Cat 3306

[LeoKa]

Anyone owns/knows CAT 3306 200 HP engines? I am in Seattle.

 

[Delfin]

Anyone owns/knows CAT 3306 200 HP engines? I am in Seattle.

Why do you ask? I have a C rated 3306.

 

[LeoKa]

I am new to it. I want to learn. Well, I am new to the whole boating, but I wish to put the 3306 into a good shape. Oil/coolant changes, for starters.

 

[FF]

"I want to learn. Well, I am new to the whole boating, but I wish to put the 3306 into a good shape."

Go to the local CAT engine dealer and order "Da Book" the specific engine repair manual.

Should run about $100 or so and will have ALL the info required to PM, repair or bring back an engine.

Sometimes Da Book is engine number specific , so have the serial number, just in case.

 

[River Cruiser]

I worked on a lot of Cat 3306 engines in equipment. They were pretty bulletproof if properly maintained. A problem I saw more than once was dropping a valve, this in almost all case was the rear engine on scrapers. IMO this was due to almost always running at wot, overheating because of plant debris blocking airflow through the radiator cores. The rear engine only had a buzzer at alert the operator to high temps or low oil pressure and the operator couldn’t hear or feel anything unusual and if the buzzer failed you ended up with a catastrophic failure. Get the manual as suggested, keep the maintenance up to date and operate in a prudent manner and it should serve you well for years to come.

 

[Delfin]

I worked on a lot of Cat 3306 engines in equipment. They were pretty bulletproof if properly maintained. A problem I saw more than once was dropping a valve, this in almost all case was the rear engine on scrapers. IMO this was due to almost always running at wot, overheating because of plant debris blocking airflow through the radiator cores. The rear engine only had a buzzer at alert the operator to high temps or low oil pressure and the operator couldn’t hear or feel anything unusual and if the buzzer failed you ended up with a catastrophic failure. Get the manual as suggested, keep the maintenance up to date and operate in a prudent manner and it should serve you well for years to come.

I was fortunate to meet one of the design engineers of the 3306. He told me that the engine was developed for the North Slope oil pipeline project and was intended to be able to run 24 x 7 in very cold temperatures. If run at modest RPMs, his opinion was that this was a 50,000 to 75,000 hour engine when properly maintained. I love mine.