Cat 3116 Tune Up Steps

The 3116 Cat diesel engine tune up is quite involved because of the rack that controls the fuel injection system. The synchronization of the rack is the first step once the injectors are installed. The rack is mounted and torqued down on top of the head linked up to each injector rack.

The injectors must have hold downs installed on top of the return springs so the injector rack moves freely. The hold downs are included in the tune up kit. The #1 injector rack is non adjustable because it's calibrated at the factory. The tune up tools include a calibration fixture that has to be set up on #1 injector to enable the remaining 5 injectors to be synchronized.

After synchronization the full fuel setting is checked followed by injector timing and finally the valve setting. This is an extremely abbreviated explanation on setting up a Cat 3116 and without tools and some training it makes this job a tough one. The engine valve clearances can be checked but the rest definitely needs the tune up kit to complete the job properly.

Once going through the steps a couple of times setting these engines up it gets easier. Following the manual works it just takes time to get the calibration settings correct.