How often do you change your oil on a truck with a Cat 3126? I had heard reports that if you don't change it every 5000 miles you are asking for trouble and they wont run right. I just picket up a truck, and had a hard time making it home. It was a trukcking co that owned it and they said they change oil in theirs every 15K miles and this truck was due for a oil change. I had to drive it 800 miles home. On a week end, couldn't find a oil filter, TA, Pilot, Flying J, Loves, none of them had a oil filter. Truck run like crap,, no power, had to downshift on smallest incline and some times would only run 45. Finally did find a couple of fuel filters and changed them but it didn't help. Will change oil in a couple of days. Shure hope that it will solve the problem.
Well...change every 50 k if you're putting on a lot of miles. I have two 3126's that I use only occasionally, and change the oil every 3 years (not based on miles or hours). Dirty or broken down oil will muck up these engines (and turbo) real quick. No top end power could be turbo (did you hear it whine at 45...or not)? Hopefully you just need some new oil and filters.
"The book says" ............ 10,000 miles or 250 operating hours or 6 months whichever comes first for an engine with a shallow oil pan. 15k miles, 400 working hours or 6 months for an engine with a deep oil pan. I'm sure some users will chime in with personal experience. This model of engine will in my opinion respond very well to frequent oil changes using a good-quality oil (not the stuff that Joe Blow's Gas & Groceries sells in other words), it will protect the hydraulic injection system components which don't like dirty oil. To keep oil clean also requires the use of a good quality filter. TBH I've never heard of any of the brands you mention which makes me a bit suspicious to start with. You should be able to get quality filters for this engine no problem. You don't say what the engine Serial Number prefix is, so I took a 1AJ engine Serial Number at random. The engine oil filter is a 1R-1807 and the fuel filter is a 1R-0751. Any Cat dealer will have those filters, or the equivalent to them ought to be available from any good filter house. The Donaldson equivalents are P551807 (ELF7483 if you want an "Endurance" oil filter) and P551315 respectively. NOTE: ...... The actual OEM part numbers of the filters installed on your engine may differ from the ones I have listed above.
Those are all fuel stations for heavy trucks here in the states. Fleetgard or Wix makes plenty of filters for this engine.
For the record, my service manual states to check the engine oil and filter and change if necessary every 3,000 miles. Case in point, I purchased a 2000 topkick dump with a 3126 and it had only 32k miles. How used, and how dirty/dusty the conditions are will dictate intervals. But I would not go past 10k change intervals unless you're putting on a couple thousand per week. The manual also states to use oil filter AC Type PF-454.
I changed the oil today. Shell Rotella, Wix oil filter. Did not get to test drive it as I had too many other alligators in the pond to fight off. Sure hope that fixes it. For info it is a 2003 Kenworth and I don't have the serial # on hand. The fuel filters were Cat fuel filters. I got them at a Peterbuilt dealer. He called Kenworth and got the numbers. Some one above mentioned the turbo. Can I just raise the speed while sitting still and hear the turbo kick in? At what RPM. Driving From Bentonville Ark to Clos. Oh at 45-55 mph is no fun. At night I had to get a motel because I was afraid I would rear ended by another trucker. Took three days to get home.
I have two 3126's. I mention the turbo because from experience if it is bad...or starved from oil, top speed will be about 45. And yes, you should be able to hear it running (at higher rpms, of course) unless you have the radio cranked, no muffler or bad hearing.
At what RPM should it kick in? Just sitting still it seems to rev up ok. But doesn't even have any power from starting from a dead stop. What would be the symptoms of a bad injector? Or valves needing adjusting ?
For what's it's worth my 953 has a 3126B with 4K+ hours. I religiously change the oil at 250 hours, Cat spec dealer brand oil and cat filters. No problems so far with the engine other that replacing the water pump today.