School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
 All Forums
 Professional Garage
 Enter Forum: Professional Garage
 3126 Cat engine- repair or replace
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Previous Page
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic
Page: of 2

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 03/02/2011 :  7:57:30 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 08 Thomas EF

bwest, the TC had a 5.9. I only mentioned that because of Matt saying he couldn't see a 5.9 getting up to an 8.3's 320k miles. I'm sorry to hijack your thread!



It doesn't bother me. I don't really call this mine anyway I would rather call it a learning experience that I can share with everyone (to the extent that I can) so we can all be better for it.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

Thomasbus24
Administrator

USA
4544 Posts

Posted - 03/03/2011 :  01:52:09 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Man I hope this all pans out okay for you. Certainly going to be great to get away with that relavitely low price!
Go to Top of Page

Fastback
Top Member

1500 Posts

Posted - 03/03/2011 :  05:44:25 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I hope it all works out for ya bwest.

Why yes, the ORIGinal CHARGER is a Fastback
Go to Top of Page

Tatum
Top Member

United States
606 Posts

Posted - 03/03/2011 :  09:43:32 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 08 Thomas EF

bwest, the TC had a 5.9. I only mentioned that because of Matt saying he couldn't see a 5.9 getting up to an 8.3's 320k miles. I'm sorry to hijack your thread!



The 5.9L Cummins generally isn't a tough engine, but with constant maintenance (keep a good water pump, good hoses, clean the radiator, keep fresh coolant in the engine, etc.) you should be able to get at least 360,000 miles off of it. However, I've also heard of 5.9L's crapping out even before they reach 100,000 miles.

Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2011 :  11:53:13 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Well, we have decided to pull the engine and fix it. I'll post what I find & what happends.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

Tatum
Top Member

United States
606 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2011 :  6:11:13 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
^Good luck! :)
Go to Top of Page

basher125
New Member

1 Posts

Posted - 03/16/2011 :  08:26:14 AM  Show Profile  Visit basher125's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by tigger2

We have a lot of the cat 3126e and c7 engines in our fleet we started getting the cats with 10 yr major engine warranty. Have had 4 engines rebuilt so far all are scoring #'s 3&4 or 4&5 , to repair block has to come out and be bored and sleeved. Broken rings are always the start of the problem. Oil consumption goes up as does blowby sometimes a miss but not always.



Sorry Off topic, tigger2, i need your help regarding an earlier post of yours regarding the check balls in a DT466e.I have a problem with my 99 Intl.4700.Can you pm me, will compensate you for your time . Thank you.
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2011 :  11:16:52 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Engine was pulled the last week of March and sent to the machine shop. They found two broken rings on number 2 piston. Also they found the idler gear for the oil pump had the bushing eat out pretty bad.

The machinest said he has seen this before and that the ring groves must have been made a little wrong & caused this to happen. Anyway that it happend it looks like we will be ok. They bored out the #2 cylinder and put in a sleeve. New piston was ordered and new rod & main bearings installed. I hope to have it back on my truck going to be put back in this weekend.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 05/17/2011 :  2:34:48 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Got it on the road today! Just had the driver radio in and say he knows why I went to the trouble of repairing the engine. This bus has 135,000 miles on it and it barely has a squeek.

This ended up costing us $2050 parts and labor to repair the engine not counting the labor for me to take it out and put it back in.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

Thomasbus24
Administrator

USA
4544 Posts

Posted - 05/17/2011 :  2:40:58 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
AWSOME!!!!! Yeah, they were good buses weren't they?
Go to Top of Page

08 Thomas EF
Top Member

533 Posts

Posted - 05/17/2011 :  4:48:08 PM  Show Profile  Visit 08 Thomas EF's Homepage  Reply with Quote
What kind of bus is this? 'Bird/Chevy?

Glad to hear it ended up working out. Hopefully it'll last a while. It's great that you managed to save an otherwise good bus by fixing that engine. I'm a fan of squeezing as much life out of things as possible.
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 05/17/2011 :  7:13:44 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 08 Thomas EF

What kind of bus is this? 'Bird/Chevy?

Glad to hear it ended up working out. Hopefully it'll last a while. It's great that you managed to save an otherwise good bus by fixing that engine. I'm a fan of squeezing as much life out of things as possible.



It's a Chevy/ BB

I am more than "a fan of squeezing as much life out of things as possible". I probably do it to a fault! Comes from growing up on a farm and working for the district that I graduated from and wanting it to succeed I guess.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

CISDbusman
Advanced Member

305 Posts

Posted - 04/10/2013 :  3:00:18 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Reviving an older thread.

Anyone had any 3126 engine work done lately? I am in about the same boat as Bwest was at the start of this thread. My only 3126 has a weak cylinder and needs repairing.

My Supt wants me to get qoutes for a reman,overhaul and used complete. I want to do the engine work in house but he thinks I am to far behind to get it accomplished in a timely manner.

Looks like from this thread and adding inflation a overhaul from CAT will be in the ballpark of 10,500 and most likely 8500 for a CAT reman. The warranty with the Cat stuff is a year, which relates to only about 10K miles the bus would be driven for that year of warranty. Cat used to warranty a bus/firetruck engine for 150k miles with no age limitation.

Used engines seem to go for 3500.00 to 4500.00 with 180 day warranty. Same warranty as the CAT basically as we only go to school for 185 days.

I figure I can do all the work for 3 to 4k and I will be here tomorrow should it need any attention down the road.

Has anyone had a 3126 overhauled since this thread died?

Thanks all!!
Go to Top of Page

CanUC2
New Member

4 Posts

Posted - 04/10/2013 :  5:16:44 PM  Show Profile  Visit CanUC2's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I have rebuilt 6 of them. Everyone of them had a cracked ring (175k miles). Tear it down, Mark placement of parts, clean and mic out the clys with a bore gauge. If ok, dingleberry the cyls, lap in the valves, clean then clean it again. Install a re-ring kit ($1200) and you are good. You will need a BIG torque wrench... :) Good luck...
Go to Top of Page

Mechan1c
Top Member

USA
853 Posts

Posted - 04/10/2013 :  5:29:43 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I've done a couple recently:

$10855 long block, with a reman turbo, waterpump, and all the gingerbread; parts only...1WM S/N.

Add $2000 CAT shop labor to R&R in a Thomas pusher.

I dropped a #3 intake valve, roached the injector, the head, the piston, and the turbo on parts exit, and went with just a honed cylinder repair on that one, and it cost $8K with labor...8YL S/N. It's holding together and runs nice.

All CAT parts.
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 04/11/2013 :  04:31:52 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If it helps you, I have about 15k miles on this engine and it's still running strong.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

CISDbusman
Advanced Member

305 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2013 :  04:57:05 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by CanUC2

I have rebuilt 6 of them. Everyone of them had a cracked ring (175k miles). Tear it down, Mark placement of parts, clean and mic out the clys with a bore gauge. If ok, dingleberry the cyls, lap in the valves, clean then clean it again. Install a re-ring kit ($1200) and you are good. You will need a BIG torque wrench... :) Good luck...



This is exactly what I want to do to the bus/engine. I don't feel it is hurt bad enough to have to be pulled all the way down and have a full machining performed. Bus only has 130k (iirc) and will be route only when repaired.

Thanks for the info everyone!!!
Go to Top of Page

RBrian
Senior Member

United States
71 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2013 :  09:17:28 AM  Show Profile  Visit RBrian's Homepage  Reply with Quote
We've done three in-frames (the same way as CanUC2) this school year. All of them had around 175,000 miles on them. One of them had 5 cylinders with the top ring broken. Cost around $1,500 for the overhaul.
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 04/12/2013 :  12:45:32 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by CanUC2

I have rebuilt 6 of them. Everyone of them had a cracked ring (175k miles). Tear it down, Mark placement of parts, clean and mic out the clys with a bore gauge. If ok, dingleberry the cyls, lap in the valves, clean then clean it again. Install a re-ring kit ($1200) and you are good. You will need a BIG torque wrench... :) Good luck...



Were they burning oil bad?

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

Crown
Senior Member

89 Posts

Posted - 04/13/2013 :  06:26:27 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
We don't have any 3126's in buses but we do have a lot of rear engine 3116's. There are people out there that can bore a cylinder or two onsite and press in a repair sleeve. If they know what they are doing the repair is flawless and reliable. We roll the entire engine/trans assembly back a few feet, have the repair done, and put everything back in the bus. We don't do this often but when needed, it has proven to very cost effective.
Go to Top of Page

CanUC2
New Member

4 Posts

Posted - 04/14/2013 :  1:51:08 PM  Show Profile  Visit CanUC2's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by bwest

quote:
Originally posted by CanUC2

I have rebuilt 6 of them. Everyone of them had a cracked ring (175k miles). Tear it down, Mark placement of parts, clean and mic out the clys with a bore gauge. If ok, dingleberry the cyls, lap in the valves, clean then clean it again. Install a re-ring kit ($1200) and you are good. You will need a BIG torque wrench... :) Good luck...



Were they burning oil bad?



A little, mostly Massive blow-by...
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 06/01/2016 :  08:27:28 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thought I'd bring this thread back. This engine had 135K on it when I did this work and it now has 230K on it. It burns no oil but I did have to repair some oil leaks at 200K. Still a great bus and I'll be running it on a regular route for at least a year and a half more. I have since OH two more with the same success. I'm now starting on number 4. The reason I got to looking at this thread was that I was hoping to have posted about the engine mounts. I am having trouble finding a part number on them. Chevy has a number they are going to order but I'm not real sure what I'm going to get. I guess time will tell. Good Day, everyone!

Bryan
Go to Top of Page

RonF
Top Member

867 Posts

Posted - 06/02/2016 :  03:58:15 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Have to chime in, I have 1 5.9 with 301,000 miles and about 8 more with 250,000 miles. Only 1 has been rebuilt and that one is in an 89 model year TC 2000.

US Army retired CMBT
Go to Top of Page

bwest
Administrator

United States
3820 Posts

Posted - 06/02/2016 :  05:36:53 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by RonF

Have to chime in, I have 1 5.9 with 301,000 miles and about 8 more with 250,000 miles. Only 1 has been rebuilt and that one is in an 89 model year TC 2000.


lol, that would be "rubbing it in" not "chiming in". lol Can't beat a Cummins. But, think back to the time when these things were new. There would have been no reason to think that a Cat would be this "crappy". In fact, I would have argued that the Cat has to be a better engine just because of their reputation. Not that Cummins had a bad reputation at the time either. That's the breaks.

Bryan
Go to Top of Page
Page: of 2 Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
Previous Page
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
 


School Bus Fleet Magazine Forums © 2022 School Bus Fleet Magazine Go To Top Of Page
This page was generated in 0.15 seconds. Snitz Forums 2000