Cat 6cyl diesel 210 hp 2005
- Thread starter Woody5
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CharlieO.
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If this is a pre purchase inspection, you’re not disassembling my engine.
Comodave
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Get a mechanic from a Cat dealer and have them do an engine survey. They will not use wrenches for any dissembling of the engine. They will chech max RPM, oil test and a visual inspection. No wrenching allowed in usual surveys.
C lectric
Guru
List would encompass :
--Absolute dead cold engine startup. If run the day before thenthat should raise a question, at least to me. Many large, heavy engines will not be cold the next day and even though many of our engines are not huge they are far larger and heavier than most auto engines and may not cool completely overnight.
---Smart startup with a minimum of cranking. If all is well then a good engine will fire within seconds of starting to crank. If a lot of cranking is needed then there may be a problem. It may not be the engine but without some investigation you won't know.
---Watching for excessive smoking at startup.
---Watching for smoking which is common for older engines but for it to abate mostly within a few minutes of idling.
This particular item can be a ??? as some engines, untill they have a load on them will not warm up readily, so will continue to smoke. But once underway, under a load, the smoking should virtually disappear in a few minutes at a some what more than idle speed.
--- how does it run once started? Smoothly settling quickly to idle or is it lumpy?
---Appearances/visual inspection. It should appear to be reasonably maintained. If it is a rust bucket then I would call it questionable unless YOU are a mechanic.
Bit of rust on older engines is not out of the question. Paint will flake off exposing metal on older engines like this and mine (1976 & 7,000hrs)
--- Hoses and wiring in apparently good condition and secure..
---bilge awash or not? Doesn't have to be dry but gallons of oily bilge
water washing the engine oil pan and gearbox may be trouble. Should not be much water.
--- oil pressure compared to specs??
---Rpm max using a handheld digital phototach. Dash tachs are notoriously off sometime by quite a bit. THe photo tach can be gotten from Ebay or Amazon for about $20 to $30 and are accurate to +/- 2 rpm.
--- look for any signs of a high water line which could indicate some flooding.
--- oil tests for both engine oil AND gearbox oil should be taken and sent to a lab.
--- test run once fully warmed to proper operating temp. Check that the temp is good and stable. Then run at full throttle to see if the engine can make it to RATED rpms. Your mechanic should know what that is [find it] and use the phototach to check both the dash tach accuracy AND whether or not the engine can reach its rated revs. This is important. This should only take a short time at top revs.
---run the engine if the owner will allow at close to those revs to double check that the temp. does not show signs of overheating.
THis is not in any great order so your mechanic should know what to do when.
I am sure I have missed something but others should, and have, chimed in.
AND NO, I doubt any owner will let you start taking things apart untill some kind of agreement is reached. Unfortunately diesels are very different from car gas engines and compression test and the like can be highly invasive and actually can cause troubles.
THere are other tests and techniques to test for excessive blowby so talk to your mechanic.
--Absolute dead cold engine startup. If run the day before thenthat should raise a question, at least to me. Many large, heavy engines will not be cold the next day and even though many of our engines are not huge they are far larger and heavier than most auto engines and may not cool completely overnight.
---Smart startup with a minimum of cranking. If all is well then a good engine will fire within seconds of starting to crank. If a lot of cranking is needed then there may be a problem. It may not be the engine but without some investigation you won't know.
---Watching for excessive smoking at startup.
---Watching for smoking which is common for older engines but for it to abate mostly within a few minutes of idling.
This particular item can be a ??? as some engines, untill they have a load on them will not warm up readily, so will continue to smoke. But once underway, under a load, the smoking should virtually disappear in a few minutes at a some what more than idle speed.
--- how does it run once started? Smoothly settling quickly to idle or is it lumpy?
---Appearances/visual inspection. It should appear to be reasonably maintained. If it is a rust bucket then I would call it questionable unless YOU are a mechanic.
Bit of rust on older engines is not out of the question. Paint will flake off exposing metal on older engines like this and mine (1976 & 7,000hrs)
--- Hoses and wiring in apparently good condition and secure..
---bilge awash or not? Doesn't have to be dry but gallons of oily bilge
water washing the engine oil pan and gearbox may be trouble. Should not be much water.
--- oil pressure compared to specs??
---Rpm max using a handheld digital phototach. Dash tachs are notoriously off sometime by quite a bit. THe photo tach can be gotten from Ebay or Amazon for about $20 to $30 and are accurate to +/- 2 rpm.
--- look for any signs of a high water line which could indicate some flooding.
--- oil tests for both engine oil AND gearbox oil should be taken and sent to a lab.
--- test run once fully warmed to proper operating temp. Check that the temp is good and stable. Then run at full throttle to see if the engine can make it to RATED rpms. Your mechanic should know what that is [find it] and use the phototach to check both the dash tach accuracy AND whether or not the engine can reach its rated revs. This is important. This should only take a short time at top revs.
---run the engine if the owner will allow at close to those revs to double check that the temp. does not show signs of overheating.
THis is not in any great order so your mechanic should know what to do when.
I am sure I have missed something but others should, and have, chimed in.
AND NO, I doubt any owner will let you start taking things apart untill some kind of agreement is reached. Unfortunately diesels are very different from car gas engines and compression test and the like can be highly invasive and actually can cause troubles.
THere are other tests and techniques to test for excessive blowby so talk to your mechanic.
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