OK Guys,
I have a Wellcraft Sportbridge with twin 3208 Cat's sitting at my dock
with a Sick Port engine.
Went to fire it up, there was some instant clatter & then nothing. Would
spin but not fire.
Had a Cat mechanic check it out. He pulled the valve covers & then the
heads & found 6 bent valves along with some bent pushrods & one blown
lifter.
He checked the crank & cam timing (indexing) & said all was perfect.
Well, after a new set of heads etc, turning the engine over (by hand
now) the valves Still hit !
Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.
His thinking was that maybe water "had got in" & seized the valves to
the valve guides. He knows better now!

Prior history...this boat went down during
hurricane "Charlie" (snip -long story) However, the Port engine never
went under & had No Trace of water in it anywheres but was Pickled as a
precaution anyway.

The Starboard engine (that went under) is fine. Both engines ran fine
prior to Charlie.
Any clues as to what may have failed ?
Anybody here see this before ?
It's impossible to disassemble the front of this engine while it's in
the boat ;-(

TIA---Joe in SW FL

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 01:02:42 -0500, (JK) wrote:

OK Guys,
I have a Wellcraft Sportbridge with twin 3208 Cat's sitting at my dock
with a Sick Port engine.

I had four of these in my Blohm and Voss. Darn good engines.

Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.


time to start checking things he's never seen? I'm far from the Cat mechanic
but if the timing is correct then the valves shouldn't hit!

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:52:21 -0500, "Woodchuck" wrote:

Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.


time to start checking things he's never seen? I'm far from the Cat mechanic
but if the timing is correct then the valves shouldn't hit!


I once had valves hitting in a motorcycle engine because the timing, which I
thought was correct, was instead 180 degrees off. I had used TDC on the exhaust
stroke rather than the compression stroke. It was a stupid mistake, but it was
easily done. Luckily I got the engine stopped before any major damage was done.


John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 14:19:48 -0500, John H wrote:

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:52:21 -0500, "Woodchuck" wrote:

Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.


time to start checking things he's never seen? I'm far from the Cat mechanic
but if the timing is correct then the valves shouldn't hit!


I once had valves hitting in a motorcycle engine because the timing, which I
thought was correct, was instead 180 degrees off. I had used TDC on the exhaust
stroke rather than the compression stroke. It was a stupid mistake, but it was
easily done. Luckily I got the engine stopped before any major damage was done.


John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Whoops, it wasn't the timing I set wrong, it was the valve adjustments. It did
seem like that cylinder required a hellacious amount of adjustment!

John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

"Woodchuck" wrote in message
.. .
Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.


time to start checking things he's never seen? I'm far from the Cat
mechanic
but if the timing is correct then the valves shouldn't hit!



Check to make sure the pin is not sheared. Also, check that the other gear
is OK. Make sure the engine is timed with the gears in the right position.
On older chevy's if the engine was upside down on the stand when installing
the gears, you could get them timed on the wrong side.

Possible though unlikely the cam is broken. If a fracture is at the
required angle the driven portion of the cam could have turned a few degrees
until the fracture angle caused the fracture to gra and begin turning the
other portion of the cam.

Although the gear is pinned and pressed fit to the camshaft, if the engine
had a hydrostatic lock when cranked (pretty likely??) the gear could have
spun a few degrees on the shaft. A simple visual inspection in the engine
space may not have revealed the problem.

It's probably time to pull the engine for a proper inspection.

Is the mechanic a certified CAT mechanic employed by a dealer or an
independent?

Good luck.

Butch

More likely, IMO, is that the cam gear turned on the cam
"JK" wrote in message
...
OK Guys,
I have a Wellcraft Sportbridge with twin 3208 Cat's sitting at my dock
with a Sick Port engine.
Went to fire it up, there was some instant clatter & then nothing. Would
spin but not fire.
Had a Cat mechanic check it out. He pulled the valve covers & then the
heads & found 6 bent valves along with some bent pushrods & one blown
lifter.
He checked the crank & cam timing (indexing) & said all was perfect.
Well, after a new set of heads etc, turning the engine over (by hand
now) the valves Still hit !
Cat mech said he is stumped as to the cause as the Cats timing is Gear
drive & the Cam Gear is Pinned & Press fit to the Cam & he's never seen
one move.
His thinking was that maybe water "had got in" & seized the valves to
the valve guides. He knows better now!

Prior history...this boat went down during
hurricane "Charlie" (snip -long story) However, the Port engine never
went under & had No Trace of water in it anywheres but was Pickled as a
precaution anyway.

The Starboard engine (that went under) is fine. Both engines ran fine
prior to Charlie.
Any clues as to what may have failed ?
Anybody here see this before ?
It's impossible to disassemble the front of this engine while it's in
the boat ;-(

TIA---Joe in SW FL

to Butch's previous post.
.................................................. .............
The mechanic is a certified Cat tech from Pan Tropic Cat, a Cat dealer
in Ft Meyers FL.
The engine did not hydro lock as it was spun over by hand--then by the
starter with the injectors removed and not a trace of water showed .
The broken cam scenario you mentioned is plausible though. That or the
pin broke that holds the cam gear to the cam.
Had the engine pulled yesterday with a crane while the boat was still in
the water.
Fun Job !
Maybe tomorrow, we'll remove the oil pan which is necessary before you
can remove the timing cover on this engine and have a good look ! Joe