Cat 3204DI rebuild

[norman123]

Start to rebuild my 1980s cat d3 engine today. I had zero Diesel engine rebuild experience so far. Create this thread to record what I did.
Spend about 3 hrs today to get engine head pull up. Everyhing went smoothly. Dont have any problems so far.
Tomorrow I will start drop oil pan and hopefully to get piston rod out. Since I did not buy rebuild kit yet. I saw some oversize piston ring online. How do I measure what size piston ring do I need？
Is that possible to just change piston rings ？ i am using my machine to clear my 15 arces land. So far have half of the work done.

 

[bccat]

Start to rebuild my 1980s cat d3 engine today. I had zero Diesel engine rebuild experience so far. Create this thread to record what I did.
Spend about 3 hrs today to get engine head pull up. Everyhing went smoothly. Dont have any problems so far.
Tomorrow I will start drop oil pan and hopefully to get piston rod out. Since I did not buy rebuild kit yet. I saw some oversize piston ring online. How do I measure what size piston ring do I need？
Is that possible to just change piston rings ？ i am using my machine to clear my 15 arces land. So far have half of the work done.

Do yourself a favour, cover those fuel pumps you don,t want dirt anywhere near them.

 

[norman123]

Do yourself a favour, cover those fuel pumps you don,t want dirt anywhere near them.

Sure do.lol. Thats a good tip. Thanks

 

[partsandservice]

The oil pump rides in the front cover and the block does not have removable liners. If the engine is original it likely has two ring pistons , three ring pistons are available and are way to go IMO.

 

[norman123]

Figure out have to pull engine out from dozer. But not feel comfortable at all to pull engine out by myself. What I ganna do（cry）

 

[Don k]

Why are you rebuilding it?

 

[norman123]

Lots of blowby.

 

[AllDodge]

Figure out have to pull engine out from dozer. But not feel comfortable at all to pull engine out by myself. What I ganna do（cry）

If you have a good hoist its not that hard. I pulled mine by myself, only needed the wife to steady it has it went back in

Edit: just noticed your using a 4x4 to lift

 

[norman123]

Using a 4*6 to lift the head.
Start to unbolt the console. Have on side 7 bolt out easily with my impact air gun. The last one can not put impact in in very tight space. Try to use wrench, wow. Bolt is damn tight.
Only one tube left for console which go under transmission somewhere, guess need to take it off under machine.

 

[Welder Dave]

It would have been a real good idea to do some research on rebuilding the engine in your D3B and/or asked on here before you started. 3204 does not use liners but can be bored for oversize pistons. If the bores are real bad then they can be over-bored with liners installed. IPD has 3 ring pistons. Cat will have a procedure for pulling the engine and you can probably rent an engine crane to pull the engine out. Have you rebuilt other engines before? The 1st thing I think most people would do is clean the engine as best you can before you start.

 

[norman123]

Rebuild my honda Trx500 4 wheeler is the only experience...
Pressure wash the engine before I started. But found way more dirt in some spot...
I can feel the engine block have to be bore oversize. Get couple local phone number from Facebook will call to see how much will they charge to bore oversize, what is the price range usually?

 

[AllDodge]

I didn't need to support the tranny when removing the motor, it had its own mounts supporting it along with drive line in rear.

Drain the tranny before separating the motor or pulling the starter, the bellhousing is floating in oil from the tranny

CAT uses mechanical gauges for tranny and engne temmp, they look like small metal lines.

 

[dozr]

befor i pulled motor if crank is good you might find some one to bore in frame, they do a lot of cummins in dodge trucks, one machine shop in birngham and one by me i know has a porble boring bar.

 

[Welder Dave]

Engine has to be pulled. If you're going to do the engine, do the complete engine not a Band-aide repair. Huge difference between a single cylinder quad engine and a 4 cylinder diesel. To have a shop rebuild the engine could be $7000+. Everything needs to be measured and checked and a new oil pump should be installed. I wouldn't think a 3204 would be a first time diesel rebuild.

 

[John C.]

You can measure the cylinders for inside diameter and out of round just below the carbon area to see how bad they actually are. Use that to make a decision on how far you want to go with the motor. In the photos it doesn't look like you have removed the head gasket. Do that and take some photos of the top of the block and post them here. Those two areas are your indicators of the amount of wear on the block. You should also take some photos of the head before and after you clean it up. The areas by the injector holes and the places where the gaskets seal are the critical areas. Do you have a service manual for the machine and does it have a section on rebuilding the engine?

 

[Nige]

The "red" head gasket (or is it just loads of red gasket sealer?) shown in the photos doesn't look like a genuine Cat head gasket to me. That would seem to indicate the the engine has been apart before. I wonder why someone but a head back on with so much sealer on the gasket..?

 

[norman123]

6n8649 is the piston number. Remember the previous owner told me engine was rebuild before. I am trying as fas as I can to get move forward. Looking for mechanic at the same time.

 

[norman123]

The "red" head gasket (or is it just loads of red gasket sealer?) shown in the photos doesn't look like a genuine Cat head gasket to me. That would seem to indicate the the engine has been apart before. I wonder why someone but a head back on with so much sealer on the gasket..?

Red is a gasket paper from what I can tell.

 

[norman123]

More block top pics.

 

[norman123]

If you have a good hoist its not that hard. I pulled mine by myself, only needed the wife to steady it has it went back in

Edit: just noticed your using a 4x4 to lift

Thanks. I have collected all your info you replied as my service manual