Caterpillar 3196

No intercoolers cool the air intake before the air goes into the turbo. Aftercoolers cool the aftercharge or air after it is compressed by the turbo before it goes into the motor. Compressing air creates heat in the air, plus the turbo itself is hot. Cooler air=more dense air=more power.

Cat also put the year mandate on changing aftercoolers on C18's and C32's etc.

Detroit intercooler cools the air after the turbo but before the blower. Aftercooled detroits cool the air after the turbo and blower......

Got it... They achieve the same thing cooling charge-air form a turbo or supercharger.

There are a lot of Cats with way more than 6 years years time on the aftercoolers.

Actually the C32's had aftercoolers with issues too. I've seen several with the aftercoolers changed under warranty etc. One style has a finned cover plate and the other style is not finned. Changing the aftercooler to the new design requires changing the cover plate too and adds to the price.

I know of another 72' that had C30's and one had a cracked block, owner replaced both with C 32's. I know of several 80's that had one motor rebuilt under warranty as well. These were mainly due to aftercooler issues. In the early stages there were some issues with the C 32's.

A slew of them were rebuilt or heavily modified when the first C 32's came out actually, the first 100 sets thereabouts. I cannot remember what the actual issue was, wasn't aftercoolers, it was something in the valve train.....valve keepers or something along those lines.

I've been hearing every 7 years the aftercoolers need changing from CAT people here in South Florida.

Our last boat had 3412e's without any cooler issues...great motors. Recently surveying c12's/3196 the surveyor pointed out the aftercoolers was positioned high and directly over the intake ports on the head. Gravity and air flow carry raw water leaks or condensation into the intake ports. The culprit is how the raw water is plumbed on each end it was obvious while scoping the aftercoolers there was damage already there. Not sure if the other 31 series are the same. By contrast the 3406 aftercooler is lower and below the intake ports and does not have the same issues. In Pascal's case $30k on c32's works out to $5k per year plus service if you adhere to the 6 year lifespan just for aftercoolers... Previously it was a clean and test for coolers. Those numbers Ralph posted for warranty's plus maintenance would change my mind on another pair of 12 cyl Cats. The way we use a boat now has changed a bit and makes me pause to consider which motors are needed in the ER and the maintenance required.

Well that is true. 12 cylinder modern motors are expensive to maintain and take care of, but they're also BIG motors. Let's stick to CAT's a C18 motor overall is going to be considerably cheaper than a C32, but it's also half the price for a new one compared to a C32, so the costs are relative to HP. MAN's are probably more still to maintain if you adhere to cleaning and inspecting all of the coolers every 2 years in order to stay in warranty.

Yes, changing the aftercoolers is expensive, but at least you can save a few thousand over having the old ones cleaned.

Quite honestly, I see a lot of SF where C18's would be a better fit all of the way around, much less fuel burn, less maintenance expense, less weight,better ride, better range, easier to get around the engine room......with a cruise of say 30 knots compared to 34 knot cruise with C32's, yet they're all ordered with the C32's because everyone wants that extra 4 knots.......yet half the time end up running slower than cruise anyways.

Yeah, unless you have to have the speed the C18's are the ticket. I will stay with the inline 6's. Have to say I am disappointed in Cat's new service schedules... a game changer.