Ryans Skoolie

[rhickman]

After months and month of obsessive studying and learning I decided to buy a Bus ! 2 months ago I picked up a 1999 Thomas 40ft Rear Diesel Pusher.... I won the auction on Government deals for 2600$ ... My Girlfriend and I drove 2 hours to pick up the bus from the Polk County schools in central Florida. The guys at the bus yard were very nice and even gave me the maintenance log and all the books for the bus ! They stated they had several leave in the prior weeks one for NC and another for Penn... They all made it to their destinations .... So we were at ease thinking it would make the 200 miles drive south to Fort Lauderdale where it will be taking on its transformation into a tiny home ! Needless to say we broke down 20 miles from town ... In the middle of the everglades .... Called a wrecker company I had dealt with them several time before in the past and they made me a deal to tow the bus the remainder of the way for about 400$ ... This took all day ... The next day I found the alternator to be bad and charged the batteries ... The following day I started the bus to find a extremely loud knocking in the bus ... It ran like a top but had a pounding knock ... Sat in front of my shop for a week then drove it 1/4 mile to the shop .... 7 weeks later they got to diagnosing it .... I had told them from day one it sounds like a wrist pin ... They told me 5 different things then I made the drop the pan ... Turns out broken wrist pin in cylinder 2 ... They said its needs a new engine PERIOD ! I dont know if any of you have ever priced a CAT 3126 just a reman block is 5k a new complete engine and install would cost almost 21k To install a reman block and rebuild would be 12 k .... So im thinking I have the worst luck and just lost the 3000$ .... So now It is sitting in an ally where I am going to attempt an in-frame overhaul to get her running again .... I have found the kits ranging from 1500- 2000$ I figure this is the way to go .... I wont give up on this bus .... I havent named her yet cause she already has a pretty crappy personality ... We will wait and see the true colors she shows in the next up coming months ... Last night was the first time I actually started working on her ... I removed 2/3rds of the seats by myself in about 3 hours ... I will post pictures very soon ! If any of you have knowledge in in-frame overhauls please chime in ! Till next time Ryan

[opus]

Thats why we say stay away from Cat. Nonetheless, sorry to hear about your woes. I'd be thinking along these lines, after an oil sample was done: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-7-2L-Cater ... ab&vxp=mtr

[rhickman]

Where do you have a sample done ? The shop drained it all ... I'm sure I can get a little from the filter ... What's the process ? Thanks

[rhickman]

Originally Posted by rhickman

Where do you have a sample done ? The shop drained it all ... I'm sure I can get a little from the filter ... What's the process ? Thanks

Originally Posted by opus

Thats why we say stay away from Cat. Nonetheless, sorry to hear about your woes. I'd be thinking along these lines, after an oil sample was done: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-7-2L-Cater ... ab&vxp=mtr

[Scooternj]

Blackstone Labs does it for 25 bucks. Hopefully you still have enough oil left in the filter for the sample

[opus]

Yep. You really dont need a lot for a sample. Go to their website and have them send you a bottle in the meanwhile. Biggest piece of mind you'll ever have with an engine you know nothing about. I do my bus ever other oil change just to keep track on it. Plus, if I ever sell it, it will be a big bonus in my favor.

Just for you: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/lemon-aide.php

[sojourner]

When you do send in your oil sample be sure to make a note that the oil is from the filter on the paperwork. Filters are designed to hold onto contaminates and the results may be high due to concentrations of compounds collected there.

[rhickman]

Ok I looked today and its looking like I have very little oil in the bus .... Probably from towing and sitting for along period .... I took the valve cover off today and started to disassemble the top of the engine ... Should have the valves and head out by weekend .... So far the plan is replace things as needed ... How ever I will be replacing all the pistons and bearings , deglazing and reinstalling ... The only way this wont be the option going forward is if there is major block damage ... Im on a budget and I want to know exactly where my money is going as well as know the ins and out of my engine ... I will keep you all posted and I will definitely be doing oil samples after reassembly... Im going to try to get some pics of the bus up soon !

Thanks Guys ! Kicking myself in the but for getting a cat .... But its mine now !

[opus]

Naw, dont kick yourself...all will be good. Do a good job on it and you'll be all set for a long time. Look at it this way, you wont need an alternator or an engine for a while. ;)

[rhickman]

Originally Posted by opus

Naw, dont kick yourself...all will be good. Do a good job on it and you'll be all set for a long time. Look at it this way, you wont need an alternator or an engine for a while. ;)

Thanks for the encouragement ... Today I went for a couple hours and took all the front of the engine off to include all pulleys , Alternator, wiring and then I removed the rockers and all the push rods ... I spent 3 hours last night studying how to disassemble and reassemble .... Im having trouble finding books for this engine ... Cat want like 700$ for the manual Crazy ! Anyone have a copy of the Manual for Torque and reassembly ?

[opus]

Didnt go through them but these might help:

https://safety.cat.com/cda/files/557607 ... ervals.pdf

http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-9-2320-312-24-2.pdf

http://www.agkits.com/caterpillar-3126- ... sheet.aspx

http://www.notagz.com/tbb/cat%20eng-er%20serv.pdf

This might be your best bet: http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-5-3895-383-24.pdf

[rhickman]

Originally Posted by opus

Didnt go through them but these might help:

https://safety.cat.com/cda/files/557607 ... ervals.pdf

http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-9-2320-312-24-2.pdf

http://www.agkits.com/caterpillar-3126- ... sheet.aspx

http://www.notagz.com/tbb/cat%20eng-er%20serv.pdf

This might be your best bet: http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-5-3895-383-24.pdf

Wow great Info ... Not all fits exactly but I should be able to get 90% of what I need from there ! Thanks So much !

[rhickman]

Today ... I got the head off and pulled 2 pistons ..... 2 and 5 nothing wrong at all .... Researching this more and looking at one of my injectors I do believe I have wasted time and money on taking the engine apart .... Looks like it might be an injector causing the loud knock ! 1 week to get her apart probably 3 to put her back together ... Im going to clean everything really well ... Paint ..... and replace anything looking warn out perhaps this was good for me to do ... I dont know ... Now I know what the inside workings of a 3126 cat look like and the amount of work to get there .... I just hope it all goes back together right .... BTW The reason I did this is cause I took it to a shop to have it diagnosed and they said it was a wrist pin in cylinder 2 .... Im taking the 2 piston assemblies in tomorrow and gonna ask them WTH is wrong with my pistons .... I see a bad review coming ... I think they didn't know enough to diagnose it so they said something to get it gone .... Argh .... Guess this is good and bad news .... Saves me 1500 in piston parts !

[kenny76]

Personally I would call or email the manufacturer on that one and let them know what their dealer did. You never know, CAT may make it right with some freebies. I would also drop a note to the BBB and spread the word. This would be especially good if they put the estimate in writing. You may have stumbled upon some scam artists.

[rhickman]

When Removing a piston today I scratched the #2 cylinder .... Im loosing sleep on this .... Its really low in the cylinder but im curious as to how bad can this be ... I keep reading and everyone makes this sound horrible and says new engine or sleeved ... Either way the engine has to come out ... At this point I think im going to have to hone it and pray for little blow by ... I hope I didnt ruin this engine by scratching a cylinder .... This is where my inexperience hurts me ... Would be great to find a mobile guy that can sleeve in the truck .... Im freaked out ... Guess I will put piston back in tomorrow and see where the scratch lands in its stroke .... FML I hope I can build this thing soon ! Loosing faith ... BTW I didn't take it to a CAT dealer I took it to mechanic who works on CATs ... They didn't charge me and left the door open for the 7 weeks ... bus has cat **** and piss everywhere .... I will never take anything to them again !

[sdwarf36]

Hone it-you'll be fine. If it was in the top 1/4 of the cylinder (where cylinder pressures start getting high during compression) I'd worry more. I worked many years as an automotive machinist-I've seen patch jobs on race engines with scratchs from prior blow ups not hurt the power on the dyno.

[jazty]

I admire your ambition Ryan! You've come this far.... You'll get that feline whooped into shape.

If problems persist, continue application of elbow grease.

[bansil]

Good luck and welcome, like dwarf said check out location, hone to "knock off" the burr only and run it

[missingTexas]

Now I'm depressed, I have a bid on a bus right now that has a cat 3126 engine

[opus]

LOL, dont let that get you down! There are loads of vehicles running that engine. We never said it was junk and that you'd best burn it to the ground.