Cost of diesel engine survey and oil sampling

[northshore]

Vague question requiring only a vague answer for budgeting purposes...

What roughly should it cost to get a pair of CAT 3126's surveyed and the oil checked out by a top end surveyor?

Thanks,

-Mike

 

[dtfeld]

I had CAT do my 3126's in 2018 is was about $1600 just for the engines. That was 2 techs, driving to/from the boat, and spending 6+ hours on the boat as I recall. Money well spent.

 

[Strecker25]

mine was 1 CAT tech but didn't spend quite that amount of time. CAT offers a full marine PAR survey which might be what @dtfeld had done, since there are not many caterpillar powered boats in our area of the great lakes I would have needed to fly someone in from MA to get that performed which I decined to do.

I think it was about $800 including samples from both gears, engines, generator, and coolant from both mains and gen. They performed the all important blow-by test using the special CAT meter. The tech was also the same guy who had been dispatched many times to our boat with the previous owner and was even the same guy who ran the overhead and replaced the injector cups just 4 months earlier so he knew the boat well.

I'd expect $1000-1500 for the full survey assuming there's a decent local CAT near where the boat is. Keep this separate from the hull survey and have CAT do it.

What kind of boat?

 

[Blueone]

I had a Cummins tech do mine ….tech came out did a sea trial …… hopped down there at cruise and climbed all over them….. you want to talk about loud….. my god…. He inspected both at slip before and after sea trial…… amazing what he found. $750 for inspect and oil samples but that was 6 years ago.
He became a friend after that and would stop by the boat when he was at the marina…. He helped me a lot for a couple beers….. good to go with the manufacturers rep

 

[northshore]

I greatly appreciate the input guys and yes I'm definitely going top shelf on the engine surveyor when that time comes.
If you asked me to rebuild the the 454's in my boat I could do it in a heartbeat but what I know about diesels you could fit in a thimble and have some room leftover. One of the best bosses I ever had as young engineer said to me "Know when you know nothing" that's where I'm at with diesels....

(Anyone know a good online class for the basics and maintneance?)

 

[Blueone]

(Anyone know a good online class for the basics and maintneance?)

I was totally green to diesels when I bought my current boat….. as I mentioned the tech was a mentor of sorts and I had these two dock neighbors one with CATs and one with Detroit’s and these two characters took me under their wing and taught me everything….. it was pretty cool….. that probably doesn’t help but you would be surprised how helpful people can be

 

[Strecker25]

I greatly appreciate the input guys and yes I'm definitely going top shelf on the engine surveyor when that time comes.
If you asked me to rebuild the the 454's in my boat I could do it in a heartbeat but what I know about diesels you could fit in a thimble and have some room leftover. One of the best bosses I ever had as young engineer said told me "Know when you know nothing" that's where I'm at with diesels....

(Anyone know a good online class for the basics and maintneance?)

you probably know this hanging around here but join boatdiesel and read the 3126 threads. My disclaimer there is: Don’t let the issues there scare you, remember most people on an engine forum are there because they have a problem. Not too many join to talk about how great their engines are and all the trouble free hours

also check out adeptape on YouTube. Nothing Marine specific, but he’s a great cat tech and puts together very good videos. He has a 3 part diesel basics series on there as wel

 

[carterchapman]

$1200 for my MAN surveyor and 1200 for my boat surveyor. about 600 for a haul out, so I was all in for $3000 for a full survey including all samples.

 

[atrick]

Just had it done on 31st of jan, $1275 for both engines ( cat 3116 ) and transmissions with oil samples for both motors, transmissions and generator and he is a certified cat/cummins mechanic, boat survey was $1000 and he is SAMS and AMS certified and short haul with pressure wash was $640.So total was $2415. This was in the Baltimore area but these guy travel all over if anybody needs their names.

 

[northshore]

you probably know this hanging around here but join boatdiesel and read the 3126 threads. My disclaimer there is: Don’t let the issues there scare you, remember most people on an engine forum are there because they have a problem. Not too many join to talk about how great their engines are and all the trouble free hours

also check out adeptape on YouTube. Nothing Marine specific, but he’s a great cat tech and puts together very good videos. He has a 3 part diesel basics series on there as wel

Did not know about boatdiesel and I'll have a look at adetape - I'll check that out.
I've picked through 3126 thread - great information resource to have.

Thank you for the info

 

[northshore]

What kind of boat?

Looking at 420 Aft Cabins but open to other Sea Rays of roughly the 2000 vintage and that size.
The other night, we were doing some "way too soon" retirement planning and when batting numbers around the Admiral said "does that include the new boat?" I almost fell over. A little while later she caught me looking at 420's for sale, asked to take a look and said she loved the layout and asked me if I wanted to go look at it. Just about wet myself.

 

[Maybe A Dancer]

3126TA in a 450 DA

December 2021

Marina Del Rey, CA

cut and pasted from the invoice: "PERFORM MARINE INSPECTION / SEA TRIAL - PERFORM BLOW BY TEST DUE TO SAPS CASTING

DRAW FLUIDS FROM MAINS, GEARS & GENS"

They also ran samples from the transmissions

$2,000 well spent, included oil and coolant from engines and gen.

As with the hull survey, this allowed for price negotiation adjustments based on the findings.

I would also point out that while there were SOME, not all FAPS blocks were bad.

The 3100 series CAT engines coupled to the VEE drives are a nice overall choice.

BEST !

RWS

 

[Strecker25]

Looking at 420 Aft Cabins but open to other Sea Rays of roughly the 2000 vintage and that size.
The other night, we were doing some "way too soon" retirement planning and when batting numbers around the Admiral said "does that include the new boat?" I almost fell over. A little while later she caught me looking at 420's for sale, asked to take a look and said she loved the layout and asked me if I wanted to go look at it. Just about wet myself.

nice! I think there’s an AC thread knocking around here somewhere with lots of info. They’re cool boats, I’ve been on the smaller ones, 340 maybe, and even those had an impressive amount of space for their size

 

[northshore]

nice! I think there’s an AC thread knocking around here somewhere with lots of info. They’re cool boats, I’ve been on the smaller ones, 340 maybe, and even those had an impressive amount of space for their size

I've been through the 420 thread and had some conversations with some of the owners. John (Gimme Time) was patient enough to answer questions and give me a bit of insight as well.

Funny you should mention the "smaller one". Many years ago, a 370 AC was the first (for lack of better terminology) big boat I was ever on. I was immediately hooked! I was on a 420 AC about 2 years ago and really fell in love with the layout.

 

[Skybolt]

... (Anyone know a good online class for the basics and maintneance?)

If your mechanically inclined, join BoatDiesel.com and read, read and then read some more. Google is your friend but BoatDiesel will confirm what you have read.

 

[northshore]

Greetings Orlando! Yes definitely going to dig in to that.

 

[mike1234]

In Dec 5 2022 I had marine inspec on a pair cummins 8.3 and gen with oil testing of all 3 and trans by cummins mech. it cost 1200.00 the best money i have ever spent . He spent 6 hour on boat running motors found head on one motor was leaking coolant and oil so i got to reduce the price to pay for it

 

[Carver370]

Most CAT dealers in the midwest will tell you they are going to charge you $2,000 as the beginning rate, they back it out from there with how much time they need to spend etc. Michigan CAT did this on my boat and several others I am involved with and ended up refunding me $900.00 to the card I used, so it was right at $1,100.00.

The largest item to be sure of is that whatever Cat tech you use, be CERTAIN they are familiar with the mechanical 31XX series engines. You will also want the blow by test, which they have special tooling for.

 

[northshore]

The largest item to be sure of is that whatever Cat tech you use, be CERTAIN they are familiar with the mechanical 31XX series engines. You will also want the blow by test, which they have special tooling for.

Thanks for pointing this out!