Ether Bottle Question

[GCecchetto]

I wouldn't bet on it not pulling the flat. Class 10.9 m10 bolt produces over 8,000 lb clamp load.

The oil cooler housing bolts are M8 but regardless, the bolts themselves absolutely have the clamping force to pull the oil cooler down flat. The issue however is that all of the bolts are around the perimeter of the oil cooler housing, so you are relying on the rigidity of the cast aluminum oil cooler housing to flatten the oil cooler. Maybe if the surface of the oil cooler was out in a smooth radius, but it wasn't in my case. The majority of the variance was happened just inside of the bolts holes.

Anyway, I'm not here to argue this with anyone, just offering up some info from what I found in my engine and what I believe caused my HEUI pump to be spitting metal at only 9500 miles, and CAT obviously agrees since they have issued media letters and developed a band aide filter to lesson the chance of HEUI pump failures. Unfiltered oil isn't what you want being run through your bearings either, so this was a fix I wanted done.

So, take it for what you want. If your confident your engine doesn't have this issue, or you believe this is all much a do about nothing, just ignore this.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

I'm convinced of the issue but not the need to flatten the cooler *in all cases* - there may be some extreme cases where replacement or machining could be warranted and I think CAT does publish a flatness spec...... I think primarily the issue was resolved with the new style metal embossed gasket. The old gasket not only is too thin but is not metal construction so the gasket can tear and literally move off the sealed areas allowing massive quantities of oil to bypass the filter. The updated gasket can't fail in that way due to the updated construction and materials.

That said it certainly can't hurt anything and the two I've done we did have machined as a precaution. It's not particularly expensive and if you have the time and a local shop that is willing to attempt it...... Might as well.

The auxiliary filter location being inaccessible doesn't concern me. If that filter actually got enough crap in it to become a problem the engine is already so F'd it would need replaced or rebuilt. That's just there to catch some tiny fragment that could cause a failure of a very high pressure and sensitive component. If it plugs up.... It's a secondary filter anyway and if the engine was making that much metal we done boys. She's had it.

I've got the updated cooler gaskets and going to do those on mine along with the M-ATV water cooled turbo.... I installed the aux HEUI filter at 5,800 miles and now have 25,500 miles and runs flawlessly. I do filter cuts and oil analysis every 5,000 miles. If there's nothing in the primary filter there's definitely not going to be anything in the HEUI filter. Not enough to worry about it causing a flow restriction anyway.

I've installed several of the trinary filter setups (post HEUI filter) on 3126's with HEUI pump failures and I'm also not convinced of the utility for myself. For people that pay zero attention to their machine and how it sounds and runs - might be wise. I'm comfortable enough with the failures I've seen not causing the consequences and contamination that these are supposed to prevent if caught in a timely fashion that I really don't care.

I think we all forget that engines didn't always even have filters and lasted a surprisingly long time without them. If the engine starts making significant quantities of metal - a filter is only going to prolong the inevitable (and not by as much as you think).

 

[GCecchetto]

I'm convinced of the issue but not the need to flatten the cooler *in all cases* - there may be some extreme cases where replacement or machining could be warranted and I think CAT does publish a flatness spec...... I think primarily the issue was resolved with the new style metal embossed gasket. The old gasket not only is too thin but is not metal construction so the gasket can tear and literally move off the sealed areas allowing massive quantities of oil to bypass the filter. The updated gasket can't fail in that way due to the updated construction and materials.

That said it certainly can't hurt anything and the two I've done we did have machined as a precaution. It's not particularly expensive and if you have the time and a local shop that is willing to attempt it...... Might as well.

The auxiliary filter location being inaccessible doesn't concern me. If that filter actually got enough crap in it to become a problem the engine is already so F'd it would need replaced or rebuilt. That's just there to catch some tiny fragment that could cause a failure of a very high pressure and sensitive component. If it plugs up.... It's a secondary filter anyway and if the engine was making that much metal we done boys. She's had it.

I've got the updated cooler gaskets and going to do those on mine along with the M-ATV water cooled turbo.... I installed the aux HEUI filter at 5,800 miles and now have 25,500 miles and runs flawlessly. I do filter cuts and oil analysis every 5,000 miles. If there's nothing in the primary filter there's definitely not going to be anything in the HEUI filter. Not enough to worry about it causing a flow restriction anyway.

I've installed several of the trinary filter setups (post HEUI filter) on 3126's with HEUI pump failures and I'm also not convinced of the utility for myself. For people that pay zero attention to their machine and how it sounds and runs - might be wise. I'm comfortable enough with the failures I've seen not causing the consequences and contamination that these are supposed to prevent if caught in a timely fashion that I really don't care.

I think we all forget that engines didn't always even have filters and lasted a surprisingly long time without them. If the engine starts making significant quantities of metal - a filter is only going to prolong the inevitable (and not by as much as you think).

Well, all I will say here, is that the CAT prefilter is just about keeping unfiltered oil out of the HEUI pump, it's obviously much more sensitive to that than the engine itself. So I don't see it as something where if it has contaminates in it the engine is Ef'ed anyway, and as you say, having the cooler surface actually flat isn't hurting anything. I just wanted to do everything I could do to prevent failures since the plan is for this truck to take me to very remote places where making these types of repairs are difficult at best.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Right. The HEUI filter is a contingency. And good in case some small particulate makes it through. My point is that if enough shit got into it (talking many, many thousands of particulates) that servicing it became a necessity then the engine is already screwed and thus access to it (ever, really) is unimportant. I do not plan to replace it or service it within the reasonable life span of this engine.