Caterpillar 3208’s in Horizon 44

[Helipilot100]

I’m currently looking at the above with a view to purchase and need some advice. The owner has no service history on the engines telling me that the previous owner of 20 years had his own chain of garages and did his own servicing. He says the oil and even antifreeze on the boat is in caterpillar containers and says the guy was very fussy (there’s always a story eh) The boat has been on the River Severn for the last 20 years and has covered 2000 hours. I’m told the engines run sweet and no smoke other than the usual little at start up from cold and that they are very quiet. Just wondered what everyone thinks? I’m thinking if the majority of these hours were done on the river then the engines wouldn’t have been working too hard. I fly a piston helicopter and on purchase we always do a compression check of all 6 cylinders and it gives a reasonable indication of wear on the engine. Can you do anything similar on these Cat’s and would anyone know anybody who could check these over in the Portishead area for me. Any help or advice would be most welcome. Thanks.

 

[Portofino]

The difference with a compression test on a diesel is that you have to remove the injector .This is an involved procedure as new parts and o rings need refitting fitting then bleeding .Its a bit more invasive than simply whipping a spark plug out of a petrol .

There will be engineers ( ring CAT Eg ) who will do it and with the hole access do a borescope of the cylinders .
16 cylinders so a full days work inc the testing .At your expense with the owners consent with a proviso you fund anything else Eg a ceased fractures bolt that need drilling out etc .

Also the rings are slack with diesels @ 2x the compression and massive cylinder pressure / temp compared to a petrol they all loose compression when stone cold that’s why you can bar them to do the valves ( big ones ) and need to remove a plug on a petrols even little ones .

So most just do a hot running sea trail with a engineer on board .They can fit EGT probes with it running and borescope the turbos when cold etc and do a one off oil analysis .This should pick up gross issues .But a bit limited is a one off oil analysis as you can’t see a pattern .

CAT forums are your friend and a nice killer Q to ask the “ owner mechanic “ with these is “ when we’re the injectors last serviced “ ?
Rule of thumb with theses older motors is every 1000 hrs .This will give you a yardstick as to the credibility of what’s being said ,Ask to see the test shop invoice and go from there .

A Billy Bull5itter will fob you off .

 

[Helipilot100]

The difference with a compression test on a diesel is that you have to remove the injector .This is an involved procedure as new parts and o rings need refitting fitting then bleeding .Its a bit more invasive than simply whipping a spark plug out of a petrol .

There will be engineers ( ring CAT Eg ) who will do it and with the hole access do a borescope of the cylinders .
16 cylinders so a full days work inc the testing .At your expense with the owners consent with a proviso you fund anything else Eg a ceased fractures bolt that need drilling out etc .

Also the rings are slack with diesels @ 2x the compression and massive cylinder pressure / temp compared to a petrol they all loose compression when stone cold that’s why you can bar them to do the valves ( big ones ) and need to remove a plug on a petrols even little ones .

So most just do a hot running sea trail with a engineer on board .They can fit EGT probes with it running and borescope the turbos when cold etc and do a one off oil analysis .This should pick up gross issues .But a bit limited is a one off oil analysis as you can’t see a pattern .

CAT forums are your friend and a nice killer Q to ask the “ owner mechanic “ with these is “ when we’re the injectors last serviced “ ?
Rule of thumb with theses older motors is every 1000 hrs .This will give you a yardstick as to the credibility of what’s being said ,Ask to see the test shop invoice and go from there .

A Billy Bull5itter will fob you off .

Thanks that’s really helpful????

 

[vas]

only word of caution looking at the trouble a friend of mine had with his, was diesel bug. For some reason it messes the diesel high pressure pump more than in other engines. An engineer told me that this particular pump is lubricated by diesel and not engine oil (not sure it makes sense as I thought all are like that) Anyway after two reconditions, new plungers/orings/whatnot they are working fine.
Engines are fine on his P45 after similar hours.

 

[tico]

suggest a pm to Rafiki who 1. had 3208 engines and 2. may know the boat

 

[Helipilot100]

only word of caution looking at the trouble a friend of mine had with his, was diesel bug. For some reason it messes the diesel high pressure pump more than in other engines. An engineer told me that this particular pump is lubricated by diesel and not engine oil (not sure it makes sense as I thought all are like that) Anyway after two reconditions, new plungers/orings/whatnot they are working fine.
Engines are fine on his P45 after similar hours.

Thanks for that. Handy to know. ????

 

[philipdawsonladds]

I’m currently looking at the above with a view to purchase and need some advice. The owner has no service history on the engines telling me that the previous owner of 20 years had his own chain of garages and did his own servicing. He says the oil and even antifreeze on the boat is in caterpillar containers and says the guy was very fussy (there’s always a story eh) The boat has been on the River Severn for the last 20 years and has covered 2000 hours. I’m told the engines run sweet and no smoke other than the usual little at start up from cold and that they are very quiet. Just wondered what everyone thinks? I’m thinking if the majority of these hours were done on the river then the engines wouldn’t have been working too hard. I fly a piston helicopter and on purchase we always do a compression check of all 6 cylinders and it gives a reasonable indication of wear on the engine. Can you do anything similar on these Cat’s and would anyone know anybody who could check these over in the Portishead area for me. Any help or advice would be most welcome. Thanks.

You could try Rob Jenkins - rjmarine@live.co.uk - an engineer in the Portishead marina

 

[Helipilot100]

You could try Rob Jenkins - rjmarine@live.co.uk - an engineer in the Portishead marina

Many thanks