Cat 3196

[sunsetacres1318]

Can someone please give me some info on the Cat 3196 engines? I know most Cats are great motors, but want more details on the 3196. Thanks!

[Captain Ralph]

You either luv them or hate them.
Tough old beast. I luved them.
Years ago, I serviced them and corrected hang on stuff, Never got inside one.
I thought they were pretty strong in some ole boats.
Huckins installed them with a remote TD514 & V drive.

Sorry I have lost all of my PDF documentation on them.

If your boat shopping; I would not consider these engines to be a long term investment.

If your boat shopping; Visit a local Cat shop and get a feeling how the support and parts availability is on them,, I fear getting thin.

[jim rosenthal]

According to a friend who has had a very successful diesel repair and repower shop in CA, the in-line sixes Cat made in that era- 3116, 3126, 3176, 3196- all had higher than average mortality and problems. He said that sometimes he would encounter engines of those kinds which were fine. He felt that overall they were far less reliable than other makes. My own experience was with 3116s. I thought they were terrible.

A broker would probably tell you, if they didn't have a dog in the hunt, that they reduced the value of a boat and made it harder to sell.

[captcrunch]

Popular engine in the mid 90s and up 48 oceans. From what I have heard from a few people parts are difficult to come by for them when it’s not general maintenance items.

[Cricket]

Yes 3116's were junk.
We installed a new pair of 3406E's in 2001 which now have 5000 hours, pretty similar to 3196, which have been pretty bullet proof other than regular maintenance stuff.
Most of the issues for the inline 6 cylinder CAT engines have been related to the after coolers which have been upgraded/improved over the years.
If you stick to CAT's maintenance schedule and replacement, especially for the seawater cooling side, things should run pretty smoothly.
As far as parts availability I've never really heard of any issues regarding older engines other than related to "covid" delays.

[Captain Ralph]

Yes 3116's were junk.
We installed a new pair of 3406E's in 2001 which now have 5000 hours

For boat power, I am a 3406 luver for sure. There is no comparison to the 31s.
I wish I could put a pair in my boat.

I'm sure we all know to stay away from the 3116.
The 3126 was to be the fix for it and just barely floated above a positive level but it was a better engine.
I feel the 3196 is the older (much) of that line and if maintained well, was a good engine.

As Jim mentioned, some engines, even the 3116 are out there and running fine. The luck of a good Wednesday casting may have helped.

The Cat CACs (after-coolers) are a problem of Cat all across their engine lines.

[cww]

The 3196's are the exception to the 31xx series curse, they're good engines. The 16's, 26's, and 76's are garbage. My dad had a sea ray with 3116's in it that had 2 engine replacements by the time he managed to unload it. Cat initially tried to blame it on him. He is a lawyer who does civil litigation. He was pissed, he told the rep I do this for a living it's free to me, let's see how this works out for you, and the guy was like do what you gotta do. So he did. The only reason I tell the story is that you actually had to be a lawyer to get CAT to honor the warranty claim back when all these problems first came to light. Once it was happening to 2/3 of them, they couldn't hide anymore. They ended up replacing his engine, and the second time did it again with 1 phone call.

Anyway, unlike the other 3, the 96 is more than just a bigger bore and has way more in common with their larger engines than the other 3 do. I wouldn't mind a 96. I would run from the others. A common problem for all members of the series are design defects in the aftercoolers which results in the engines ingesting saltwater until they're ruined without warning. CAT is on their 3rd or 4th revision to the aftercoolers with superseded part numbers, and they've still never figured out the problem. A brand new aftercooler will do it in +/- 5-10 years. Any decent mechanic will tell you to treat the aftercooler replacement as a maintenance item. Which at $10k a side every few years is a little rich for my blood.

Edited to add: If you're used to detroits, holy $h!t you need to sit down and ponder the difference in parts prices between CAT and detroit, or CAT and any other engine manufacturer for that matter, before buying. Their parts prices are nuts.

[Avenger]

Caterpillar. Turning cast iron into gold by painting it yellow since 1925.

[Retired1]

Caterpillar. Turning cast iron into gold by painting it yellow since 1925.

That’s a good one.

[Cricket]

The CAT parts are a deal compared to MTU and MAN prices.