# CAT 3116 Engine?? Has anyone had much experience or have any opinions on this motor?



## Greenstar

Has anyone had much experience with this motor?
I have found a nice looking bucket truck, with an Allison Automatic transmission, and Cat 3116 in it, but I just dont want a headaches engine!! Or something that might just die prematurely, or without warning or good reason. I want a drivetrain that will last (with proper maintenance).

Thanks,
Anyone with knowledge or experience please let me know.. Thanks.


----------



## Mowingman

I have a 1993 Kodiak, with the Cat 3116 engine in it. I bought the truck about 6 months ago to haul my tandem dual, gooseneck trailers loaded with firewood. I have a 10 speed trans. The engine is really strong and pulls the heavily loaded trailers easily, even up long hills. I never have had to shift out of 10th on the steep hills. I am grossing about 35000, including truck, trailer, and load. My truck has about 285,000 miles on it.
I had the same question about the engine, and called a retired Cat engine mechanic for answers. In fact, the guy I talked to was a training instructor at the Cat truck engine school for Cat mechanics.
He said it is a good little engine, and will last a long time, if it has been properly maintained. Any chance you can get maint. records for that truck? If it was a fleet truck, it probably got regular maint. My truck was used for hotshot hauling, so I am kind of taking a chance on it's condition. so far, so good. I really am surprised by the power of the 3116 though. Way better than I expected.
Jeff


----------



## TRISTATEFORESTRYEQUIPMENT

just google caterpillar 3116 problems and youll see what info you need to know, its know as the engine to avoid , in my field there known as throw away engines cause there to expensive to fix. ask any diesel mechanic with some sort of brain and they will tell you.


----------



## Mowingman

The Cat 3208 was also known as an engine to avoid, and a throwaway. However, there are tens of thousands of them out there, still working hard every day. As my friend, the Cat engine repair instructor said, " Any engine can be an engine to avoid, if it has not been properly maintained".
It is true that the life of a 3116 can be greatly shortened by improper maint. It may be more sensitive to that, then other engines that can take more abuse and keep going.
However, I would not write it off, if you can determine what type of care it has received to date. Better yet, have a mechanic you trust, go over it with a fine tooth comb.
Jeff


----------



## epicklein22

We have a 1992 Kodiak with a 3116 in it at my work (chip truck). It has 154k and has a smoking issue. The diesel fuel is black, so oil is getting in somewhere. Not a bad motor overall. Maintenance is easy to do and the power is good. I like this motor better than the 3126 we have in another chip truck. More low end grunt.

Lots of 3126 engine problems out there, head gaskets are common. Seems to me I see a lot of problems around 100k. 

I agree with Mowingman, maintenance is the number one thing and should help avoid most issues.


----------



## Greenstar

Anyone else with any other thoughts?


----------



## Greenstar

jo6wo said:


> just google caterpillar 3116 problems and youll see what info you need to know, its know as the engine to avoid , in my field there known as throw away engines cause there to expensive to fix. ask any diesel mechanic with some sort of brain and they will tell you.



Jo, so are you saying that you never even buy & sell trucks with a caterpillar in them?


----------



## treeclimber101

Yo I need that f350 body back I will buy it , and come get it is it still laying In the yard


----------



## TRISTATEFORESTRYEQUIPMENT

Greenstar said:


> Jo, so are you saying that you never even buy & sell trucks with a caterpillar in them?



never said im not a fan of caterpillar, i LOVE cat engines. but the 3116 is one i steer away from unless the deal is to good to pass up. lol, same with the vt365 international 6.0 engine. all companies have there complete failures and the 3116 is cats and the vt365 was internationals


----------



## Greenstar

its a pretty good deal. The guy says he changes his oil and fuel filters 3 TIMES per year!! and has NEVER had any problems with the engine in 8 YEARS of owning the truck!! It was a new factory remanned engine when he got it, so it probably doesnt have any of the defective engine components which caused some of the original 3116's to fail prematurely.. i would guess


It seems to run fine, no smoking or blow-by
maybe a little doggish.. but moves down the road


I do wonder what that will be like with a full load of chips and chipper behind it though


----------



## TRISTATEFORESTRYEQUIPMENT

Greenstar said:


> its a pretty good deal. The guy says he changes his oil and fuel filters 3 TIMES per year!! and has NEVER had any problems with the engine in 8 YEARS of owning the truck!! It was a new factory remanned engine when he got it, so it probably doesnt have any of the defective engine components which caused some of the original 3116's to fail prematurely.. i would guess
> 
> 
> It seems to run fine, no smoking or blow-by
> maybe a little doggish.. but moves down the road
> 
> 
> I do wonder what that will be like with a full load of chips and chipper behind it though



i got 2 95 f800's 60 foot altec booms with pistol grip controls. cummins turbo diesel. 50 k miles. looking for 18,000 each, 484 905 2292 joe


----------



## deerehunter

We have a 98 c6500 at work with a 3116 that has been trouble free fro 135000 miles. Plenty of power for what we do and no repairs at all in that time.


----------



## rancher2

A few years back we were looking for a 60-65 ft bucket truck for private use on our farms. We found a lot of gm products with bad 3116 cat motors in them with 100,000 to 200,000 miles on them and it cost way too much money to fix them and a good used motor was hard to find. We bought a nice 95 with a altec bucket with a bad engine cut the front of the truck off and made a fifth wheel trailer out of it and put a pony motor on the box to run the bucket. It works perfect for our use. If I were you I will stay away from gm with 3116 motors and look a fords with the cummins in them. The 5.9 or 8.3 cummins is hard to beat.


----------



## Mowingman

A little update on my kodiak with the 3116 engine.
Made another run for firewood today. It was a 300 mile round trip. Added the fuel data to my records and came up with an average MPG for my last 4 loads of wood. I am getting 8.5MPG, and, have recorded an average GVW of 32,000 lbs/load. Driving in hilly terrain, and running mostly at about 65 mph.
I am inpressed with the performance of this engine so far.
I was also wrong about the mileage in my previous posting. It has just under 300,00 original miles on it.
Jeff


----------



## Rico

I own a '91 Cat 3116 marine engine. I've had her since '96. Never had a problem. Sometime after I bought it, Cat came and said we are replacing the block under warranty. The original blocks were defective. I now have 9700 hours on the engine and with regular maintenance and oil/filter changes she has purred. Never a problem. The original blocks, I believe built in France, were a problem, but the replacement blocks are fine.


----------



## HappyTreesLLC

Any Cat 3116, 3126 or C7 are good engines. When you have hundreds of thousands engines on market you always will find hundreds of people who complain about. Most of problems are due to misuse or poor maintenance. Cat do not like to be idle. This is why not good for bucket trucks driven by PTO. Cat engines are design to run for 350-500,000 miles if maintained correctly.


----------

