CAT 3126 MUI. Leaking injector?

[Joe Monaco]

I started the motors after having sat about 6 weeks and I noticed a small splattering of what I think was diesel fuel rainbow drops in the water from starboard exhaust. They cleared up/stopped after about 3 minutes at dock idle. Next day I started the motor again and no rainbow splatters. No unusual smoke at cruise and both motors seems to be running fine. I did notice this past summer that only after several hours or trolling I’d get a bit more white smoke from that starboard motor than the port but only when coming up on plan, and only after several hours of trolling. No difference in engine smoke coming on plan on repeated test runs or at cruise speed. Leaking injector? 1 CAT mech I talked to said it don’t worry this unless it starts smoking at cruise. Any thoughts? Should I replace injectors ( if that’s what it is) on that motor or live with it for now watching for any changes? Is this condition hurting anything if I decide to just watch it? Thanks!

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[Joe Monaco]

Yikes! I’ll wait and see. I’m Curious what the cold temperatures relationship to this problem might be? Are Injectors more prone to leaking when it’s cold?

[Tony Athens]

CAT 3126 Injectors–Wait, Watch & Monitor

Joe,
It’s been pretty cold this last few weeks even in SD………I’d follow your mechanics advice and WWM.. I don’t know if you looked into it, but injector replacement on your engine could easily run up a $2500 labor bill plus the cost of parts. It’s not a DIY project like on a Cummins engine as the tools to do the job about a $5000 bill.

Tony

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