Well, back in my earlier years, LOL I had the distinct pleasure of operating a WD-45 diesel Allis Chalmers with the 6 cylinder Buda engine, (it was brand new, that's how long ago it was!) When lugged down to almost the point of stalling, it would kick over and run backwards! (One had to be quick on the clutch and fuel shut off!)
Dave:cool:

I have had a 3208 in a Ford 9000 delivery truck also a 3406C electronic in a Peterbilt 379 run backwards on me after backing into a loading dock and hitting the rubber bumpers to hard jerking the truck & trailer foward. Strange feeling while in reverse pulling foward away from the dock with the low oil pressure light on and buzzer sounding with smoke out the air cleaner. oops!

Sometimes I wonder if sometimes the engine is just turning over backwards by coasting and not actually running as it still could puke oil or smoke out the air cleaner.

I had my D2 running backwards just the other day. Pushing dirt up a hill and bogged it down till it stalled and it fired back up running backwards. I glanced at the oil pressure before I killed the fuel, It was on zero. Wouldnt take long to kill an engine.

Don't know about Cats running backwards but I did see a GM 6-71 selfdestruct by running out of diesel fuel. It pulled the oil out of the pan until a rod let go and put a hole in the side of the block about the size of a basketball. I was fueling another truck and called the driver when I heard it start winding up but it was too late to get it shut down. I was working at a truckstop when that happened. Scary when you think about it.
Dave

Non-existant user wrote:

It is. Many years ago we used to pull start the old D7, one nite i put it in the wrong gear and it covered me from head to toe in black oil out of the air cleaner. Looking back it was funny.

LOL....not once but twice in the same day.

Many years ago I had an old 3T D-7 with a wornout pony motor. It would start fine in the morning and be trouble after it got warm. We used to push it off after lunch. One day I jumped in the seat and had a pan driver back into it to get it started. I wasn't paying attention and got a lap full of black oil and a face full of smoke. As is usual when you make a mistake like that it was one of those jobs and times when I didn't have time to spare. I hurriedly cleaned up the mess and the oilbath aircleaner and motioned for the pan driver to "hit" me again, got the same results, a lap full of oil and a face full of smoke. At least that time the oil was clean.

What I finally have come to think is the engine when turning backward from coasting back on a grade and still in the forward gear still some fuel is injected into the combustion (not on time) chambers and causes a partial firing and a lap full of oil if it has an oil type filter.Yes the oil pump woudn,t be turning right either to cause no oil pressure.

Back when Waukesha was building Marine Diesels to compete with CAT.

There was a second outlet built into the back of the lube oil gear pumps. When it was realized that we don't build these anymore but the STILL machine the second outlet into the oil pumps. Young engineers asked what is it for? Why for a Marine Diesel so you can reverse the engine! Is what they were told.

My question is what to do with the cam and its timing?

Bottom line is that all long as the pump can inject fuel close to a point of HOT air compression in the cylinders, then it should fire and apply force to the crankshaft wether in a correct forward rotation or in an "incorrect" reverse rotation!

Cat has made industrial engines that did operate in the CW rotation for special applications and I remember they were made that way to work with some big drag lines that required the CW (clockwise) rotation. I have rebuilt lots of them at the dealer and they required different camshafts for the engine and inj. system and setting of some things. Our dyno had a reverse button on it so no problem dyno testing them after a rebuild.Also the starting engine transmission and the direct starting if equipped was set up for turning it CW.

Had a 3208 run backwards, in a 1977 & 1978 tandem Louisville model L8000 or 9000, dump, with a 13 speed, not a roadranger, think it was ford or spec'd by Ford, just stall out and roll backwards, happened a scant few times, always shut er off quickly and re-started.