Cat 3160 Vs 3208

Originally produced in 1975 through a collaboration between caterpillar and ford the cat 3208 diesel engine was extremely popular through its entire production run which lasted into the early 1990s. In figure 13 you can see that the cat 3208 used one of three camshaft drive gears and three different type injection pump timing advance units. 3160 hunting at idle i recently acquired a boat with a 41 year old cat 3160 seems to run fine except for a steady hunting at idle loaded or unloaded 550 600 rpm it smooths out above idle and runs fine no noticeable smoke at moderate speeds some normal white misty smoke higher speeds and temperatures.
cat 3160 vs 3208

The engine was used in heavy trucks including tractor trailers garbage trucks school buses and construction.

Cat 3160 vs 3208. 3160 has a scroll fuel system and slightly different front engine cover. 3208 has a sleeve metering injection pump which is a v configuration. The engine puts out 225hp has a 636 cubic inch capacity water cooled turbo charged. On the left the narrow drive pin set for the advance unit notice how close the pins are to the center hole of the gear shows these gears are for a naturally aspirated engine.

Usually runs at 180f 195f. When caterpillar came out with the 3160s successor the 3208 they improved the strength of the bottom end but like the 3160 it still had the camshaft gear flaw. In the late 60s and early 70s the cat 3160 was installed in many boats. Seriously major difference is the injection pump.

Scroll injection pump is an inline pump. Some history of the cat 3160 marine engine now long out of production. 3160 was naturally aspirated while the 3208 could be turbo aftercooled with marine ratings up to 450hp. However because of its popularity it was redesigned to power yachts and pleasure cruisers as a main engine and other marine applications such as auxiliary engines driving electrical generators.

The 3208 caterpillar marine diesel engine was originally designed for the various caterpillar trucks and machinery.