Cat 3406

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has experience with Caterpillar 3406 Engines ? We have a pair in our vessel, they are massive Engines in size and weight, having a displacement of 14.6 litres. Interested in fuel consumption and any issues that may have surfaced?

Chris D Liberty 2015

Hi Chris

We have 3408's in our boat..yep big engines our are 18ltrs. Same family though.

I have some Cat Marine data sheets on your engines as well but it is a big file about 4 meg if you send me your email by private message I will send it to you.

We have had ours for three years very reliable, they are 97 models. Biggest issue was the massive raw water pumps that are gear driven on the front of the motor bronze impellors were shot and not delivering enough water at low revs burnt out exhaust rubbere a few time untill we figured it out, they were expensive north of 10k! ouch.
We have had issues with the electronic instrments that took some nutting out. Have you got EMS system? Send me a pic of your instruments upper and lower and I will identify them, they can give trouble that I could save you time working out.

Fuel consumption can get up there if you run them hard but you can get good economy under 1500rpm we try to stay 1200 for around 90 liters an hour total at 10 knots. We are 800hp rated. If you run 1100 rpm you can get down to 70 lph.

We owned a 57 Kong and Halvorsen for many years in Sydney it was Barbera Jean now Suzanne she had Cats 3208s in her.

Your boat looks really nice, I dont think I have seen a 57 IG or Kong & Halvorsen in that design before very nice.
Ours is an Horizon 68 currently in Qld but home port Sydney if we ever get her there.
regards
Andrew

I think this pic might work??

Considered an excellent engine. There are a few versions out there and many many hp ratings from around 250hp mechanical injection up to 800hp with electronic unit injection.

Burn rate will depend on how much hp you ask them to produce, but in general the specific consumption is good except right off idle.

Should give good service with normal care and feeding, good maintenance and operation.

What version and rating do you have?

Google has it all . Just enter Caterpillar 3406 specifications and then look at Google images, all of the spec sheets will be there that you can print out. The engines do not know what boat they are in and the fuel curve will be very accurate for different RPMs.
Caterpillar engines in general are very desirable to boat buyers, with good service in most boating destinations.

We have 3406C's in our boat, turbocharged at 580hp. I don't know the fuel burn rate at hull speed because the way I figure it's going to be what it's going to be.


Before I bought the boat I did a lot of checking because I wasn't familiar with the Cats. What I learned was those engines were designed for over the road trucks and were built to go a million miles before needing a major overhaul. We had 1100 hours on the clocks when we bought it and the Cat rep I was talking with said they were barely broken in.


I also learned that they're quieter than some other engines, don't smoke nearly as much, and don't break as often. But if they do break, get out your wallet because they're expensive to repair. That being said, you can get parts for them anywhere in the world.


We love our Cats!

My experience with a pair of Cat 3406s was satisfactory. They are big, heavy engines, as you note, and as GFC said, widely used in OTR tractors. My marinized pair were turbo-ed and aftercooled, rated at (I think) around 400 hp. Easy to maintain w/ good access, clean running in the ER though sooty exhaust. Very reliable, parts widely available (but pricey).

Cat products are not what they used to be, in my opinion, but I'd feel confident running 3406s anywhere.

Hi Chris,
Yours are "B"s aren't they, same as ours. E rating of 540hp at 2100rpm?
No issues with these. Possibly the best Cat ever built. JWAC and JW trans cooler - no raw-water other than the heat-exchanger.

As above, a bit sooty especially when cold. I have found that twice yearly cleaning of the air cleaner - I have a K&N washable- keeps the transom clean.

The 3406C mechanical engine with 535hp at 2100rpm is now back in production. Not for emission conscious territories....
Cheers,
Jeff b

Hi Andrew,

I like your new vessel, there would be plenty of room.

I know the owner of your old K and H, his Name is Andrew also, it is now called Lady Eve and is kept at the Bobbin Head. It has had a fairly big refit and the Engines were overhauled last year. It mainly cruises the Pittwater area, with the odd trip to Sydney Harbour.
I have all the manuals etc and know a fair bit about the engines , was just fishing to see what others had experienced with them. We just finished a 2,500 nautical mile cruise from Sydney down to Hobart , circumnavigated Tassie and returned to Sydney, the Engines did not faulter during the trip, only issue was a starter motor went on the port motor, and we did a seal in the mech water pumps that created a drip whilst running, other than that all good. We averaged 38 litres an hour for the entire trip and average speed was 9.1 knots, we ran between 1000 rpm and 1200 depending on sea conditions.
Got to say I am very pleased with the Engines.

Cheers Chris D

Hi Jeff,

good tot hear from you and good to see your 3406b are going well. We just serviced ours and replaced the seals / rebuilt both Mech water pumps, also we have just had the engines repainted, so looking nice, just need to go thru the rest of the engine room bit by bit.

Cheers Chris D Liberty

thanks Bliss Boat,

another vote of confidence. I find they are little sooty when first started , but when up to temp are clean burning.

Right Chris

I just found Lady Eve on line it is definetly our old boat, a few boats back, I think it has had a few owners since we sadly sold her a few years ago, maybe 10 actually. I was sure it was named Suzanne at one stage when I saw here back on the market fairly recently but maybe thats a sistership.
She has had alot of money spent on her since our period and is lookin good!

Yes down around 1000 rpms you can get some amazing economy out of them. What concerns me is that they say that you should give them a 75% load run for a while every few hours to do them good.

Do you do that?

Andrew,

Lady Eeve was named Suzanne prior to the current owner, and yes quite a bit has been spent on her.

Yes I give Liberty a run to clean the cob webs out on each run.