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Hey Bob, long time. The Cat is running great. So great that I’m running out of things to do! Jobs that took me a day to do by hand take less than ten minutes with that thing. I’m slowly getting the hang of dozing. There really is no substitute for seat time. I’ve watched videos, read books, asked questions on forums but it all goes out the window when you have the sticks in your hands. I’m slow as all heck though. I filmed myself to see what I was doing and I could barely watch it. I was screaming at the screen to “just hurry up!” I’ll get there… eventually. Sure is fun learning though!
How is that cement mixer project coming? She running yet?
Grizz
It’s pretty bad and unfortunately probably normal. What I mean to say is that the brakes (and brake compartment) should be completely dry.
This is an old posting so I’m assuming you have realized by now that you have a leaking seal.
Thanks for the kind words. It really feels like a resolution to a whole lot of issues. I’m under no delusion that this will be problem free but the starting point is a whole lot better.
The dealer asked me why I was turning in so many circles left and right. I said it was because my last dozer didn’t turn at all. :yahoo:
No powerahift here Bob. This is full dual- path hystat! You change ground speed with a little thumb wheel on the left joystick.
My first job will be to go rescue the Yuchai. It never made it to its “job site” before the oil pressure problem. I’m going to let my kids tear it apart so they can learn about engines and gears and such. Most of it will get buried on site with the bigger parts coming back out for iron scrap.
With that, I think I should say goodbye to a great group of people. Everyone on here has been so helpful and patient. I know I had a lot of dumb questions but I had to learn from scratch from you guys.
I wish I had the words to say how utterly embarrassing this experience has been. I know now that I was taken for a fool buy those Keno fellas. I’m sure you all saw it but were too kind to say anything. Most of the time in my life I know ten times more than the salesman. In this case I had to trust them and it was badly misplaced.
I had to trust the Cat salesman but this time I backed it up with service records, oil reports (thanks Bob), a bit of test driving and most importantly a 5 year warranty!
I’m still as green as they come but I’ve learned a whole lot from you guys. Thank you so much.
Keep playing in the dirt,
Griz
Well the seat came attached to another dozer. I figure I’ll wear out the dozer then transfer the seat over to the Yuchai. 😉
oh hey… that hill I’m looking down in the picture. I measured it at 17 degrees! One of the steepest spots so far. Has nothing to do with my problems. I just wanted to mention it for fun.
Griz
So I attached a mechanical gauge to recheck the oil pressure. (FYI the gauge on the tractor is already a mechanical gauge but I guess it’s good to double check anyway). I ran the engine briefly but no pressure at all. Then I replaced the filter head with the old one and used the old filter. For one brief moment I cranked the motor over while the filter head was off and saw oil flow out of the head. To me that confirmed the pump was working at least a little bit. After re-attaching the filter I cranked it over and still no pressure. However I let it run for about 30 seconds and eventually the pressure came back up to around 35 psi. The needle was rock steady so that’s good.
Thinking I’ve had some success. I leave the external pressure gauge on and start to drive it off the hill. Over the next oh 20 minutes or so the pressure continued to drop down to around 10 psi where I stopped. It took me about 30 minutes or so to hike back to my truck and drive to the dozer. Leap frog with myself!
I started the dozer again and the pressure came up slowly to around 25 psi or so. Needing to get this POS off the mountain, I drove it a bit more. Again about 20 min and the pressure was down to 10 again. A bit of rest while I hiked back to the truck and again it came back to around 25 or so. Another dash (high-box 4th gear…what a ride!) and the pressure slowly dropped again.
So. Anyone? Slow loss of pressure. I’m thinking that the pump is getting hot and something starts to slip or a seal opens up. Cool it off and things bind up enough to pump again.
Griz
Update:
I’d be a shade-tree mechanic if I had a shade tree. This is a picture of where I’m working on the dozer.
The gasket is directional but it’s pretty obvious that it only fits one way. You bring up a good point about the RTV. I put a little on the filter head side but nothing on the engine side. I basically just used it to hold it in place. Should I have put gasket sealer or RTV on both sides? Used none at all?
I did have to replace the filter head when I did the oil change….and the oil pressure was originally very high just after the oil change…. hmmmm maybe it bypassed and got stuck….hmmm
I wonder if it is possible to check that theory first. That is way easier to remove compared to getting into the sump. Besides, experience has told me to always check whatever is was you did just before the problem started.
I’m pretty sure the oil pressure gauge is mechanical already. I don’t have it in front of me but I seem to remember a very stiff pipe feeding in the the back of the gauge (rather than a wire).
I thought the bypass valve just bypassed around the filter. Why would it bypass back to the sump? Wouldn’t it be better (in theory) to circulate unfiltered oil vs no oil at all?
Griz
I put Delo 400 in it. It’s a 15W40 oil. The oil that came out was black as coal but I didn’t see any metal bits.
Since I replaced the oil filter as part of this investigation, what I’m going to do is remove it again and see if it’s full of oil or not. Like I said, nothing dripped out when I removed the 1st filter. If the second one is dry then nothing is being pumped at all.
Thanks for the gauge check idea. I’ll see what I can do about getting another gauge to double check it.
If the engine really is dry, I’m impressed with how well it’s running!
