I'm retired from Cat and they used to sponsor a pulling tractor the Silver Bullet that ran a 3208 converted to run on alcohol with spark plugs where the injector nozzles would normally be. It put out around 3000 HP in that configuration and sounded really wild. Got to see it one day when Cat staged a publicity event at the old Mossville engine plant in 1999 and used to keep one of the autographed postcards on my desk at the various plants I worked at until I retired.
I have seen the Silver Bullet at many tractor pulls. The Lustiks made their own billet aluminum hemi cylinder heads for it. They use three turbos in two stages to make ~80 psi of boost. It's an inspiration to see.
We have 15 of them in old Ford 9000 trucks, non-turbo. They honestly never fail us, and start pretty good in the cold. I’ll take dependability over power any day
I used to drive fuel trucks at the airport with the 3208 na engine in it. They were basically garbage trucks with a fuel tanker on them. These engines sounded really nice, but they were underpowered for what we used them for. They lasted really long and were always ready to work compared to the newer electronic engi es which always had something wrong with them.
Never worked on a truck version, but worked on plenty marine applications. Made 10K hour marine engines, easy. Many went well beyond 10K. The issues I had were blow-down tests. You have to rock the crank to get the rings to seal. They are keystone rings (pressure backed). If you don't move them, you'll get erroneous results. But as soon as you move the crank with air on the piston, they'd want to come around and smack you. Some blocks had porous casting in the rear cylinders and would consume oil after about 2,500 hours. Sleeve the block and you are good to go. The hot ticket was the 1-W arrangement. Oil cooled pistons, hotter cam, slightly advanced timing and higher pump volume. 275 to 350 HP easy and you could bump the high-idle to get 3,000 RPM all day every day. They'd handle 25 psi of turbo pressure all day, but any more and they'd start weeping at the head gaskets ... On a boat, you have to carry a pre-built high pressure hose ended to fit the pump and an injector. Crack one of the steel lines and you're dead in the water with a bilge full of diesel sheen. Put on the temp line and get home on 7 cylinders, but you'd get home :)
Had 3208's in Fire Trucks in the 80's. We never really had any serious issues with them. Of course we would never warm them up. When a call came in we would fire them up and floor it going down the road. Ran very well. They replaced Detroit Diesel rigs that were slow when cold until they warmed up. Many calls were of a short distance from the Firehouse. So they would be warm by the time we came out to go back to the station. I liked the 3208's cause they just ran well.
Thank you. Really appreciate this information. As an owner of a diesel pusher RV with a 3208T there are few if any public resources with the knowledge you display. Much appreciated.
I have one that's NA in a 81 F600 that I just purchased for a hobby truck. It was an airport fuel truck then purchased at auction by a farmer. He used it 3 years then sold it to me with 24,000 miles on it. He had nothing but good luck with 3208's on his farm he told me but was a Chevy fan, so he was glad to see it go.
The lumber yard I worked at had several 3208's back in the '80s and '90s. Both turbo and n/a. The non-turbo versions were really loud. Great sound and decent power for trucks with GVWRs in the 35-51,000 lb range.
I used to, for many years, eat, sleep, and work on 3208 CAT engines. I loved the design and common sense engineering built into the engines. They were not very sophisticated as compared to a common rail engine of today but I enjoyed working on them. Most of the applications they were in were of material handling in the steel industry and they were heavily abused. Not a big fan of the single compression ring though. Much improved over the 1160 series.
I worked & retired from Cats foundry in Mapelton, IL. 1977-2008 We would ship 100's of 3406 & 3208 blocks to Mossville machine & assembly plant everyday. I worked on the line for 3208's in the 80's & 90's & we would ship 650-700 blocks seven days a week for years. We also cast all the big blocks for mining, railroad, generators & huge ocean boats. Heads & liners also. Most of the smaller blocks where shipped to their Mexico foundry about the time I retired.
Excellent video. The 3208 was a long time solid performer. It seemed the marine and agricultural engines had little problems relatively speaking. They did have a wide spread use in the P&D types of trucking applications. There are still quite a number in use world wide for different applications. A good testament for an older model engine. They were a good choice in the medium duty sector of the trucking industry.
Can relate to the crankshaft problems - only one I really tied into was in a forklift in a prestressed concrete panel yard, was broken at #4 & #3 rod journal. Knocked bad
Had a 3160 marine, 200 hp, (unfortunately) raw water cooled in a commercial fishing boat. Ran damn good, reliable, fuel economy @ hulls best cruise speed (slow) pretty decent and would tote a load. Only problem I ever had was a bad transfer pump. Pretty easy to maintain and repair. Thought they got a bad rap. Crappy nozzle or bad injector could wash a hole out then you'd have a problem, overall - change oil, run valve's when needed, feed it clean fuel and it was happy! Made some money with it. Yeah its heavy, worked in my boat though, sat low and helped mitigate some of the roll. Overall pretty good old school Cat engineering.
Good video. I worked on quite a few of these years ago, real workhorses in medium duty trucks and buses. They're very reliable, also the nozzles were rebuildable. If I remember correctly you could get oversize piston kits as well as sleeves directly from CAT.
I worked on a dairy farm that had one in a Oliver 2255 4WD tractor. Honestly, it had a cool factor with it's sound, but it was no wimp. It would pull hard in tillage or heavy manure tank. I really liked it and I know a lot of people that got a lot of hours out of them without the best maintenance.
I mentioned in you're 3126 video about the 7 point nozzle jam nuts. And like you were saying, those plastic crossover tubes failed. Decided it would be easier to pull the heads than the front assembly. You're not joking about everything being heavy. I'm not a small guy, but it took allot of effort to install those heads single handed. Also 27 year old pan gaskets don't come off very easy. The co-worker helping me pull the heads was kind enough to drop a head bolt washer into the engine.
Josh, My wife & I just bought a 1986 Chris Craft 48 motor yacht with a pair of 3208TA. Wish you had done this video 2 months ago. Whale I was researching the motors... now on to watch the video...
While I worked in the Hire Industry in Australia 3208 na were a go to engine for repowers . They smoked a bit sometimes..but the bloody things ran and ran without excessive oil consumption or fuel pump issues. Seemed to have a narrow rev range when they were put in trucks but did the job . Also heard quite a few went into F Trucks in my area. You heard them before you saw them
I personally love this old engine. It had a unique bark when coming up the street. Many of our cur side garbage trucks in the 70's and 80's had them and you could hear when it was coming up the street and how much time I had to get that garbage to the curb. I can only guess why so many are making all of these negative comments here is because they didn't have the brains on how to operate this bad boy. These engines had to be warmed up before run and had to cool down before shutting down. They loved their rpm's and ran great. They didn't like hills but then again most diesels of this era did the same too. My uncle ran these engines in his tandem Ford Louisvilles dump trucks in early 70's when they were used in Ford motors and were Ford blue til the mid 80's. He never had one fail because he knew how to operate them and knew what they could do. A lot of these hotshot drivers are just that and nothing else but beer guzzling wife beaters in their down time.
@@12onin_Gypsy Bullshit.. tell that to the many dudes I know that don't really warm up and cool down their trucks and are running at 500000 to 1mil. Come on stop believing in the wives tales, it does no one any good
I had a 3208 in a ford tandem and had lots of problems with it blowing several head gaskets and blow-by . Had a factory rebuild done and it was blowing by right out of the shop , so I got rid of the natural aspirated and bought a factory rebuilt turbo and installed that , what a difference in performance, but did not get to see how it lasted as work dried up and I had to let it go .
If you are facing problems in repairing and maintaining 3208 you can refer to the manuals at reliable-store dot com . They are providing the complete step-by-step instructions, diagram's and specifications to completely repair your vehicle with ease!
thanks for this. At 3:06 you say the 3208 doesn't have roller tappets. But that's true only in the early years. My 1988 firetruck (Ford C8000 Tilt-Cab chassis) has this engine WITH roller tappets running on the cam -- stock. Thru the years CAT kept improving what they could on it, upping the HP along the way. Mine has turbo, 225HP, with 2-ring pistons (would get 3-ring on any rebuild). It also does have cylinder/piston oil spray nozzles down below bottom of bore. I'm glad you emphasized about the engine's front "cover" --- it's a giant heavy piece of cast iron that spans the whole front of engine... has water passages, thermostat etc.. This "cover" is likely why the engine is sooo heavy for its size. The one bummer about these I cuss at a lot, is - as you stated - they don't have CYLINDER LINERS ... That was a money-saving decision on CAT/Ford's part in design, I suppose. Unlike most industrial diesels, THIS ONE DIFFERENCE made fixing a bad cylinder(s) a major labor ordeal (removing/disassembling engine), instead of a much easier/faster cylinder liner replacement... the cheapskate bastards. (I've wanted to say that for a long time ;-)
Drove some mid 70’s Louisville Fords with 3208 Cats plus owned one with a 534 Ford gas. The gas truck was lighter and seemed to pull as good as the Cat.
dufus and they get meticulously maintained, and then if the department is in a well of city/county then they get new equipment way before the equipment is worn out. I can’t speak for fire trucks, but our city replaces police cars every 85-90k miles.
USCG had two NAs - 185hp versions in old 32 ft ports and waterways boats - late 70s.... We were told during training that the 3208 was a diesel conversion by Cat of the old 534 Ford gas job. We rolled one over in the boat to put in seals and found "FOMOCO" lettering on castings inside the crankcase.
robsvideos13 early pre 3208 varient originaly came out in Ford Louiville trucks, they where painted blue and had an inline Bosch fuel pump and governor. Cheers mate🍻
I have one in a White 2-180. Did some modifications. Pushing 600 HP . So many people don’t really know what they are talking about regarding them. It’s a great engine.
Right on brother I have a 2255 as well 4wd it has extra 2 gallon oil filter system out on steps what a beast the oil stays very clean rottela 15. 40 got to love them olies
the early engines had several different displacements. i had the short stroke high rev truck engine of 555 cubic inches, the 3208 had the longer stroke and 636 cubic inch displacement, they were the 1100 series truck engines, 1145 for the 555 cubic inch short stroke engine, the 1150 and 1160 models as i remember. the 1160 displacement became the 3208
I heard you should underhaul them every 100K miles. I didn't realize how small the bearings are until you compared them in your video. Now I see why the underhaul might be a good idea.
Awesome, thanks, I have two 435hp versions in my boat, had to replace a head last summer as the valve guide wore out, have 1300 hrs, I pray I can keep em running for many years!! Thanks again!
scrimmy6969 it was suggested that i replace the head, as I think it's possible the other guides were on their way out. I also agreed with that route as it's a pretty tough job in the boat and I wanted limit down time, finally I had the help of a very experienced mechanic but only for 1 day!
The sleeve metering fuel pumps cannot take any water and the sleeve control arms would often break so engine wont start after running fautlesly all day. Piston skirts will crack. And you must plateu hone the bores or you will burn more oil then diesel. Had some problems with thin head casting causing crack in exhast ports, engine will run all day and not use coolant but exhaust will fill with coolant overnight. Always check governor spring and torque control as well as set fuel as per OT number on the engine tag when fitting new or reman fuel pump and governor group. Fuel bleed off valve and anti syphon valve wher biggest causes of hard start and rough idle. Cheers mate🍻
Gonna miss my c7 about to get a spare service truck with one of these 3208 engines luckily im already familier with some issues they have, the coolant tube i did not know about thanks .
My dad swapped his ‘75 F250 with a 3208 back in the early 80’s. Waaaaaaaay before people thought it was cool for diesel swaps. Great engine that took a lashing!
Great video. I've worked on a lot of 3208s, they were a real common engine in trash trucks at one point. Also the 1100 series version, which was the Ford only model when they first came out, (Ford paid for 90% of the development cost and got 100% of production for the first 2 years. The crankshaft was induction hardened and was ok in stop and go, but if used in application where you ran 50 miles with out stopping they had a tendency to snap a crank). The biggest problem we had, in trash trucks especially,was bearings. If you didn't want a spun bearing you tried to get a set of rods and mains rolled in about 100,000miles, no later than 125,000. Other than that we really didn't have any consistent problems with it
+chris gollihar I've been repairing trash trucks since 1980 and they were the hot engine back then, from a natural aspirated at 200 up to 250 , a turbo up to 325. They may be shy on power compared to todays engines, but compared to what we had before, they were a hell of an engine. Easy to work on and dependable. They may be heavy for what they are, but they are lighter than a big Cam Cummins and fit into a smaller space. And they were better than the 1100s in the Ford C cab, at 175 HP, with an inline injection pump that was pure garbage, Cat used everything they learned with the 1100/1150s and made a decent engine.
my truck now is a 2014 Peterbuilt with a Cummins.. automated Side loader . Runs on natural gas, and we have the fueling stataion in our yard. We're in San Jose, Ca
I work for a Cat dealer. Even within the Cat dealer network, these engines were called "disposable" as they were not designed to be rebuilt. Also called "Grenades" as, if one went bad, most of the internal parts would be found in the oil pan. I'm not talking about a bit of metal, I mean, crankshaft, pistons and even camshaft parts. However, for some reason they would last forever in boats and even could be run at ridiculous power levels. Probably due to unlimited cooling and smooth load factors. Did not do well in manual shift trucks.
Explain more bro what did you mean did not do well with a Manila trans I’m gathering info for a swap I’m going to do I bought a junk yard 3208 it’s healthy I popped it open and looked good no blow by I’m looking to swap it into a k series Chevy suburban or something like it something ugly 🤣 but yea there’s a lot of questions not a lot of answers would this sucker blow up if I install it with a Clark 5 speed trans also can i turbo charge this dude or better of stock ? Thanks
Seen a lot of these as a go to engine on compaction equipment. Also fitted to an old model Ford Louisville in Australia. They only rated them at about 210 HP na.
Daniel C my family has a steiger bearcat with one rated at 235 hp. The na models were pretty good. When they start boosting them that's when they started have the real issues.
I had a 1986 Ford F8000 with a Cat 3208. The truck had an 18' refrigerated box, and the truck was rated for 32,000 lbs GVWR. It was great. I got close to 10 mpg on it. And, even in North Georgia, I rarely had to plug in the block heater.
Quite a bit of controversy about the early history of the 1100, 3100 3208 family of Caterpillar engines. The 1100, series was a truck engine and came in three versions. All 4.5" bore, 1140 had 4.5" stroke, 1150 had 5" stroke, 1160 had 6"stroke. The 3100 was the industrial version. Both 1100 and 3100 had compact inline fuel injection pumps with servo assisted mechanical governors. There was one truck engine arrangement which used a limiting speed governor. These engines were designed to compete with Cummins 555 and Detroit Diesel 6V53, 200 HP @3000 RPM. All these high speed medium duty diesels designed during the first energy crisis of the late 70's. Ford was one of the first customers for the 1100 engine and used them in the new "Louisville" series of trucks. FoMoCo called them their 636 diesel and sold parts and service for them but, they were a Caterpillar engine top to bottom. The early 1100 and 3208 engines had a lot of connecting rod failures on cylinders 7 & 8, mainly because the main bearing oil holes were too small and starved the rod bearings of sufficient oil film. Early 3208 engines had a lot of valve spring failures which was a supplier issue. There was a known serial number range that Cat supported but customers whose engines failed out of the serial number range made a dealer service manager want to eat his own children. Engine oil consumption was occasionally an issue but mostly because of poor management of first hours in service, driving a new tractor 30 miles from dealer to farm usually made for an oil burner. Hauled home, put to work they were fine.
I appreciate your comment. I have a 1972 Gillig school bus with an 1160 in it. It runs great but it’s so hard to find anybody that knows about the 1160. I think if I ever have major troubles with it, I’ll try to swap a 3208 in it since they are similar in size.
We have a Cat 3208 in our big pull behind compressor at work, sometimes it runs 8hrs a day, for weeks at a time when we're testing for plumbings leaks in big apartment buildings, it seldom needs fixed.
worked for a company that had them in yard jockies , had oil change on hour basis (cat recomended) had crankshaft problems in many of them , recons did not last long , others had internal leaks on fuel pumps .
Haven’t worked on a bunch but I remember very easy starting engines. Took a fuel pump off a garbage truck and damaged the rad. Had to solder over some rad cores
I bought a remanufactured one,ran it for a year then it started tapping, turns out a sleeve they machined in the cylinder bore is moving up and down. I should of just rebuilt my old one as it was just a rod bering that failed but time was of the essence.
Adept Ape our snowcat was made by LMC as a subsidiary of Delorean Motors corp. 1980s? The original 3208 got destroyed by my predessor when he drove over the well head and the oil pan settled in the snow and was punctured.. he also let it idle there until it seized. The sugar plant nearby had a Cat 3208 reman spare for their rail car tug. So we installed that. Unfortunately the turbo was destroyed so they left the exhaust housing and simply bolted a steel plate where the turbo intake sat. Top speed is 9mph measured by gps. Has to be plugged in in order to start below freezing. We use the cat to plow the parking lot and to drag a 24 foot snow safety shelter around the mountain. Thanks for that coolant o-ring tip!
Just letting her idle with no oil pan....If that doesn't make you cringe then you shouldn't have any responsibilities that involve internal combustion engines of any kind lol.
as i remember it,the 3208 used to be called an 1160 truck engine. there was a whole series, 1160, 1145, 1140, all different horsepowers. l had a 1140 in my f250, it had a very short stroke but they all had the same bore. the 1160 being the longest stroke. they were discontinued because they couldn't meet the emisson requirements being dirty engines emissionwise. the 1140 with the short stroke naturally aspirated would turn up 3500 rpm
The 3208 is a tough enguine New Holland put them in ensilage harvesters in the 80s and they ran full throttle pulling hard from 4:30 am till 9:30 pm everyday 7 day a week they tried the turbo model but they worked so hard the turbos ran cherry red hot and wouldnt hold up but the moter was a work horse
Worst stuff I encounter on a few gen sets with em is injector pump issues. I don't know alot , but when fuel comes out of those overflow tubes on it I know it's time to send it out. Gens have a hard life of alot of sitting around.
If you feel the need to own a 3208 they are abundant in school bus auctions and boneyards. I'd wager that there were more of these motors put in school buses than anywhere else.
I seen the cat table that had a high 700hp for turbo marine app. When I was diagnosing why my forklift was burning up clutches. In a fork lift 190 hp , I was kicking 400 from a reman. Spitting out $1600 lipe fluid bathed clutches
3208 is a good engine. People just hate on them because not the most powerful for its displacement but strong enough to be turned up. Also people hate cause they love to point out it's a parent bore. The engine do weight a bit but what medium duty diesel of the era didnt. They loved fuel . Lol.
Thank you for the videos! the coolant crossover tube at 8:20 is gone in my 89 Gillig pusher conversion. can I pull off some of the front housing stuff slide back that plate. and finger in some high temp JB weld , or similar products as an alternative. If that`s not too crazy, It looks like that might be what was being done before I got it from the school yard. any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yes, I know a lot about these. Went to a fishing boat that had this engine that had just had a “full rebuild” but was smoking real bad. Turns out the mechanic had installed all of the compression rings upside down!!
C model is first attemp at some electronic controls ??? I know it had an electronic throttle on a mechanichal pump and people would convert them back to linkage when it broke
Walker Vaillancourt there was a 3406 c industrial that was a hopped up b model. All mechanical used in small ships, construction, and stationary power units usually cranking out 600hp up to 720hp for marine use.
3208 in a LN8000. 185hp NA 32Y, not enough power to get out of it's own way, smokes like a freight train when cold, starts better than almost anything down to 25 deg F. Lift pump is suction so a plugged filter will suck air into the flooded injection pump. I don't remember seeing the coolant tube, I'll have to look again.
Most likely a leak somewhere on the high pressure fuel pump or lines going into the cylinder head. You'd have to clean it off really well and watch it run to see.
I got a question, I’m an oilfield trucker,ok I get idling is bad, I went to the last company I was with just because they had apu on there truck and less idle less shop more money get it got it good. Problem one. Never had a apu work for more then a week on these roads.
Do refurbishing drive trains on Wanderlodge FC's, 3208 turbo's, find most have roller followers on the camshaft, must be lucky to run into the later production units.
I am also having a 3408. I always refer to the manual available on reliable-store dot com whenever I face problem in 3408. You can also refer their manual to maintain, service, diagnose and repair your vehicle.
a buddy of mine used to work on those motors all the time he said they would bend the push rods regularly in trucks with standard transmissions due to over reving them he would always keeps a set in his service truck
Are you sure they never made a 3208 with a roller cam ? Could've swore the last ones with the turbo had a redesigned block to accommodate a roller cam setup. But i could be mistaken
I'm retired from Cat and they used to sponsor a pulling tractor the Silver Bullet that ran a 3208 converted to run on alcohol with spark plugs where the injector nozzles would normally be. It put out around 3000 HP in that configuration and sounded really wild. Got to see it one day when Cat staged a publicity event at the old Mossville engine plant in 1999 and used to keep one of the autographed postcards on my desk at the various plants I worked at until I retired.
I have seen the Silver Bullet at many tractor pulls. The Lustiks made their own billet aluminum hemi cylinder heads for it. They use three turbos in two stages to make ~80 psi of boost. It's an inspiration to see.
Actually would love to hear more about this!
We have 15 of them in old Ford 9000 trucks, non-turbo. They honestly never fail us, and start pretty good in the cold. I’ll take dependability over power any day
There is a 1981 single cab single rear axle down the street for 5k. Says low miles. I just need any extra $5000
I used to drive fuel trucks at the airport with the 3208 na engine in it. They were basically garbage trucks with a fuel tanker on them. These engines sounded really nice, but they were underpowered for what we used them for. They lasted really long and were always ready to work compared to the newer electronic engi es which always had something wrong with them.
Never worked on a truck version, but worked on plenty marine applications. Made 10K hour marine engines, easy. Many went well beyond 10K. The issues I had were blow-down tests. You have to rock the crank to get the rings to seal. They are keystone rings (pressure backed). If you don't move them, you'll get erroneous results. But as soon as you move the crank with air on the piston, they'd want to come around and smack you.
Some blocks had porous casting in the rear cylinders and would consume oil after about 2,500 hours. Sleeve the block and you are good to go. The hot ticket was the 1-W arrangement. Oil cooled pistons, hotter cam, slightly advanced timing and higher pump volume. 275 to 350 HP easy and you could bump the high-idle to get 3,000 RPM all day every day. They'd handle 25 psi of turbo pressure all day, but any more and they'd start weeping at the head gaskets ... On a boat, you have to carry a pre-built high pressure hose ended to fit the pump and an injector. Crack one of the steel lines and you're dead in the water with a bilge full of diesel sheen. Put on the temp line and get home on 7 cylinders, but you'd get home :)
Had 3208's in Fire Trucks in the 80's. We never really had any serious issues with them. Of course we would never warm them up. When a call came in we would fire them up and floor it going down the road. Ran very well. They replaced Detroit Diesel rigs that were slow when cold until they warmed up. Many calls were of a short distance from the Firehouse. So they would be warm by the time we came out to go back to the station. I liked the 3208's cause they just ran well.
3208 running at 16k hours in my trawler. Water pump and starter only parts changed. Still starts like new, even in low temperatures.
Worked on a bunch of them in school buses back in the day, easy to diagnose & repair. Lots of power, good all around engine.
Thank you. Really appreciate this information. As an owner of a diesel pusher RV with a 3208T there are few if any public resources with the knowledge you display. Much appreciated.
I have one that's NA in a 81 F600 that I just purchased for a hobby truck. It was an airport fuel truck then purchased at auction by a farmer. He used it 3 years then sold it to me with 24,000 miles on it. He had nothing but good luck with 3208's on his farm he told me but was a Chevy fan, so he was glad to see it go.
had a pair of 3208TA's in my 37 ft Trojan boat, pretty reliable engines....2019 still running
Great Marnie engine, how many hours
The lumber yard I worked at had several 3208's back in the '80s and '90s. Both turbo and n/a. The non-turbo versions were really loud. Great sound and decent power for trucks with GVWRs in the 35-51,000 lb range.
I used to, for many years, eat, sleep, and work on 3208 CAT engines. I loved the design and common sense engineering built into the engines. They were not very sophisticated as compared to a common rail engine of today but I enjoyed working on them. Most of the applications they were in were of material handling in the steel industry and they were heavily abused. Not a big fan of the single compression ring though. Much improved over the 1160 series.
I worked & retired from Cats foundry in Mapelton, IL. 1977-2008 We would ship 100's of 3406 & 3208 blocks to Mossville machine & assembly plant everyday. I worked on the line for 3208's in the 80's & 90's & we would ship 650-700 blocks seven days a week for years. We also cast all the big blocks for mining, railroad, generators & huge ocean boats. Heads & liners also. Most of the smaller blocks where shipped to their Mexico foundry about the time I retired.
Excellent video. The 3208 was a long time solid performer. It seemed the marine and agricultural engines had little problems relatively speaking. They did have a wide spread use in the P&D types of trucking applications. There are still quite a number in use world wide for different applications. A good testament for an older model engine. They were a good choice in the medium duty sector of the trucking industry.
Can relate to the crankshaft problems - only one I really tied into was in a forklift in a prestressed concrete panel yard, was broken at #4 & #3 rod journal. Knocked bad
Had a 3160 marine, 200 hp, (unfortunately) raw water cooled in a commercial fishing
boat. Ran damn good, reliable, fuel economy @ hulls best cruise speed (slow) pretty decent and would tote a load. Only problem I ever had was a bad transfer pump. Pretty easy to maintain and repair. Thought they got a bad rap. Crappy nozzle or bad injector could wash a hole out then you'd have a problem, overall - change oil, run valve's when needed, feed it clean fuel and it was happy! Made some money with it. Yeah its heavy, worked in my boat though, sat low and helped mitigate some of the roll. Overall pretty good old school Cat engineering.
Thanks. I had one in my RV with 389k. Sold it and the new owner loves it.
lotta good info here on the 3208. more info than you would get after 5 years of driving one. thanks for all the inputs.
Good video. I worked on quite a few of these years ago, real workhorses in medium duty trucks and buses. They're very reliable, also the nozzles were rebuildable. If I remember correctly you could get oversize piston kits as well as sleeves directly from CAT.
Jim Zivny Yes, 3208s could held up to 2 over-bore overhauls.
because I have a 1989 Beaver Marquis. Thank you so much for making videos about them.
Josh, thanks for the great video! You helped me get my 225 excavator going after I ran it out of fuel.
It has very good low torque. & it starts up fast, I like this motor in a tractor 👨🌾
We had a few of them in our rice producing equipment...no problems as i recall
I worked on a dairy farm that had one in a Oliver 2255 4WD tractor. Honestly, it had a cool factor with it's sound, but it was no wimp. It would pull hard in tillage or heavy manure tank. I really liked it and I know a lot of people that got a lot of hours out of them without the best maintenance.
I mentioned in you're 3126 video about the 7 point nozzle jam nuts. And like you were saying, those plastic crossover tubes failed. Decided it would be easier to pull the heads than the front assembly. You're not joking about everything being heavy. I'm not a small guy, but it took allot of effort to install those heads single handed. Also 27 year old pan gaskets don't come off very easy. The co-worker helping me pull the heads was kind enough to drop a head bolt washer into the engine.
Josh, My wife & I just bought a 1986 Chris Craft 48 motor yacht with a pair of 3208TA. Wish you had done this video 2 months ago. Whale I was researching the motors... now on to watch the video...
While I worked in the Hire Industry in Australia 3208 na were a go to engine for repowers . They smoked a bit sometimes..but the bloody things ran and ran without excessive oil consumption or fuel pump issues. Seemed to have a narrow rev range when they were put in trucks but did the job . Also heard quite a few went into F Trucks in my area. You heard them before you saw them
I personally love this old engine. It had a unique bark when coming up the street. Many of our cur side garbage trucks in the 70's and 80's had them and you could hear when it was coming up the street and how much time I had to get that garbage to the curb. I can only guess why so many are making all of these negative comments here is because they didn't have the brains on how to operate this bad boy. These engines had to be warmed up before run and had to cool down before shutting down. They loved their rpm's and ran great. They didn't like hills but then again most diesels of this era did the same too. My uncle ran these engines in his tandem Ford Louisvilles dump trucks in early 70's when they were used in Ford motors and were Ford blue til the mid 80's. He never had one fail because he knew how to operate them and knew what they could do. A lot of these hotshot drivers are just that and nothing else but beer guzzling wife beaters in their down time.
Every truck should be warmed up and cooled down, any one that says otherwise is a fool
@@12onin_Gypsy Bullshit.. tell that to the many dudes I know that don't really warm up and cool down their trucks and are running at 500000 to 1mil. Come on stop believing in the wives tales, it does no one any good
I had a 3208 in a ford tandem and had lots of problems with it blowing several head gaskets and blow-by . Had a factory rebuild done and it was blowing by right out of the shop , so I got rid of the natural aspirated and bought a factory rebuilt turbo and installed that , what a difference in performance, but did not get to see how it lasted as work dried up and I had to let it go .
If you are facing problems in repairing and maintaining 3208 you can refer to the manuals at reliable-store dot com . They are providing the complete step-by-step instructions, diagram's and specifications to completely repair your vehicle with ease!
thanks for this. At 3:06 you say the 3208 doesn't have roller tappets. But that's true only in the early years. My 1988 firetruck (Ford C8000 Tilt-Cab chassis) has this engine WITH roller tappets running on the cam -- stock. Thru the years CAT kept improving what they could on it, upping the HP along the way. Mine has turbo, 225HP, with 2-ring pistons (would get 3-ring on any rebuild). It also does have cylinder/piston oil spray nozzles down below bottom of bore.
I'm glad you emphasized about the engine's front "cover" --- it's a giant heavy piece of cast iron that spans the whole front of engine... has water passages, thermostat etc.. This "cover" is likely why the engine is sooo heavy for its size.
The one bummer about these I cuss at a lot, is - as you stated - they don't have CYLINDER LINERS ... That was a money-saving decision on CAT/Ford's part in design, I suppose.
Unlike most industrial diesels, THIS ONE DIFFERENCE made fixing a bad cylinder(s) a major labor ordeal (removing/disassembling engine), instead of a much easier/faster cylinder liner replacement... the cheapskate bastards. (I've wanted to say that for a long time ;-)
Can I swap this engine for some other would fit? thanks.
How much does the engine weigh? lbs/kg
Drove some mid 70’s Louisville Fords with 3208 Cats plus owned one with a 534 Ford gas. The gas truck was lighter and seemed to pull as good as the Cat.
1984 Ford F8000 fire truck: 3208 Turbo is still going strong. Never had an engine problem.
How many MILES??
most firetrucks don't get a lot of use/abuse. imho
dufus and they get meticulously maintained, and then if the department is in a well of city/county then they get new equipment way before the equipment is worn out. I can’t speak for fire trucks, but our city replaces police cars every 85-90k miles.
@@dufus2273 I agree...ifbthey were run regularly..would most likely be a different situation.
USCG had two NAs - 185hp versions in old 32 ft ports and waterways boats - late 70s.... We were told during training that the 3208 was a diesel conversion by Cat of the old 534 Ford gas job. We rolled one over in the boat to put in seals and found "FOMOCO" lettering on castings inside the crankcase.
robsvideos13 early pre 3208 varient originaly came out in Ford Louiville trucks, they where painted blue and had an inline Bosch fuel pump and governor. Cheers mate🍻
Michael, I think you're thinking of the 1160..
You are right Thomas. That would be the 1160.
Great video, I have a Oliver 2255 with this engine ,smooth running
I have one in a White 2-180. Did some modifications. Pushing 600 HP . So many people don’t really know what they are talking about regarding them. It’s a great engine.
Right on brother I have a 2255 as well 4wd it has extra 2 gallon oil filter system out on steps what a beast the oil stays very clean rottela 15. 40 got to love them olies
the early engines had several different displacements. i had the short stroke high rev truck engine of 555 cubic inches, the 3208 had the longer stroke and 636 cubic inch displacement, they were the 1100 series truck engines, 1145 for the 555 cubic inch short stroke engine, the 1150 and 1160 models as i remember. the 1160 displacement became the 3208
I heard you should underhaul them every 100K miles. I didn't realize how small the bearings are until you compared them in your video. Now I see why the underhaul might be a good idea.
Thanks again man. Pretty decent engine for the time👍
Awesome, thanks, I have two 435hp versions in my boat, had to replace a head last summer as the valve guide wore out, have 1300 hrs, I pray I can keep em running for many years!! Thanks again!
+Chris Eck Keep those old Cats running. They should still last quite awhile, everything is cast iron.
Why didn't you or the shop just install a bronze liner or a new guide?
scrimmy6969 it was suggested that i replace the head, as I think it's possible the other guides were on their way out. I also agreed with that route as it's a pretty tough job in the boat and I wanted limit down time, finally I had the help of a very experienced mechanic but only for 1 day!
Very interesting to learn about Cat diesel engines. All of my experience has been on automotive engines and aircraft engines. Enjoyed the video.
The sleeve metering fuel pumps cannot take any water and the sleeve control arms would often break so engine wont start after running fautlesly all day. Piston skirts will crack. And you must plateu hone the bores or you will burn more oil then diesel. Had some problems with thin head casting causing crack in exhast ports, engine will run all day and not use coolant but exhaust will fill with coolant overnight. Always check governor spring and torque control as well as set fuel as per OT number on the engine tag when fitting new or reman fuel pump and governor group. Fuel bleed off valve and anti syphon valve wher biggest causes of hard start and rough idle. Cheers mate🍻
none of that sounds good
Have 3 of them in our combines..2 already have all the problems you mentioned
Gonna miss my c7 about to get a spare service truck with one of these 3208 engines luckily im already familier with some issues they have, the coolant tube i did not know about thanks .
My dad swapped his ‘75 F250 with a 3208 back in the early 80’s. Waaaaaaaay before people thought it was cool for diesel swaps. Great engine that took a lashing!
Great video. I've worked on a lot of 3208s, they were a real common engine in trash trucks at one point. Also the 1100 series version, which was the Ford only model when they first came out, (Ford paid for 90% of the development cost and got 100% of production for the first 2 years. The crankshaft was induction hardened and was ok in stop and go, but if used in application where you ran 50 miles with out stopping they had a tendency to snap a crank).
The biggest problem we had, in trash trucks especially,was bearings. If you didn't want a spun bearing you tried to get a set of rods and mains rolled in about 100,000miles, no later than 125,000. Other than that we really didn't have any consistent problems with it
yep... I work as a garbageman, and Waste Management had a few leftover from the early 90's, not a lot of power, but got the job done
+chris gollihar
I've been repairing trash trucks since 1980 and they were the hot engine back then, from a natural aspirated at 200 up to 250 , a turbo up to 325. They may be shy on power compared to todays engines, but compared to what we had before, they were a hell of an engine. Easy to work on and dependable. They may be heavy for what they are, but they are lighter than a big Cam Cummins and fit into a smaller space. And they were better than the 1100s in the Ford C cab, at 175 HP, with an inline injection pump that was pure garbage, Cat used everything they learned with the 1100/1150s and made a decent engine.
my truck now is a 2014 Peterbuilt with a Cummins.. automated Side loader . Runs on natural gas, and we have the fueling stataion in our yard. We're in San Jose, Ca
+chris gollihar
CNG sucks, no power, pain in the ass to work on and your driving around with a bomb strapped to your ass
I work for a Cat dealer. Even within the Cat dealer network, these engines were called "disposable" as they were not designed to be rebuilt. Also called "Grenades" as, if one went bad, most of the internal parts would be found in the oil pan. I'm not talking about a bit of metal, I mean, crankshaft, pistons and even camshaft parts. However, for some reason they would last forever in boats and even could be run at ridiculous power levels. Probably due to unlimited cooling and smooth load factors. Did not do well in manual shift trucks.
Explain more bro what did you mean did not do well with a Manila trans I’m gathering info for a swap I’m going to do I bought a junk yard 3208 it’s healthy I popped it open and looked good no blow by I’m looking to swap it into a k series Chevy suburban or something like it something ugly 🤣 but yea there’s a lot of questions not a lot of answers would this sucker blow up if I install it with a Clark 5 speed trans also can i turbo charge this dude or better of stock ? Thanks
We had quite a few 3208’s and the fuel solenoid would get scorching hot!
I see em in gen sets still.
Haha what I know is when fuel comes out of any of the overflow tubes it's time to send the pump out 😁
When I just started these were very popular engines in medium duty trucks. If they weren't pushed hard lasted along time.
Adept Ape: What is your secret when the 3208 pumps freeze up? That was the #1 problem I had with my CATs.
I have one in a 2255 Oliver as well as a 4-210 White.
I continue learning this engines... Thanks body
Seen a lot of these as a go to engine on compaction equipment. Also fitted to an old model Ford Louisville in Australia. They only rated them at about 210 HP na.
FTWC, we had a 1975 Massey Ferguson 1805 farm tractor with a 3208 NA. I think the h.p rating was 210. It was a good engine for that application.
Daniel C my family has a steiger bearcat with one rated at 235 hp. The na models were pretty good. When they start boosting them that's when they started have the real issues.
My pops used to talk about the 3408 a lot. But thats in semi truck's.
I had a 1986 Ford F8000 with a Cat 3208. The truck had an 18' refrigerated box, and the truck was rated for 32,000 lbs GVWR. It was great. I got close to 10 mpg on it. And, even in North Georgia, I rarely had to plug in the block heater.
Another positive on the 3208 is they start great in cold weather
Some 3208 Ran along time. We had a few.
Quite a bit of controversy about the early history of the 1100, 3100 3208 family of Caterpillar engines. The 1100, series was a truck engine and came in three versions. All 4.5" bore, 1140 had 4.5" stroke, 1150 had 5" stroke, 1160 had 6"stroke. The 3100 was the industrial version. Both 1100 and 3100 had compact inline fuel injection pumps with servo assisted mechanical governors. There was one truck engine arrangement which used a limiting speed governor.
These engines were designed to compete with Cummins 555 and Detroit Diesel 6V53, 200 HP @3000 RPM. All these high speed medium duty diesels designed during the first energy crisis of the late 70's. Ford was one of the first customers for the 1100 engine and used them in the new "Louisville" series of trucks. FoMoCo called them their 636 diesel and sold parts and service for them but, they were a Caterpillar engine top to bottom. The early 1100 and 3208 engines had a lot of connecting rod failures on cylinders 7 & 8, mainly because the main bearing oil holes were too small and starved the rod bearings of sufficient oil film. Early 3208 engines had a lot of valve spring failures which was a supplier issue. There was a known serial number range that Cat supported but customers whose engines failed out of the serial number range made a dealer service manager want to eat his own children.
Engine oil consumption was occasionally an issue but mostly because of poor management of first hours in service, driving a new tractor 30 miles from dealer to farm usually made for an oil burner. Hauled home, put to work they were fine.
I appreciate your comment. I have a 1972 Gillig school bus with an 1160 in it. It runs great but it’s so hard to find anybody that knows about the 1160. I think if I ever have major troubles with it, I’ll try to swap a 3208 in it since they are similar in size.
We have a Cat 3208 in our big pull behind compressor at work, sometimes it runs 8hrs a day, for weeks at a time when we're testing for plumbings leaks in big apartment buildings, it seldom needs fixed.
worked for a company that had them in yard jockies , had oil change on hour basis (cat recomended) had crankshaft problems in many of them , recons did not last long , others had internal leaks on fuel pumps .
Your voice is surprisingly soothing
Thanks for sharing always very interesting
Thanks for another great informative video!
Worked on quite a few L8000s and Top Kicks with them
Love the 3208. We own a 78 ford c800 cabover trash truck with a 3208NA killer engine!
Jeff from Jpaydirt sent me here! 😎
Haven’t worked on a bunch but I remember very easy starting engines. Took a fuel pump off a garbage truck and damaged the rad. Had to solder over some rad cores
Just had a flashback on those coolant tube o-rings, also doing mains using that offset "socket " for the front main to get around the pump.
Still have the offset wrench used to roll in bearings pin for pump timming an little bearing roller tab reman from cat had std bores
The funny thing is every truck that I have seen "work on" with a 3208. They all had been reman engines.
I bought a remanufactured one,ran it for a year then it started tapping, turns out a sleeve they machined in the cylinder bore is moving up and down. I should of just rebuilt my old one as it was just a rod bering that failed but time was of the essence.
Making cheeseburgers for snowmobilers but this video will be my reward later.
We have a Cat 3208 in our Logan Manufacturing Snow Cat.
+Matthew Edwards I'm glad you like the videos. That must be an older Snow Cat.
Adept Ape our snowcat was made by LMC as a subsidiary of Delorean Motors corp.
1980s?
The original 3208 got destroyed by my predessor when he drove over the well head and the oil pan settled in the snow and was punctured.. he also let it idle there until it seized.
The sugar plant nearby had a Cat 3208 reman spare for their rail car tug.
So we installed that.
Unfortunately the turbo was destroyed so they left the exhaust housing and simply bolted a steel plate where the turbo intake sat.
Top speed is 9mph measured by gps.
Has to be plugged in in order to start below freezing.
We use the cat to plow the parking lot and to drag a 24 foot snow safety shelter around the mountain.
Thanks for that coolant o-ring tip!
Just letting her idle with no oil pan....If that doesn't make you cringe then you shouldn't have any responsibilities that involve internal combustion engines of any kind lol.
sc0tte1 they fired that guy.
Also how I got the job.
These engines were also used by Oliver farm tractors in the mid 70's.
Steigers too
White's too.
Massey too
thanx josh learn a lit from your videos
Long live the OVERWEIGHT BLOCKY V8 architecture ! 😝 😁
GOOD WORK as usual, Mr. Adept ! 👍🔥
as i remember it,the 3208 used to be called an 1160 truck engine. there was a whole series, 1160, 1145, 1140, all different horsepowers. l had a 1140 in my f250, it had a very short stroke but they all had the same bore. the 1160 being the longest stroke.
they were discontinued because they couldn't meet the emisson requirements being dirty engines emissionwise. the 1140 with the short stroke naturally aspirated would turn up 3500 rpm
one additional point, they weighed about 1100 pounds, thats why i could fit it in a f250 with only a little additional support
@Adept Ape,
I saw the clip of the suburban with the 3208 cat in it.
My Pops has a FC '77 Bluebird 33' Motorcoach with a 3408, haven't had any major problems with it so far. He still wants to swap in a 8.3 Cummins
RobiSydney 3408 will be too big for a Blue Bird motorcoach. 🤔
The Bluebirds used a 3208 not a 3408.
If its a FC33s either came with Gignormous Gas engines or 3208...3408 is almost twice the size of this little engine.
The 3208 is a tough enguine New Holland put them in ensilage harvesters in the 80s and they ran full throttle pulling hard from 4:30 am till 9:30 pm everyday 7 day a week they tried the turbo model but they worked so hard the turbos ran cherry red hot and wouldnt hold up but the moter was a work horse
cool looking studio.
+Hasoony Aliraqi I have a green screen now too, so I can do some creative videos.
Adept Ape heck yeah, i see u got new editing hobbies lol
it was designed by a joint venture between Caterpillar and Ford for medium duty trucks
I worked on the turbo 3208 in the 80's we ran them in 80,000 lb. Forklifts.
Lol Seth McFarland gets a normal job
Lmao
Do you have any videos on the Cat 1160? Could you maybe do one mentioning it's issues or relation to the 3208
which cat engine is best, 3208, 3126, 3176?
Worst stuff I encounter on a few gen sets with em is injector pump issues.
I don't know alot , but when fuel comes out of those overflow tubes on it I know it's time to send it out.
Gens have a hard life of alot of sitting around.
This engine was the basis for the international T444E and also the Ford 7.3 Powerstroke.
If you feel the need to own a 3208 they are abundant in school bus auctions and boneyards. I'd wager that there were more of these motors put in school buses than anywhere else.
I seen the cat table that had a high 700hp for turbo marine app. When I was diagnosing why my forklift was burning up clutches. In a fork lift 190 hp , I was kicking 400 from a reman. Spitting out $1600 lipe fluid bathed clutches
3208 is a good engine. People just hate on them because not the most powerful for its displacement but strong enough to be turned up. Also people hate cause they love to point out it's a parent bore. The engine do weight a bit but what medium duty diesel of the era didnt. They loved fuel . Lol.
Thank you for the videos! the coolant crossover tube at 8:20 is gone in my 89 Gillig pusher conversion. can I pull off some of the front housing stuff slide back that plate. and finger in some high temp JB weld , or similar products as an alternative. If that`s not too crazy, It looks like that might be what was being done before I got it from the school yard. any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yes, I know a lot about these. Went to a fishing boat that had this engine that had just had a “full rebuild” but was smoking real bad. Turns out the mechanic had installed all of the compression rings upside down!!
Nice video! Could you do one on the 3406A, B and C models?
+Steve Ross I'm going to be doing one on the 3406B soon. I get a lot of requests for it.
C model is first attemp at some electronic controls ??? I know it had an electronic throttle on a mechanichal pump and people would convert them back to linkage when it broke
Walker Vaillancourt there was a 3406 c industrial that was a hopped up b model. All mechanical used in small ships, construction, and stationary power units usually cranking out 600hp up to 720hp for marine use.
Nope B model has a electronic governor and electronic assist vtu.
@@johngoldsmith6629
My 1988 3406B was all manual. Was a beast pulling the hills.
Como les encanta el3208 su rrugir y potencia en este año 2020 escucha haya va cat 3208
Para mí será el mejor del mundo no habrá otro motor como este el 3208 turbado con doble disco de Clutch
3208 in a LN8000. 185hp NA 32Y, not enough power to get out of it's own way, smokes like a freight train when cold, starts better than almost anything down to 25 deg F. Lift pump is suction so a plugged filter will suck air into the flooded injection pump. I don't remember seeing the coolant tube, I'll have to look again.
Like your videos. Could you do one on a cat c11 and your opinion
Hey Bro We had a 3208 in a GMC Top Kick on a tow truck with a 25 ton wrecker
We got a RV 3208 v8 and fuel stays on top the engine what would be rong with it thanks for letting us know
Most likely a leak somewhere on the high pressure fuel pump or lines going into the cylinder head. You'd have to clean it off really well and watch it run to see.
Thank you for answering have a great day
I got a question, I’m an oilfield trucker,ok I get idling is bad, I went to the last company I was with just because they had apu on there truck and less idle less shop more money get it got it good. Problem one. Never had a apu work for more then a week on these roads.
We had a 3160 in a 1800 Massey Ferguson. Never had any trouble with it.
Do refurbishing drive trains on Wanderlodge FC's, 3208 turbo's, find most have roller followers on the camshaft, must be lucky to run into the later production units.
Could you do a video on the 3408. I'm looking to install one in an international truck and want to learn more about them. thanks
I am also having a 3408. I always refer to the manual available on reliable-store dot com whenever I face problem in 3408. You can also refer their manual to maintain, service, diagnose and repair your vehicle.
a buddy of mine used to work on those motors all the time he said they would bend the push rods regularly in trucks with standard transmissions due to over reving them he would always keeps a set in his service truck
Are you sure they never made a 3208 with a roller cam ?
Could've swore the last ones with the turbo had a redesigned block to accommodate a roller cam setup. But i could be mistaken
You are correct, some of the last versions were roller cams. I've never seen one in person though.