Between Omaha and Des Moines, 7 miles South of I80 | Mitchco - 2/29/2024 17:43 I should have recognized the "Perkapillaroit". The 3116 was used in 1055B pavers. Back in 2000 my counterpart and I spent 2 months of winter repairs on one. This included adjusting the valves and injectors. Our shop owns the tool set. I went through the adjustment procedure 3 times and it still didn't run right. The boss at the time 10 years younger than me at 24, who had 40 years experience tells me he'll have the dealer come show me what I was doing wrong. After the seasoned dealer mechanic and I go through it a 4th time he says I had it as close as it could be. While we worked on it the dealer mechanic told me the 3116 was mixed marriage of Perkins, Caterpillar, and Detroit Diesel, hence perkapillaroit. It still didn't run right. As we stood there scratching our heads the former shop superintendent walked up and asked what's up. We gave him the low down to which he tells us, oh, this is evermans paver, it's got a special fuel system for pushing the pick up machine. So an hour later he gives us a very different set of measurements for setting the injectors. According to the former superintendent when this paver was new it was a constant complaint of low power. Caterpillar engine engineering comes from California. He called California and got us the correct settings. Apparently when more power was needed the engine department came up with a different fuel pump and settings for this paver. With the new settings it ran strong. I would not want to own 1 of these engines. Mitchco
One of the harder things for us to "set properly" WITH Cat's original tooling and instructions in the service manual was "Injector Synchronization".
One of our mechanic's was friends with a CAT truck mechanic, over in Spokane,WA. That mechanic said they cured that problem, buy purchasing a 2nd CAT injection synchronization gauge bracket and bolt (about $85, back then) and borrow a 2nd metric dial indicator and tip, from a 3406B rack kit.
You zero'd out and leave one dial indicator assembly on the #1 injector (no adjust setscrew=its your reference injector), then move the 2nd dial indicator assembly from 2 thru 6 injectors, one at a time; and after you "Zero'd out" that 2nd dial indicator (at the "fuel-OFF" position, for EACH injector) ; you just adjust the tiny setscrew for that particular injector to "match the travel" to the #1 reference injector. I like to have them match at roughly 2.50 mm of rack travel, because those engines tend to idle between 2.30 mm and 2.50 mm . Using two dial indicators, made that procedure soooo much easier, than the CAT service manual.(which only used one dial indicator, had you had to try and adjust 2-6 with a positive .01 to .05 mm . [problem was too much slop, in rack components, and you might be on the negative side and you didn't know it, only using one dial indicator] very easy to screw up, in the early years = engine idle sounded like crap, with incorrect synchronization |
Explain a cat motor to me like am a nine year old
