing one. There was nothing wrong with the "business" part of the old engine. Nothing got into the cylinder.

The yard, and the surveyor agreed that it is easier to just put in a brand new engine, and the attorney convinced the insurance company to pay for it.

Just as an aside, Caterpillar said that this engine was the last brand new 3126 that they had, so I guess in the future, we will be rebuilding those engines. That is why I think at some point, the old engine is going to have some value....I just hope it is not for me!
 
searaycruisn said:
Sold the engine on E-Bay about a month ago for $1,600 to a guy in Hong Kong.
Click to expand...
So as it is now 2021, what became of your boat with the 3126TA's? I'm looking at an 01 380 AC with the 3126TA's with 1600 hours on it. Did they treat you well after this particular saga?
 
Thomas Griffith said:
So as it is now 2021, what became of your boat with the 3126TA's? I'm looking at an 01 380 AC with the 3126TA's with 1600 hours on it. Did they treat you well after this particular saga?
Click to expand...
I've got almost 1600 hours on my 3126TA 420hp and still purring like a kitty CAT...
 
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