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CAT 289D SN TAW11888 560 hours blown head gasket

f311fr1

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
My 289 gave an engine coolant overheat code. We shut it down. While poking around the engine compartment we noticed that the coolant recovery tank had expanded. Called the local dealer to discuss the options and took it in the next day. The diagnoses of leaking head gasket was confirmed. Cat fixed and it is ready to pick up. The whole process took a week.
 

f311fr1

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May 11, 2016
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698
Location
Middle TN
Got it back this morning. Took it to the job site. Ran it about 2 hours. Seemed like it was down on power. Engine ran away and smoked like a WW2 bomber shot out of the sky. Cat brought me a loaner unit, delivered personally by my salesman. Ran mine back up on the trailer for the salesman to take back to the shop. It was grinding and shot oil out the exhaust like a waterhose. I would guess that this engine is done.
 

KSSS

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Feb 27, 2005
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Idaho
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excavation
Hopefully your still under warranty.
 

KSSS

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A contractor friend of mine bought a 262D last year, it has about five hundred hours on it. The machine is losing a drive motor, luckily he mentioned it to a tech when he was fixing something else and was still inside the warranty period when he brought it up. Sounds like they will rebuild the drive on their dime, because it was mentioned but not addressed by the tech at the time. I thought that was pretty stand up of them.
 

f311fr1

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May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
I will check on it tomorrow. My grand daughters boyfreind is a tech on the heavy side of the dealers shop and said that it jumped line and hit the shop floor this AM first thing. The salesman knows a 299 and a 305, or equal, are in next years budget. He says probably new engine.
 

Nige

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Jun 22, 2011
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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
A contractor friend of mine bought a 262D last year, it has about five hundred hours on it. The machine is losing a drive motor, luckily he mentioned it to a tech when he was fixing something else and was still inside the warranty period when he brought it up. Sounds like they will rebuild the drive on their dime, because it was mentioned but not addressed by the tech at the time. I thought that was pretty stand up of them.
My experience at Cat dealerships was that warranty was always honoured based on the date of report of the issue, not the date the machine was fixed.
 

f311fr1

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
Update on my 289. The knock was a fuel knock. Oil filter was cut open and no particals. Oil level was over full and had fuel in it. They pulled injectors and and flow tested. #4 was open all the time. They are going to try a known set of good injectors and see what they have.
 

skata

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Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
1,541
Location
midwest
That fuel knock couldn't have been good for the engine. Not to mention the diluted oil for the bearing .
 

f311fr1

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Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
Dealer put injectors in and test ran it for 1 hour per Vision Link. My grand daughters boyfriend who works in the same shop, said it sounded terrible and was not right. I called and asked for an update last Tuesday. Have not heard anything back. I know that they are swamped with work and my machine jumped line when I took it in, and I have a loaner so I would assume they will get back to me in due time.
 

skata

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Good thing they gave you a loaner. But man, I'd be pushing them for a new motor.
 

Nige

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Jun 22, 2011
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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Below 3% of fuel dilution in an oil analysis is normally not even reported. The sample might be reported as being positive for fuel but not much more than that.
Ears start to prick up big style when the dilution approaches 10%.
Up to 15% of fuel dilution is permissible in the short term without producing any long term detrimental effects in engine components.
 

Welder Dave

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Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
It's a good thing you have someone on the inside that can confirm if it sounds good or not. They could also know exactly what was discovered wrong with it. In another thread the Cat dealer refused to say what a frustrating problem turned out to be. Even if it's a simple problem that somehow slipped through, I think if you're paying someone (especially a dealer) to fix it, they should be obligated to tell you what the problem was and what they did to fix it.
 

f311fr1

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May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
Update. The machine is still at CAT with the engine out of the machine. I am going to have to go visit the shop with my sales rep to find out what their plan is,
 

Tags

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
Messages
1,610
Location
Connecticut
Sounds like since they can't fix it correctly and they've already removed it, it would be real simple to put a new motor in that puppy and probably cause the least amount of headaches for everybody down the road. That really sucks that this happened but at least they covered you with a loaner and seem to be working towards a solution.
 

f311fr1

Senior Member
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
698
Location
Middle TN
Went to the Cat dealer today. #4 cylinder was washed out by bad injector. They bored and honed the block. new pistons, rings bearings, seals, and injectors. Should be back in the machine by Monday. We will see how it performs and go from there.
 

KSSS

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Feb 27, 2005
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Idaho
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Assuming your machine runs as it should, I think your still getting unnecessarily beat up on this deal. When you go to trade (assuming you do), and the history of the machine is ran. It will show all the work done to it, inside the first year. That is a resale hit in value that your unnecessarily taking. If you plan on running the wheels off of it maybe then it doesn't matter so much. You don't indicate they gave you any input on the repair, unless you haven't shared that. I think that should have been a new engine, not rebuilt. I realize they gave you a loaner, but they, in my view, are obligated to. I would at a min. make sure that you get a new engine warranty from the date it goes back into service, if not additional full machine warranty. I believe CAT is two years on the engine, but you probably know what that is for sure. Things happen, but I think CAT is obligated to make you whole on such a new machine. Rebuilding a burned down engine with a rebuilt one inside the first year of purchase, doesn't accomplish that at least to me. However as long as your happy, that is what matters.
 
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