Caterpillar C9 engine snags?

Kawasaki

Kawasaki

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I know there a few real experts here on engines as per above
'Latestarter' et al
Going to sea trial a Grand Banks a week tomorrow which has two 503 hp versions fitted
Googling information about them has highlited loads of problems with same
90% I admit in the automotive world
Seems the 'HUEi' emission / oil feed to the valve /injector timing has had some disatrous failures!
Seems similar with the '3' series too
Seems Cat tried to comply with the American emmision standards and failed
Then I think, bleedin eck there must be hundreds of GB's with these engines
Cat dont seem to make engines now, is that right?
Do they just rebrand?
Yes, I know, if one goes on Forai
Be it Volvo/ Man/ Cummins etc etc , there are all sorts of opinions and theories
If one believed all one read in them
One would never touch an internal combustion engine again!

The vessel in question is a Grand Banks 47 Europa
602 hours on one motor and 615 or thereabouts on the other
Yep, I know that is nowt
Commisioned around 2006 iirc
About that time it seems Cummins were offered as well
More expensive it seems and quite a few were ordered with CAT for that reason

Brokers selling these boats when questioned all say 'Never had a problem' etc

Hmm, its a chunk of money

Mate and I have viewed quite a few Trawler Type vessels over the last 18 months
All over the UK plus Holland and other parts of Europe
Some Brokers are hopelous and down right liars!
Thats another story / thread!!

So any information or first hand experience of said Engines wouls be so much appreciated
Thanks in advance
K
 
Kawasaki said:
Cat dont seem to make engines now, is that right?
Do they just rebrand?
Click to expand...
Can't tell you anything first hand about C9s, but the answer to your above questions is yes, in that power node.
And with blocks actually built by FIAT (FPT), believe it or not!
 
Actually, afaik they deliberately decided to focus on the higher displacement/power engines, which they still build and which (I suppose) are more remunerative vs. the investments required for meeting current and future emissions requirements.
That said, back in the days when I used to deal with Outer Reef (which only installed Cat engines, and also C9 specifically, up to 70 feet - no less!), I can't remember to have heard of any major troubles with those engines.
Then again, as I said, zero first hand experience, I'm afraid.
 
The C9 is a CAT and it’s replacement was made by FPT, think the C9 was discontinued around 2010 and the C8.7 replaced it couple of years later.
 
MapisM said:
, I can't remember to have heard of any major troubles with those engines.
Then again, as I said, zero first hand experience, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
Mappy mate thats decent enough feed back
You not remembering hearing of any major troubles mirrors my memory too
Zero first hand experience here too
Delivered and instructed on all sorts of boats over the last 30 years
Cats in some. Some right 'Dogs' in others!
No hands on though with C9's
Again, thanks for the imput
 
Kawasaki said:
Again, thanks for the imput
Click to expand...
U R welcome, K.
Btw, since you mentioned a GB47, another thought that just popped to my mind is that those engines should have had a rather relaxed life, when you think that ORY installed them also on their 70', which is a massively larger and heavier boat...

In this respect, with apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, there is a page on the Cat displays that gives you the total liters (or gallons, depending on setting) burnt by the engine throughout its whole life.
And dividing that number by the number of hours, you get the average hourly fuel burn, which gives a nice idea of how hard the engines used to be pushed.
In principle, I'd expect a GB47 to have been used in a more relaxed way compared to planing boats.
 
CAT life there charge air coolers after loosing a class action in the states for 5 or 7 years .
So check where they are on that cycle ,a throw away part .
They inadvertently outsourced to a supplier who used many dissimilar metals, and the anodes dried out with disastrous results for the owners and themselves in court .

Not sure if the C9 of that year escaped ?
You need to check all this out.

Just google “CAT intercoolers problems “or “class action “
 
There were known common problems with fuel injectors wearing prematurely and these caused both black and white smoke from the exhaust, and didn't leave a fault code in most instances.

On many models of the ACERT they had several dodgy sensors and these masked the original symptoms by creating their own and they require a multi meter test to test their working range or resistance as other sensors tried to compensate and additional fuel was injected to give black smoke and this also indicated injectors when a simple sensor was the problem, and much cheaper to replace.

Other problems were wiring problems and generally these were bad wiring joints at multi plugs being made from crap and corroding and corrupting the signals to the ECU and either slack and improperly supported wiring which moved excessively and rubbed through, or they were too tight and didn't have sufficient slack and were pulled back and out of the multiplugs.

Boost pressure sensors were the worst, followed by airflow sensors.
 
Thanks so far everybody
Just tried to answer PM's etc and post replies on here
Have a problem, either my lap top or broadband thing
Just took ages to get this answer to post
Might need to change the oil and filter
back as soon as
 
'Bump'
Chaps
Sorry to Bump this query up
a Friend is looking to purchase a boat with the C 9 CAT's installed but is worried about the Lumps
His and My researches have revealed some nasties regarding the engine
I must admit most 'snags' seem to be related to the Automotive world/usage
He has spoken to a very good chap from 'Finnings' the 'CAT' people based ' darn sarf'
Who says the problems we have come across during quite intensive research are related to the 'Huhie' (spelling) system that feeds the engine oil to the timing of the ignition and valves etc

He has seen another very similar vessel for sale which has the CUMMINS QSC 8 .3 's installed, which seem to have no problems
'Lakesailor1
Anybody?
Are we being over cautious?
I must admit before this search for a boat
CAT engines I always though bullet proof and one of the best for the Marine enviroment
As usual People
Your thoughts, advice and experiences gratfully received
 
Not really a problem if the correct lubricants and service intervals were observed as most problems in this area arose mainly from using the wrong lubricants and not changing them at the correct schedules, therefore a service history is a vital clue to establishing these.
 
Kawasaki said:
He has seen another very similar vessel for sale which has the CUMMINS QSC 8 .3 's installed, which seem to have no problems
'Lakesailor1
Anybody?........
Click to expand...

Our Cummins guru is Latestarter1...Lakesailor is the dinghy sailer from Windermere.
Sorry can't advise on the Cats. You might be able to flush Latestarter out with a thread heading mentioning Cummins in the title?
 
We had a QSC 8.3 500hp in our Lochin for 8 years, amazing engines, nothing other than regular maintenance and never skipped a beat??
 
AndieMac said:
Our Cummins guru is Latestarter1...Lakesailor is the dinghy sailer from Windermere.
Sorry can't advise on the Cats. You might be able to flush Latestarter out with a thread heading mentioning Cummins in the title?
Click to expand...

Rollocks, I just came in and logged on here because summatt in the back of my mind said to me'Oh No you wrote Lakesailor not Latestarter' Sorry, its an age thing I reckon
:o:o:ambivalence:
 
Assassin said:
Not really a problem if the correct lubricants and service intervals were observed as most problems in this area arose mainly from using the wrong lubricants and not changing them at the correct schedules, therefore a service history is a vital clue to establishing these.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Assasin, snag is the vessel in question at the moment seems to have an 8 year gap in proven service history, which the Vendor seems to have lost temporarily!
 
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