Cat 3304 engine failure

[dnewton3]

I think we'll all of the same general notion, but some of the nuiances may never be known, if one or more parties has something to hide. I am NOT blamining anyone in particular; I am pointing out that some of this might be akin to the "chicken and the egg" issue, and those that might suspect they are at fault, may not fess up to the fact.

Without a doubt, dirt ingestion the a major contributor, especially after knowing the crankcase contents. But, fuel might have been the lingering death, as already noted. Fuel contamination cannot cause an air leak, and air leaks cannot generally cause fuel leaks. Two things were wrong here, but one did the deed before the other. These are, after all, individual contributors that each could have been the demise seperately. Oddly, they happend together. Very much like the gunshot/heart attack scenario.

The reality is that this engine suffered from both chronic (fuel) and accute (dirt) contamination issues. I don't know that I have the ability to acertain which one truly killed the beast first, although I suspect it was the dirt. But if dirt had not got it, the fuel eventually would have most likey; 14% is simply bordering on true negligence.

I don't know of any operational manaul (owners manual, shop manual, etc) that doesn't state to check engine oil at least daily. If the owner/operator had pulled that dipstick on a frequent basis, I cannot believe that something like dirt and/or a overwhelming fuel smell should not have alerted someone to major issues being present!

What is very likely NOT the cause is poor reman work; not in the sense of the machining work. Perhaps the blame lies in either the set-up after re-installation, or perhaps it lies with the owner/operator in that they didn't do daily checks. This is EXACTLY why people should check oil level and conditions on a dialy basis for expensive equipment. You don't need a UOA to tell you that the oil on the dipstick looks like mud, feels like sand paper, and smells like home-heating-oil ...

I understand that someone is going to be very unhappy with the overall analysis and synopsis, but that is the reality of it. Some person or persons didn't check the set-up, and someone didn't do daily checks. This condition should have never gotten to this point. I see this as blame being on multiple levels. The reinstallation work was likely flawed, possibly causing an air leak and defintely causing a fuel leak. But, if the owner/operator had been doing the PM checks, the conditions were likely to be found WAY before this happened. My apologies if this comes off as blunt, but sometimes the truth is not popular.

 

[Jim Allen]

Getting into this late, but I had the exact same thing happen to one of my vehicles and it WAS sabotage ( I always suspected a co-worker who was resentful of my getting a promotion and him not).

In my case, sand blasting sand from the shop was used. There was upwards of an inch of sand in the oil pan. Some sort of "carrier" was used to get the sand into the engine and by the smell of the oil, I suspected cleaning solvent. It was done in broad daylight and when I left to go home at the end of the day, I didn't get far before I knew something was wrong (nearly zero oil pressure and knocking). I shut it down right away and got it towed, so the engine didn't fail catastrophically but everything was wiped out, including the bores. I suspect the OP's piece of equipment gave plenty of warning before it failed and that might be worth having a few words with the operator(s). Still, if it was sabotage, the damage occurred pretty rapidly. My engine (a Land Rover) was done in only about three miles. Literally non-rebuildable. From my experience, just a few minutes of running time is all it takes to kill the engine. The sand gets in every oriface and it is difficult, if not impossible to get it clean enough to ever use the block again with total safety... at least that was the case with my Land Rover.

As for the excess fuel, there is a related possibility beyond diesel being used as a carrier for the sand. If the engine has a mechanical injection pump that's lubricated by fed by oil from the engine, it's getting the same abrasive stuff as everything else, so it could have failed internally and leaked into the engine via the return plumbing, or overfueled.

Where is Doug Hillary on this one?

 

[dnewton3]

Jim - certainly a dark and sinister assement. And quite likely a reasonable explination.

This is the tell-tale clue:
"Rubbing the oil between your fingers, definite grains of sand could be felt. No clear evidence of abnormal dirt in the intake."

That oil probably got "lumpy" via Jim's suggested method. Initially, I suspected negligence, but the more I review this case, the more I suspect sabotage. It's not our typical nature to suspect such acts; we here at BITOG presume that everyone loves their equipment, unless stated otherwise. But here, the evidence seems to point to just such a conclusion.

It would be very easy to pull a sample of the resultant abrasive "lumpy stuff" in the pan, and wash it clean again with another solvent. Then you can compare the native dirt/sand from the operating area, and see if what's in the pan matches what's in the work environment, or on the ground.

Kudos Jim for thinking outside the box. The cause of the engine failure is not the unknown; the cause of the cause is the unknown!

 

[Chris142]

Is this engine in a vehicle or out on a farm somewhere?

If it's out on a farm somewhere it would be easily sabataged and go unnoticed untill it blew up. Be a lot harder to sabatage a truck and not get caught.

 

[dnewton3]

Enigne was in a motor grader, as I recall.

If this were sabotage (which is certainly possible, and likely probable given when we know now), if falls under the old addage of "when there's a will, there's a way".