3208 engine

[Ritchey]

Help Please I am new to this
I am sure the subject has come up before.
I am thinking of purchasing an older (1990) Foretravel Unihome with a cat engine (3208).
My question is what fuel milage can I expect and can this engine use the new low sulfer fuel?

[MonacoMama]

Ritchey..I do not know why you have not received any response as of yet...but I do see whhere you got some negative answers on a similar topic..Are you still looking for answers for this post?

[Ritchey]

Yes I would like some response

[Garbageman]

Hi Ritchey

I owned a '91 Hawkins 33ft with the CAT 3208T. It was the 250hp model engine with 680tq. I was very pleased with the engines performance overall. I can honestly say it averaged 10mpg overall. It would slow down on the mountain passes but it would always get me to my destination.

There were three different 3208 models in that era and each at it's own power and torque rating and Allison transmission model.

Good luck and don't be afraid of the CAT 3208, it's a good engine that will last, with proper care, for 500,000 miles or better.

Paul

[FT4200DGFE]

I had a 90 Grand Villa with the 3208 and before the propane injection I was getting around 8mpg, added the propane injection and got over 10mpg, no smoke, a lot more power.

Jeff

[RustyJC]

Well, yeah, because you're adding more fuel via the propane, so it's natural that it would use less diesel. If you're going to compare fuel consumption between a dual fuel (diesel & propane) and a single fuel (diesel only) engine, you have to look at a measurement such as total BTU of energy input per 100 miles from all fuels.

Rusty

[horridtoad]

Ritchey,

All the engines Foretravel put in their coaches are excellent, each with it's advantage. With my 350 HP Detroit, I get 6 to 12+ mpg, depending on city, mountains, plains, wind and how fast I decide to go. You should get at least this and with less HP and a lighter coach, probably a couple of MPG more. A good test is to start the engine on a cold morning. Should not take too long to start and the expect most of the the smoke to clear up in a minute or so and to be blue smoke free when on the road after several miles with the temp up to normal. All the diesels should run OK on low sulphur fuel. With normal oil changes and care, all these engines should go more than 500K. I still have my 1984 300SD Mercedes with 440K of abuse pulling trailers, etc. on orig. engine/trans with NO repairs so your CAT should do fine. Oil changes on engine/trans are the most important item in longevity in my opinion.

Best of luck

Pierce & Gaylie
93' U300/36