Cat 3116 risers

[M Huff]

One year ago the Admiral and I bought a 1995 41 Silverton with 3116 Cats with 1400 hours on the engines. A belated thank you to Frank Webster and all the diesel guys here for all the great information I was able to get here. As best I can figure out sometime in 1996 the starboard engine was replaced. Cat has no history of it so it was not a warranty issue. My problem is that at survey the Cat mechanic pointed out that the starboard engine has a stainless steel riser. Port has a Cat bronze riser. With all I have read here re. ss risers and at the advice of my Cat mechanic I am changing the starboard riser. My question is should I also go ahead and replace port bronze riser giving me 2 new risers and no (LOL) worries for a while. With only 1400 hours it is hardly used, but it is 18 years old. Peace of mind is worth something, but it is not cheap and we are on a budget. All opinions will be welcome and appreciated. Thanks, Mike

 

[M Huff]

I guess I need to update my profile. Mike

 

[Odyssey]

Mike - I wasn't aware that stainless risers were inferior to bronze. I too have 3116's and one of my factory bronze risers failed 3 years ago and allowed sea water to get in the turbo. I decided to replace the bad riser with a stainless "dry" riser. It's been fine. Do you know who made the stainless riser?

 

[M Huff]

Mike - I wasn't aware that stainless risers were inferior to bronze. I too have 3116's and one of my factory bronze risers failed 3 years ago and allowed sea water to get in the turbo. I decided to replace the bad riser with a stainless "dry" riser. It's been fine. Do you know who made the stainless riser?

Odyssey, The best info I have and I welcome correction is that mine are made by Cat and they had a problem with them. Been told that they were too thin and if you ran a lot in shallow water sand went through system and eventually ate a hole in them. Cats SS risers were an inferior product but that does not mean all SS risers were. I have heard a lot of good about "dry" risers and wish I could afford a custom pair of them. In the meantime I will stay with Cat's bronze ones. How many hours were on your engines when your bronze riser failed? Mike

 

[Odyssey]

I welcome input from any knowledgeable source about this subject and am curious now that I read your post. I remember getting quotes from several different companies for the SS riser which means they all make them now. I purchased mine with a cearmic coating on the inside which is supposed to lengthen the life of the unit. send me a PM and I'll provide you the comapnay that made mine

I had about 1500 hours at that time of replacement

 

[EKM]

I had my turbo go also from a leaking SS risers...replaced both w Cat Bronze units. I would change out the remaining SS unit with a cat bronze. The believe the SS crack from constant temp cycling and that is why the bronze redesign.