Caterpillar 3208 TA's

[Stevieb]

How reliable are the Caterpillar 3208 TA's?
What should I be looking for particular to these engines when I do my initial evaluation? I'm on a
search to purchase my Double Cabin Hatteras, vintage 1970's -80's

 

[seasalt]

My trusty mechanic says these are prone to head gasket problems. Otherwise excellent and long lived.

 

[dsharp]

They do much better in a double cabin boat or where the engines are covered by the salon. They have sheet metal heat exchanger tanks and oil pans so they tend to rust. The cooling systems are marginal and the eghaust risers have a stainless shower ring that tends to clog.and cause over heating problems. They started at 210 hp so at 375hp they're pretty high strung.As long as you maintain them they're economical to run and maintain.

 

[captddis]

Great engines. They will take an amazing amout of abuse.
As long as you keep the oil pan dry it is a non issue
Clean the exchangers every two years and they will hold 180 degrees @ wot.
A yearly acid flush of the trans cooler is usually needed if the cooler has zincs in it.
personally I leave the zincs out. They cause more trouble than good.

Do see a head gasket from time to time but usually in the 2000 hr range.
Would prefer the 375 over the 425,435 or 450 hp.

 

[magnawake]

At 1500 hrs the previous owners replaced the port head gasket and within 100 hrs the strb let loose on me. Now I have two good ones. I hear within the 20-25 year time frame they tend to fail. Mine run great and start with a touch of a button. I run at 7 kts mostly burning between 3.5-4 gals per hour. BTW, our boat is on the market. Ha ha. Are you looking for a sport fish or MY?.

 

[fissioneng]

Great engines. They will take an amazing amout of abuse.
As long as you keep the oil pan dry it is a non issue
Clean the exchangers every two years and they will hold 180 degrees @ wot.
A yearly acid flush of the trans cooler is usually needed if the cooler has zincs in it.
personally I leave the zincs out. They cause more trouble than good.

Do see a head gasket from time to time but usually in the 2000 hr range.
Would prefer the 375 over the 425,435 or 450 hp.

X2 on this. Make sure you know what model you have. Brokers sometimes list TA's but they're really T's (no aftercooler). The T's are usually 320 HP, the higher horsepower versions have aftercoolers which can be problematic.

 

[gbharrington]

I believe that 3208s were only installed in the 43MY (84-87) and not the 43DC. Same hull, different layout and superstructure.

 

[magnawake]

Mine are the T only, and I'm glad. I don't need the extra horse power anyway. The head gasket was much easier to replace as well. Mine dyno'd at 300 hp from the factory.