'99 380D CAT 3116's Fuel Consumption port vs starboard engine?

[LaPlaya]

I was reading one of the other posts that talked about fuel consumption being more on their Port engine vs their Starboard engine but I think they were gas engines.

On my CAT 3116 diesels I experience my port engine consuming more than my starboard and was wondering if the engine/transmission setup causes this? (The other thread talked about how the port engine spins the prop counter wise, etc.) I only have 375 hrs on each.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[The Bill Collector]

Welcome ! And sorry I have no input on your query...

 

[ttmott]

The port gear drives through a countershaft on V-drives in forward but that should be insignificant drag. If it did consume more fuel due to the countershaft, that gear would run quite a bit hotter because the fuel energy must go somewhere and that would be heat. And, by the way, the countershafts in both gears spin all of the time; it is just weather the torque is transmitted through the countershaft or not.
Simple test - In gear, bring the boat up to full throttle using one side then the other side (fully load each engine independently) and note the maximum engine RPM's. If one is greater than the other then there is a difference in the running gear or engines and that would be a good indicator that one is using more fuel than the other. Then it's a matter of figuring out why.....

 

[hottoddie]

Remember that your generator runs off of one tank only. If it is the port tank that would possibly explain it. Also if your boat has fuel tank cross over valves they could be allowing fuel to be drawn out of one tank more than the other. The only way to know for sure is some type of fuel flow meter like Floscan.