replacing zinc's in engines

[abacogirl]

Just picked up Cat Engine Oil for our 3116 cat engines. $25.50/gallon...is this what everyone is paying...or a rip to us.

Oil filters $15.60 each and fuel filter $20.88

next question :

Is it normal to change the engine zinc's every year or check them for wear ?

:smt100

Thanks...this is our first diesel engine Sea Ray.

 

[twyant]

I have 3116 good engine bad rap keep care of them they do you great .
I use straight 30 wt shell Rollo about $60.00 for 5 gallon at napa and change zincs sometimes twice a year impellers at least once a year or every 150 hrs.
Just bought cat filters oil was $18.22 and fuel was $13.26 only use cat filters bought some from napa one time they where way smaller brought them back and stayed with cat.

 

[abacogirl]

My husband wants to know where you are located... Florida gulf coast or ?.... and weather.

the cat oil they gave him here is 40wt.

he is going to change the oil this week.

how many hours on your engines ?

 

[fwebster]

Single viscosity Shell Rotella T is an acceptable oil for the 3116 and 3126. In South Fla you should be using SAE 40. Just don't use a multi-viscosity oil like 15W-40.

Caterpillar filters are far superior to aftermarket filters and I find them to be cheaper as well. One trick on Cat filters is to buy them sometime when you are inland and can go by a Caterpillar dealer who services off road industrial and construction equipment. I buy my filters at the Cat store in Nashville when I'm there......$10.60 & $14.05.

 

[twyant]

Have right at 1500 hrs on motors and I live in south louisiana on lake pontchartrain 20 miles from gulf port miss.

 

[33ec]

I run rotella 15/40 in all my on road Cat and Cummins truck engines as well as in my boat with the 7.4 gas engines. never had an oil related issue. I also run amsoil 15/40 in all of my duramax truck engines. my fleet is about 40 vehicles. never hade an oil issue. you can buy the rotella almost anywhere including Sam's club. $3 or so a quart. You can get the amsoil for about $6/qt. either one will be just fine.

 

[Gimme Time]

Cat came out a few years ago with specific oil recommendations for the 3116 & 3126 and does not recommend multi-viscosity oil. They recommend either 30 or 40 weight depending on ambient temperatures you operate your boat in. Here in VA I choose to run 30 weight while I would use 40 weight as Frank stated down in the Southern area of the country. Allot of people will tell you what they do but why would you run something other than what the manufacturer recommend? If it's to save a few bucks then go for it but I have no desire to penny pinch $35,000 engines.

Don't want to offend someone but you might want to read the Cat 3116 3126 documentation to see what the fuss is about. Don't have the info on this laptop as I would post the info but I believe if you research the thread on 3116 & 3126 you'll find the document.

Hope this helps,

 

[fwebster]

The Caterpillar fluid recommendations for synthetic or single viscosity oils is for marine engines only. The marine aftercoolers, for some reason, get coated with and clogged by the viscosity enhancers in multiviscosity oils.