Cat 3054

[ak diesel driver]

So a few weeks ago I pulled my 416C backhoe into my shop to deal with a coolant leak. I Started off working on the thermostat housing which was a common leak area. The housing is plastic. Looking around on ebay I found a cast aluminum housing and got that. No bueno it still leaked. So the next most common leak area was the back half of the timing cover. The leak was coming from the intersection area of the head, block, timing cover, thermostat. So I tore down the front of the engine and replaced that gasket. Worst part of the job was trying to keep the IP in time. The dB4 pump doesn't rotate the gear that drives it has 3 slotted bolt holes. Your supposed to put it at TDC and insert a special tool and then tighten the bolts. So I took some spray paint and spritzed a little around the bolt heads to get it pretty close.
It ran pretty good but had a slight pinging noise, I'm the only one who noticed it. But.... it still leaked, not as bad but it still leaked. So I got a head gasket kit and put that on, finished it up this morning. I couldn't tell that the headgasket was bad but when I got it back together, success! What irritated me was the pump timing with the head on the only way to find TDC is to pull an injector, which given how long it's been in there I was not excited to try that. So while I had the head off I used a dial indicator got TDC and reset the pump. For anyone attempting this job a letter O drill bit is the perfect size.
Most of the bigger diesel engines there's a pin you put into the flywheel to get TDC. Nothing on this 3054.