Mainship 390 with cat 3126

Getting to the end of my Mainship390 search. If you had a choice both single engine. Would you buy a 2002 with a Cat 3126 single diesel or a 2003 with a Yanmar 6lya. Both have about the same amount of hours.
Thankyou Steve

Cat

Cat...have the local CAT distributer come check it out or see what you can get over the phone...run the arrangement number and see what if any issues/past work etc...

Yanmar!

Cat

Cat

Kitty Cat

I am prejudiced because I own a Yanmar 6LY in a Mainship Pilot 34. The Yanmar is a solid engine. But from what I have read, so is the Cat 3126. So I would look at the specifics of the boat and engine to make my selection.


David

Cat. I have seen how they perform in earthmoving equipment for 40 years. Best parts network on earth.

I will be honest. The crap that happened to the 3116 has soured me from small 6 cylinder Cats. I am sure the 3126 is a fine engine. The 6LY is an excellent engine as well. I have had nothing but great experiences with Yanmar so that is why I lean that way.

slowandsteady said:

Cat. I have seen how they perform in earthmoving equipment for 40 years. Best parts network on earth.

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I interact with the CAT service technicians quarterly and have nothing but good to report.

Baker said:

I will be honest. The crap that happened to the 3116 has soured me from small 6 cylinder Cats. I am sure the 3126 is a fine engine. The 6LY is an excellent engine as well. I have had nothing but great experiences with Yanmar so that is why I lean that way.

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The 3116 Cats they put in the 350/390's were all good. Ours is a 1997, 2050 hours to date with absolutely no issues. Run them at 2000 rpm or less and they will go forever. Most of the issues you read about were from the ones installed in large Sea Rays which were mostly over propped and owned by users that ran them hard.

From what I understand, all the bad 3116's crapped out before 500 hours and Cat stood behind them and made everyone whole. I currently run a 3116 in a 55,000LB excavator. 1,000's of hours run hard, no problem.

my experiences with 3116s were all about manufacturing issues...block problems, etc....not how they were run.


That's why Cat worked it all out and why I posted earlier check with a Cat dealership as they can run the history of the engine.

Magic has twin 3116's with 4,000 hours and not a single hiccup. Reliable and economical. My buddy in construction has several 3116's in his heavy equipment and thinks they are great engines.

i have a Yanmar in mine with 700 + hours. never had an issue.
John

The Cat would be my choice but make sure the exhaust system has been fixed. Mainship did a bad install on those and water can back up into the engine because the riser is too low.

Applies the the 3126 only

We have cats in a good part of our heavy equipment and they're just bullet proof.

Not intending to hijack this thread but I am curious about what oil you cat 3116 owners use. I understand the straight 30 weight requirement, but some say only cat Saeo and others say rotella t1 is fine.

Two friends had 3126s and both ran them hard for ten years with no problems after Cat did the initial fixes

Having no experience with the Yanmar, however over 1,000,000 miles behind a Cat in an over the road truck, I would overwhelmingly go for the Kitty Cat. Never a problem with the engine in 1.3 million miles outside of replacing 1 lift pump and 1 injector.

I use Cat SAEO exclusively.

ricktara said:

Not intending to hijack this thread but I am curious about what oil you cat 3116 owners use. I understand the straight 30 weight requirement, but some say only cat Saeo and others say rotella t1 is fine.

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We run Rotella T1 straight 30.

Both will give you great service and support.

Cat 3126 Oil

Rotella 30wt works well in my 3126s.

bstew said:

Rotella 30wt works well in my 3126s.

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I'd look in the manual and see if that is the best choice. I would think a multi weight might be a better choice, especially in Canada, but look in the manual.

Cat specifically warns against using multi-grade in both the 3116 and 3126 as the blowby from the multi-vis can lead to aftercooler fouling. Our 1997 manual does specify the use of 15w-40, which we used for some years. They changed the specs somewhere around 2000 or so.

Awesome!!! Good info and thanks for the correction!!

I apologize too for the hijack of this thread. Use the CAT Saeo and save the few dollars elsewhere. Industry specs change.
Our Local CAT Distributor, Foley, is not cheap. But they are competent and honest.

Our 3116s get fed SAEO only. Over 4K hours and not so much as a hiccup.