Al wrote in message
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I'm in the process of purchasing a 2002 Cruisers with Caterpiller 3126
engines. Please give me your honest opinion about these engines.
Thanks,
First of all, they come in many flavors, meaning horsepower ratings. The
electronic 3126 is rated at 450 hp. The mechanical version is 420 hp. I
think there are also lower horsepower versions of the same engine.
I had the 420 hp versions in a 2002 Egg Harbor and had no issues or
problems, other than a bad pre-heater circuit breaker that Cat replaced.
My impressions:
They are noisy. Not exhaust noise, but loud engine noise. More so, I think,
than most diesels.
To get full power and RPM they are very sensitive to fuel condition and
flow. Keep the Racors clean.
They always ran fine - but or course there were not many hours on them.
When I was looking for a sport-fish type boat, I got all kinds of
conflicting recommendations on the 3126 (6 cylinder) versus the 3208 (8
cylinder). Half the people told me the 3126 was problem prone, and the
other half said the 3126 was a great engine and the 3208 was no good.
I have been told that the Cat 3116 *was* problematic. It was primarily used
in school buses and was not really designed for marine applications. The
3126 model was supposed to be a marine application engine, correcting the
3116 deficiencies. I don't know if this is really true or not.
Cat has stopped making the 3208 for whatever reasons.
One other general impression or opinion:
Diesel engine manufacturers are squeezing every bit of horsepower out of
smaller engines now-a-days to keep the overall boat weight down and to get
more speed, especially on sports-fish type boats where the owner wants to
make a fast run out to the fishing areas and back. As a result, the life
expectancy before overhaul or replacement is getting shorter. Naturally
aspirated diesels that were good for 10-12 thousand hours of operation are
now good for half that when equipped with turbochargers and other horsepower
increasing changes.
Sorry, I can't be of much help as I didn't put enough hours on the Egg to
develop any other impressions.
Eisboch
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