Hello and that you all for the help. I have a 2011 Catepillar 304C CR mini ex, I got it stuck in the mud up to the top of the tracks. I ran a chain to a tree to pull my self out. In doing so, while i was hooking up the chain, I seen the boom light flashing and heard an alarm like when you first turn the key on. I went back to the machine and the gadges were all dead, the machine had no hydraulics, but the engine was still running. I pulled all the fuses, and unhooked the battery and it was still running. I pulled the fuel shut off to kill it. I put the fuses all back in after looking at them ( all look ok) and hooked the battery back up. Now the machine has no power to anything, not even the hour meter. Thinking it was the ing. switch I bought a new one and tried it. Still everything is dead. I put a volt meter on the battery today and it only had 1 volt in it?? I will get a new battery in the machine but I am wondering if everyone thinks it may me the alt? I cant get the machine out of the mud with out it running. Any help or troubleshooting advice would be great. thank you
Once it's running should show more than 12.6 volts at the battery.... between 13.25-14 would indicate a good charge from the alternator.
ok ill get a new battery and try starting it, then check the volts if it starts.
Considering the 304 is stuck in the mud and you reported boom light flashing and the alarm going off I wonder if there has been damage to the wiring or to an electrical component possibly causing a short or electrical malfunction? If so, the new battery may have a short life after hook up. Was the previous battery nearing failure or was it not too old? If not too old you may want to put a fuze or circuit breaker in series with the new battery cable hookup to prevent a dead short across it's terminals.
short life...no pun intended.
I'd charge up the battery, or swap it out with another one, don't give it up for dead yet. Find out where the power went before you kill another battery. The alternator is a possibility, the diodes can leak and drain a battery, the alt is hooked directly to the battery with only a fusible link typically. Buried to the tracks shouldn't be a problem for an excavator, you'll need to look around under that mud to see what wires could be in danger. Or loose connections anywhere else, or if the old battery is shot and won't take a charge, then it could have just decided to die at a bad time. The multimeter should find your current draw if there is one.
I had my 304 buried over the tracks in the mud once... while trying to get it out with chains and load straps around tree's the engine overtemp light and buzzer went off.. being buried as it was the engine heat couldn't be blown out through the louvers on the underside of the engine compartment.. I immediately shut the machine off and opened the main door on the engine compartment.. in order to keep the engine temp down while i was getting the machine unstuck I tied the engine compartment door fully open but still had to be careful when i was swinging as the angle of the machine would sometimes cause the door to contact the mud and could have easily ripped the door off.. I don't know if theres a fuseable link on the battery or not.. if so, maybe it shorted and flattened the battery..
well ty for the posts. this is where I am at as of tonight. I have a new jumper box I took down there to see what it may or may not do. I put it on and turned the key to on. the glow plugs came on then off as normal, so I tried hitting the key to start and cooked my jumper box. I am thinking that in the mud and water, it is shorting out something bad. I am not as deep as the pic above, but at this point I think I may have to try and drag it out of the mud with something to help me try and fix it.
It would take a major short to ground to drain a battery down to 1 volt. Typically when that happens there's smoke and fire. What gets me is that all the juice in that battery had to go somewhere during the initial failure. At that time your starter was not engaged. How come the jumper box only fried when you tried to turn it over? How big is this jumper box? What's the amperage rating on it? Is it possible that your battery chose that moment to crap out and that your jumper box is incappable of producing the amperage needed to crank over the engine? I would first try and inspect as much of the positive battery cable(s) as possible to ensure they haven't rubbed through on the frame. Maybe disconnect both cables from the battery and take a resistance reading between the positive cable and a ground on the frame before you put another battery or jumper on it.
I don't have a wiring diagram in my maintenance manual to reference but as 3406 says I'd start by taking my positive lead off the starter and trace the positive lead from the battery to the start solenoid and then on to the starter.. it has to be one hell of a short to pull the battery down to 1 volt.. I wish I could tell you if there's a fuseable link in the lead that feeds all the circuits that would explain why all your gauges etc are dead but the fuses still good... I've had my machine buried a few times as in my picture.. I've never had any related electrical issues.. and I can think of nothing that would be effected if you were only up to the top of the tracks.. now if the water and mud was up to the floor that would be a different issue.. good luck
there is no wiring below the floor, sounds like the battery may have shorted in side , most other shorting would have ended in smoke . I would confirm the battery is any good , you said it came back to life with the jumper box then cooked it when you tried to start it , or maybe the starter is stuck
my 304 is a 2008 and my battery is below the floor so there must be some wiring there.. as I said earlier if he's only stuck to the tops of the tracks he's well and truly away from any possible chance of shorting of any nature due to water.. on a different machine I had a starter solenoid stick on and it did all manner of things..
I just broke down and called a certified cat mechanic and he is coming in the morning. the machine has sunk another footing the mud. I'll let every know what it ends up being. once I have power I should be able to pull it out.
let us know what it turns out to be.. nothing like laying in the mud to hook up a chain to pull it out
pictures pictures pictures
you like my dirty pictures?
Ah yes... fun in the mud
well that was a a good idea to call the cat mechanic. it was a 15 minutes fix. the cable from the battery to the starter was rubbing and shorted out on the frame. new cable and 3.5 hours the machine is running and pulled it self out of the mud. thank you all for the help.
good to hear it was an easy fix..
ty