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Turbo diesel rebuild schedule

Discussion in 'Engines' started by Gordon J., Dec 11, 2015.

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  1. Gordon J., Dec 11, 2015
    #1
    Gordon J.

    Gordon J. New Member

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    I am in the process of shopping for a trawler. It seems that the boats that I am looking at have either a cat 3116 or Cummings 330 hp engines. Both engines are turbos. A friend was telling me that at least for the cat engines a rebuild was required at 1600 hours. This seems to be a rather short usage cycle. Can anyone tell me if this is in fact true?

    I have owned a trucking company, and we expected our trucks to go 1,000,000 miles before rebuilding. That equates to several thousand hours on a boat. A 1600 hour rebuild would equate to about a 90,000 miles on a Truck.

    Thanks for the feedback
    Gordon
  2. Capt J, Dec 11, 2015
    #2
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    NO, NO, and NO, not even close. CAT lists a pretty extensive schedule for maintanance for their marine engines. Both engines generally see a service life of 5,000-6,000 hours before overhaul provided they're maintained properly and not run to sudden death by an unwary operator (no oil, overheated, overpropped, run WOT everywhere, etc.)
  3. RER, Dec 11, 2015
    #3
    RER

    RER Senior Member

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    Of course turbos can and do fail before an engine's service life is over. Often due to long periods of sitting still. Regular use helps.

    Trawlers and turbos are a result of clean diesel technology, not necessity. Not to run a small trawler at 9 knots.

    It's important to run up into RPM's where you're getting turbo boost for a part of the time during each use.
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2015
  4. Gordon J., Dec 11, 2015
    #4
    Gordon J.

    Gordon J. New Member

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    To clarify, I was not talking about turbo rebuild's, which on trucks normally occurs at about 300,000 miles, but on the entire engine.

    Thanks again for the responses,

    Gordon
  5. RER, Dec 11, 2015
    #5
    RER

    RER Senior Member

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    Don't know why I read turbo. The Cummins 330's are 5,ooo - 6,000 hour motors and for resale purposes the public perception is positive. The Cat 3116's which you can read and hear all sorts of horrible things about I have seen go for 8,000 hours and still running.
  6. Capt J, Dec 11, 2015
    #6
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    The 3116's did have a lot of issues in the early days/onset with aftercoolers leaking and destroying motors, 3126's also (as well as a run of soft blocks), CAT was very good about updating owners engines for free, rebuilding them under and even out of warranty, and they all should be solid motors in this day and age and past all of these issues (in the 1990's).
  7. Oscarvan, Dec 11, 2015
    #7
    Oscarvan

    Oscarvan Senior Member

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    Trucks run.... and run.... and run.... and their owners (usually) change the oil on time, and then they run some more....

    Boats sit, sit, and sit. And their owners (often) forget to change the oil, and then they sit some more.......in a corrosive environment, with salt sewer running through for coolant (on the raw side) and barnacles and bacteria in the tanks and corrosion..... and then more sitting. (Did I mention they sit a lot?)

    And then someone shows up, and expects 2350RPM WOT.... NOW..... Well, yeah... that won't get you to 16000 hours.

    You get the picture.
  8. g collis, Dec 11, 2015
    #8
    g collis

    g collis Member

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    No no and H*** no. If your as familiar with diesels as you state, you already no your friends info is bad. Uber clean fuel and oil are the secrets. Plus throttle management and performing all routine maintenance. The big difference between marine diesels and over the road diesels SALT and no gears to shift. Hence the motor is always working hard. If a boat your interested in has a spotless engine room, spotless bilges, passes an oil analysis and the owner can produce maintenance records you may have a winner. I love my old 2 stroke Detroit 71 series. No computers or fuel injection pump. Modern motors are full of electronics. Salt and electronics don't seem to get along well. Just my opinion and you'll get 20 different ones here. A lot of really smart folks on here as well. From my personal experience, Cats are great, Ford Lehmans are superb engines, DD are great but I shutter at a 92 series, Volvos are a good product as well. You may want to think in terms of engines you can get fixed anywhere. That narrows it to Cat, DD and????
    Good luck.
  9. Capt J, Dec 13, 2015
    #9
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Don't forget Cummins, they're a good motor with a good service and parts network.