Broken C-12...Maybe

Tiny · Jun 14, 2010

Need help

Changed oil in the boom truck I drive and found a chunk stuck to the magnetic oil plug.Can you Identify it !?!?.

Its at the Cat truck shop but I wanted a heads up if i can get it.They are pulling the oil pan tomorrow.

The guy at the desk said "If its a reman engine,That chunk could have been hung up in the block and finally jiggled out....Horse Pucky,Its been in service two years surely it would have been found by now.

So Motorheads What do you think????? actual size is about 3/4 of and inch long

D2Denny · Jun 14, 2010

C-12 Chunk piece of piston????

About a year ago I lost the C-12 in my truck. Runninng MT home noticed a slight tick in the engine. As I was only about 20 miles from home and had good Oil PSI i decided to run it on in. About 3 miles later ka boom! Rod through the side of the block. When I pulled the engine to replaced it I pulled the pan and found that the #2 piston had broken, jammed in the liner and pushed the rod out the right side of the block. The rod and main bearings were all good still. Engine had about 700 K on it.

D2Denny

qball · Jun 14, 2010

looks kinda like piston skirt.
or piston kilt on an irish engine.

heavylift · Jun 14, 2010

KC Chiefs logo.... put a magnet on it and sell it to a Chiefs Fan

look like cast... so I will guess... piece of the block

hvy 1ton · Jun 15, 2010

heavylift said:
KC Chiefs logo.... put a magnet on it and sell it to a Chiefs Fan

look like cast... so I will guess... piece of the block

I agree with points 1 & 2. Good luck finding a Chiefs fan.

ointhead

CAT793 · Jun 15, 2010

I believe that is a piece of Cast Liner..............

Looking at the Grain Structure and Shape!

tonka · Jun 15, 2010

Yeah looks like liner to me too cause, aren’t the pistons aluminum? And isn't a piston skirt/kilt, milled on both sides…

RobVG · Jun 15, 2010

I don't know what it is.

But the last time I pulled chunks out of a cat, it was from the aircompressor. The failure also chipped a few teeth off the aux drive.

Tiny · Jun 15, 2010

Cat dealer found nothing and said run it, so...... stay tuned

willie59 · Jun 15, 2010

I think it's a chip off of a drive gear. Either cam gear, fuel pump, compressor drive gear, something like that. You'd have to remove the front cover to view those components.

Tiny · Jun 15, 2010

Well, They said run it and run it I will..........If it blows up , just think of the mobile I can build and hang in the garage

Deerehauler · Jun 16, 2010

My C-12 broke a cam follower early this spring, which wrecked the camshaft. I didn't get to see the actual carnage, but I hear through the grapevine that these engines had some weaknesses in the cam follower area. When the follower broke, my oil pressure went from 40 to 20 and the jakes didn't work right. It might be worth the shop's time to pull the valve covers and see if the valvetrain looks OK.

CAT793 · Jun 16, 2010

Cut your Oil Filter every 5000 km and inspect.

C12 have Rocker Arm pads made of Butter but they fail at a consistent rate..........

When you see the fine IRON and Chromium increase POP a lid and inspect?? You just have to catch them before the Follerers Rotate and LOP a Lobe off the CAM. They seldom EXPLOD at Zero notice unless OVER SPEED events occoured.

Tiny · Jun 16, 2010

Well the way this thing is loaded most times an over speed will never happen unless its going down a really long hill LOL

Will Musser · Jun 18, 2010

I just fixed a C-12 with a cam follower problem. Follower roller locked up and yanked a piece out of the side of the block. It killed the engine totally. You have lost a piece of a liner. They are like a 3208 though. Run it till it blows, trash it, and poke another in it's place. 100% not even close to worth fixing in my opinion. Sadly they are one of Cat's misses.

Deerehauler · Jun 27, 2010

Of all the rotton luck, I think my C-12 may have ate another cam follower. I have not seen the repair bill from the last episode this past March, but I would think that if they replaced the camshaft Cat would have also replaced ALL followers with new ones. My oil pressure loss is not as severe as last time; I have only dropped from 39 psi to 30 psi.

This time of the year is probably the absolute worst time for this to happen. We are just beginning wheat harvest in this area and my truck is the only one with a winch to load dead combines. I CANNOT let CAT have the truck for almost a month like they did last time. I guess it is time to go truck shopping....

Deerehauler · Jul 3, 2010

Well, I got lucky. Turns out that my fleetguard oil filter collapsed internally. We changed the oil and filter and everything is now normal. We did pull an oil sample and it showed nothing abnormal except for high sodium, which is supposed to indicate burned coolant. I will be monitoring the coolant level closely.

Has anyone else had trouble with fleetguard filters? This was my first incident and I have used them for years. Maybe I just got a bad one....

DirtHauler · Oct 16, 2010

Did it blow up yet?

Broken C-12...Maybe

Tiny

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