Caterpillar 3116 185HP

[Ncostello]

I found a nice 1996 Chevy Kodiak ambulance for my vol fire department. It only has 25000 miles on it and has been kept in excellent condition. Has the Allison AT545 4speed auto too.



Anyway, the engine is a Cat 3116 185 HP version. The chief of this department (10 hours away from me) told me he's pretty sure its not turbo charged. I found this a little hard to believe for a 96 Cat on-road engine. I believe 96 was when they went to electronic controls and those HEUI injectors. So I cant see why they would do all that and not install a turbo.



I called an all Cat truck engine center and the service manager didn't know it they came without turbos or not. Kinda makes me wonder about him too. He said he would need the serial number to tell for sure. The Cat website doesn't really give any good info on the details of older 3116 engines.



Anyone know if they offered this engine w/o a turbo. At only 185 HP and a gross of 19000lbs... that thing would be kinda sluggish which isn't good for some of the hills we have to pull around here.

 

[24VChev]

3116

It will have a turbo on it, Cat does not make a 3116 with out it. It will most likely have an inter-cooler on it also. I have worked on the 3116 quite a bit. The only real issues they have can be the injector seats and tubes. I have seen combustion enter the fuel system when the seat fails and if the injector tube fails it fills the cooling system with diesel.





The fuel system is a bit of a pain to work on. If you remove #1 injector you have to reset all six. All injectors are set using #1 as a reference point. The fuel is easy to turn up but the usual warnings apply.





Hope that helps you







Malcolm

 

[csevers]

I'll 2nd the pain to work on over head

We just finished a valve/injector/head job on a 3116 at work and I set the rack and injectors it is a BIG pain, after all the work it starts and idles fine but almost no throttle recheck all adjustment and they were right. We only have the basic tune up tool kit so we sent it to a Boat Anker Dealer( GM) and they did some testing and came up with a bad gov, this truck has been very expensive to keep running it has 140k some miles on truck and got a reman in it when it eat intake valve and injector on #1 and when I started to pull it down I found one other valve spring and injector spring broken. I am not a big fan of 3116's we have never had a lot of good luck with them, the 3126's are much better in a lot of ways. I wish you the best of luck with yours.



Craig

 

[Ncostello]

Well... they called me today and said it sold to a department in Georgia before I even got a chance to look at it and put a deposit to hold it. Oh well. I really dont like how small the Kodiak cabs are anyway. Too small when your wearing a fire helmet and coat. Your head always keeps hitting the roof just as in a Chevy pickup cab. And its not fun to ride three across.



I'm going to try and find a FL-50 B-Series 5. 9 truck or a International DT466 equipped lo-pro ambulance. Lots more room in the cab. Plus I kinda like ISB's anyway .



I've already told the department that T444 Internationals are out of the question.

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Craig,



Gee... maybe GM has something to do with you not liking the 3116. Makes me wonder what they did with it.



Info for you guys out there... . the CAT 3116 and 3126 are identical-- the same engine. The 3116 is reserved for GM's exclusive use and CAT wasn't goin to lose other business over that so they just came up with the 3126 and sold engines that way.



Thats why you wont find a 3116 OEM engine in anything but a GM product. Everyone else has 3126 OEM engines.

 

[RichMorris]

Cat 3116 with Allison at 545

You may want to check with Allison also. I believe that transmission does not lock up its torque converter and depending on your intended use (heavy towing ??) you may end up overheating it.

 

[nickleinonen]

Originally posted by EMD Diesel Power

Craig,



Gee... maybe GM has something to do with you not liking the 3116. Makes me wonder what they did with it.



Info for you guys out there... . the CAT 3116 and 3126 are identical-- the same engine. The 3116 is reserved for GM's exclusive use and CAT wasn't goin to lose other business over that so they just came up with the 3126 and sold engines that way.



Thats why you wont find a 3116 OEM engine in anything but a GM product. Everyone else has 3126 OEM engines.

the 3116 is a 6. 6 liter engine, while the 3126 is a 7. 2 liter engine



PDF links to cat's engine spec sheets...



3116 - http://www.cat.com/products/engines..._sheet_library/truck_engines/pdf/leht4193.pdf



3126 - http://www.cat.com/products/engines..._sheet_library/truck_engines/pdf/leht8184.pdf

 

[EMD Diesel Power]

Well heck, you learn something new everyday.



That info I posted came from my instructors in school--so that info was 5 years old.



But I did notice one thing when I was checking out the spec sheets, the 3116 is no longer a current engine. Maybe I was right once, and CAT did finally come out with a "new" 3126" for emissions. who knows.

 

[24VChev]

Kitty Power

The 3116 has been used in Cat's line of heavy equipment since the engine was introduced back around 1990. It is used in wheel loaders, boats and excavators. The 3116 was mainly used in top kick trucks only for on highway truck applications. The 3126 was introduced as an electronic engine. 3126 is now offered in some meduim duty on highway trucks (other than GM) and Cats general line of equipment. The "3" is third sieries the "12" is 1. 2 liters per cylinder and the "6" is for a six cylinder engine. There is such a creature as a 3114.







Malcolm

 

[Ncostello]

Is that Cat nomenclature something they recently started using? Otherwise that means the old 3208 in our reserve pumper is 16L. Sure dont run like a 16L should.



Actually we wont be towing with this truck. Strictly hauling a payload of about 4000 lbs max.

 

[HillCountrykid]

That does'nt always work for Cat engines. The 3406C (the 425 hp model is the 425 Cat) and some of the 3406E's are 14. 6 liter and some 3406E's are 15. 8 liter. They should both be 20 liter with that system. I do know that the last number designates the number of cylinders though.



Brian

 

[24VChev]

numbers

Yes that only applies to the 3116-3126. The new designation is now C-9, C-10, C-12, C-15. No more 3406, 3196, 3176, 3126 or 3116 series.





Some say thay built the 3116 to make the 3208 look great!







Sorry for the confusion.







Malcolm

 

[csevers]

Well they did a great job

It is way better than the 32O8 but still sucks in my O P, so ya know what I think of the 32O8!! I really like the 3406 it was king at the time, I was not impressed with the PT fuel system Cummins had even tho it ran very well for a long time but I liked to be able to dial up the hand throttle to 1501. 5 rpms and have it stay there with the CAT, not the up and down rpm of the 855.



Craig

 

[Ncostello]

I wont argue that the 3208 isn't all that great. But ours is spotless, doesn't leak, doesn't use a drop of oil between changes, and runs perfectly. Its quiet and actually moves our firetruck down the road quite nicely. Its non-turbo 210HP. It will sit there and pump away all day long and not complain one bit.



Its not my first choice in engines for this application but ours seems to do well for what it is.