Hi all, this looks like a great forum and I look forward to many happy years here I have a problem that I hope somebody can help me with, I have a Bobcat Advantage series 753 and it refuses to move. Engine starts fine but if I try to move it forward or backwards it will only go an inch or so and locks. I went into the computer for Active warnings and it says the following: Traction Lock hold open circuit. After going into the more information section it says this: Traction lock hold signal wire #4100 is not present Possible causes may include in this order: Defective solenoid Damaged mainframe harness Faulty controller I use my bobcat for odd jobs around the property and right now it is stuck on my barn floor and I need to move it as it is blocking my exit. I used it two days ago, parked up and no problems but now it is being a stubborn mule Since I have no service manual I have not got a clue for the first place to look for the problem (to the point that I do not even know where the 'solenoid' is). I am ordering a service manual but in the interim can anybody please help me out as to where I would start? Also - do you have any idea how much a field visit would typically cost from a bobcat dealer? This may be my quickest option but I would rather fix it myself. thanks Wayne
5 bucks says it's the solenoid, I had that problem twice on my 753, usually from heat from the alternator pumping out a little too much power or heat from the hydraulics.
Not sure about a 753, but on my S250 there is a fuse and relay box that is inside the cab just below and in front of the seat. It contains a 30 amp fuse and a relay for the traction lock. If you can find a similar box on yours, I would start there. If fuse and relay are good, I would trace wires from there. Make sure wires going to the seat bar are OK and that it is functioning properly. Good luck.
Hey guys thanks for your info Bobcat ron since I do not have a service manual at the moment - can you tell me where I might find the solenoid in question? Bob Horrell - I checked the fuse box below the seat and the fuse is ok, I'll be going for the 5 bucks with bobcat ron first then I guess it is off to the wiring harness :-(
I couldn't tell ya, my local dealer always worked on it for me.
Follow the wiring from the traction lock relay in the fuse box. It should lead you to the solenoid. Power should go through the fuse to the relay to the solenoid.
Welcome to Heavy Equipment Forums wayne186! :drinkup
Bobcat Ron - you owe me 5 bucks or 2 tubes of grease Well after I tilted the cab up and found the pesky solenoid I had a good sniff around inside and noticed that several wires coming off the main loom had been gnawed through.. it certainly was not due to wear and tear or rubbing on anything as these were bite marks in the wires. Whatr the hell possesses a bloody rodent to chew a wire is beyond me - but hey ho.. the warning from the computer said 'No signal from wire number 4200' so looking by the solenoid I followed the wires and found one wire had become completely severed. Must have been hanging by a thread for a while there - anyways.. a short trip to radioshack and armed with some correct gauge wire and splicers and I had her moving in a jiffy. The wire I replaced had 4200 stamped all down it.. oh how clever that little computer is Thanks for your help guys and Ralph - kudos for being such a good sport with the solenoid diagram :drinkup Wayne
Wow, a real gremlin! Your cheque is in the mail!
Rats love wires Since the storm here i New Orleans we see alot of rat damage , my buddy who is a fireman and lets his truck sit for 24 hours at a time had his wiring harness eaten , it cost him $4,600 to have the damages repaired by the dealership , the truck was under warranty but they said that rats were not covered , he paid for it and is fighting the insurance to cover it , I need to call him today and see how it's coming along with that one
pressure relief valve i was told there was a pressure release valve you could turn to let machine roll freely when engine is off but i don't know for sure
roll free? 753 locked up,traction lock,it is in garage and cant get the cab raised,no overhead room,please help with pressure relief valve knowledge,i need to move out of garage to work on,,any help would be grateful!!!!!!!!
hey pete, a guy told me that orange knob on right side of seat would release pressure(turn 1/4 turn and pull up) but it never made mine roll--valve could be stuck? i had to raise cab and take locking bar out to get mine to roll. someone else said to turn key on and hold green button down for 30 sec. to manually override valve but that didn't work either! hope this helps...
thanks, mr wild bill, I believe the orange square knob on the right side does relieve pressure, but, it's to let pressure off of the front lift, if your'e caught in the up position and need to manuallly let it down,I really appreciate the info, if i can remove some boards in my shop, I might be able to get the cab raised,then try to do what you did, remove the bar,,,,this seems to be a great site with some very good advice coming from some great people, i just received the manual for the 753, so if anyone needs info from it let me know.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,,.,.,.,.,
2004 Bobcat 553 traction lock problem Hi, thanks for taking the time to read this ... i recently bought a bobcat 553 and it now refuses to move - the BICS diagnostic is #3 - traction lock hold solenoid circuit shorted to ground (Traction LED blinks 3 times on the BICS). The problem was progressive - it would sometimes lock when i was working, and over a period of a few days got worse, now it won't move at all. The lock engages seconds after i disengage it after starting the bobcat. I have check the voltage at the solenoid - it is 7.5v instead of the required 12v. I've checked all visible wiring and it is in good shape - when I bought the bobcat, the wiring harness had been replaced. The fuses, relays, connections etc all appear good. The wiring appears to be good... i've not opened the harness cover on the wiring. The alternator is pushing out a healthy 12.5v and the battery is strong. I am at a loss as to what to do short of getting a bobcat dealer to come out... any thoughts? Also, I don't have a service manual and would welcome one. I am a homeowner and this is the first time i've used a bobcat - i bought it because i have a lot of work to do to my landscaping... Thanks in advance, David
12.5 volts from the alternator is not good. It should be 1-1.5 volts higher. I would start there and maybe you have a dead battery from a defective alternator.
Bobcat 763 traction release I have a 763 that is about 10 years old, gets used very little but it is now having a traction lock issue. When I push the green button I hear the sylinoid clunk but nothing happens or sometimes the wheels will free up but the lift and tilt wont release and then mysteriously it will work again for a while what do you guys think? Thanks Andy
Im having troubles with my 2000 t190 the traction lock is coming on when Im working all lights are going off but the seatbar light anyone know what this could be.
bobcat 753 traction lock I've got the same problem and fairly stumped at this point. I've bypassed the wiring and ran the solenoid with external power and it runs just fine. If I hook it to the system then on start up it works for about 5 seconds then I get 7.5 volts on the hold side which turns off the solenoid. It has the Boss/BICS System so I get the traction lock light flashing 3 times indicating "traction lock hold coil circuit shorted to ground. Checked all the wiring and found to be good. All connections clean and working. Brake relay working properly. Battery voltage at 13.4 I'm wondering now if the BICS controller or BOSS controller have problems. Anybody out there with any suggestions? Marv
How did you bypass system marvschuh? There are three wires to that solenoid coil. One is ground, one is positive voltage hold, the third is secondary coil to engage solenoid. That one should only have voltage on it for no more than 5 seconds or it will fry the coil. It's possible this secondary circuit is bad in the coil and that's what the BICS is sensing. It's a common problem with these types of solenoid coils.
Bypass solenoid Atcoequip Thanks for the reply. I needed to move the bobcat so I unhooked the 3 wire connector. Measured the ohms and it is right at specs - .5 for the pull and 11.0 for the hold. Once I put 12 volts to the hold coil it only takes a micro second to momentarily energize the pull side. It worked just fine for getting it on the trailer. Hooked everything back up and when I turn on the key the solenoid energizes and holds but releases about 5 - 10 seconds after the engine starts. I'm now wondering if maybe my seat sensor is playing tricks seeing as the traction lock is hooked only to the BICS part of the system and so is the seat. Marv
Good question Marv, don't know the answer myself, not real familiar with the 753. Does it have a code readout display? Or, just BICS LED display beside and behind seat?
The only code I get is the 3 flashes on the BICS traction indicating the hold coil circuit shorted to ground. I have the wiring schematic which is very simple. sure would like the schematic for inside the BICS. thanks again for your reply Marv
Just an old guess, but if your 753 is anything like the old 743, I've seen the seat sensor transducer crap out many times and affect the brake solenoid system. Never have know how to bypass the seat sensor, it has three wires as well. Have replaced the transducer on the seat sensor on 743's several times and fixed the problem. Can't say for sure that's your problem though.
3 Traction Lock TS Ideas 1. Fuze Box. When you remove the correct fuze you'll see (or at least hear) the circuit engage/disengage. 2. Seat Sensor. Lift Cab, under right butt cheek. 3. Seat Bar Sensor. Male/female coupling may have come loose inside the left side of cab. The coupling stopped me in the midst of a 360 degree turn 1/2 way in/out of a 55mph two lane highway. Had guys running 200yards down the road warning on comming traffic. While I jumped out, and checked the above in that order, took :10min (probably more since I was glancing up every 20 seconds waiting to get creamed) Sure wished I did the check in reverse!!
I know this thread is a little old, but I figured I would share my experiance on a similar issue. I have a 1998 763 that was giving me intermitent traction lock problems. I would get six flashes on the BICS when I pushed the traction lock override button and could not move the machine. My manual said the pull circuit had shorted to ground. I checked all the wiring and found the pink/ white wire going to the brake relay from the BICS had the insulation cut by the wire clamp that is near the 4 wire connector under the cab. This gray connector is right before the wires go under the pump towards the rear of the machine. The ground wire was also cut which was causing the BICS to throw the code. I hope this helps someone.
My 753 won't start with the key switch, but I can jump the starter and it starts. When It is running the traction override button won't release and the lights don't work. Anyone have any Ideas? Any advice would help. Thanks
Is your 753 a C, F, or G series bspoon3?
I just got the machine and don't know if it is a c f or g. Would it say on the serial number?
It's easy to distinguish the different model series bspoon3. The C and F series had rectangular headlights on front of cab. The C differed from the F in that it has a 2 piece rear door, orange stamped steel door on bottom with a black stamped steel section at the top bolted to the lower orange section. The F series is when they went with the one piece, stamped steel, orange rear door, but it still had rectangular headlights. The G series has the triangle shaped headlights in front of cab.
It is a C model. It has the 2 piece door
It's hard to say for certain whether your starter, traction lock, and lights not working is related or not. The fact that engine will run indicates there is power to system to operate fuel solenoid, not sure how the other functions are related. I seem to recall the C series had fuses and relays in rear engine compartment, to the right of engine. You might check power in and out of fuses. And the C series goes back a few years, not sure how much ECU controls these components, on the F and G series I know for sure the ECU controls starter and BICS functions, likely does on the C as well. If it does, traction lock won't release until you get all the lights on the BICS controller behind seat. As for starter not working, and you have determined fuses are good, I'd start by testing the key switch for start output voltage. If key switch works proper, start going through the harness to find why start circuit not working. Hope that helps some.
So I checked the fuses which all looked good and I used The ohm meter. I checked the voltages to the key switch and relays which read 12 volts and still nothing worked. I went to lunch and when I came back I noticed the lights were on. I jumped in the machine and started it with the key switch. But the green traction buttOn still doesn't work and when I put the lap bar down the lights On the ECM dont come on? Could it be a short or bad ECM ? Thank you again for the help
Well, I'm just not real sure about the C series, been too long since I've worked on electrical on those. But if they're like the later machines, they have an ECU that controls pretty much all functions of machine located behind the panel to the left side of your left foot when sitting in cab. The BICS controller is a different component that works in conjunction with the ECU. If I remember correctly, the BICS controller is a small box mounted on rear wall to right of seat when sitting in cab. It requires all the LED lights on BICS to operate before traction lock solenoid releases brake. If the traction lock LED is flashing, that indicates a problem with traction lock circuit. If the other three LEDs come on but traction lock still doesn't light or flash, could be a faulty BICS controller, not sure how to test one myself. One thing about Bobcat skids, they are bad about harness problems, wires being rubbed on various machine components messing up wires.
Oh ok it's the BCIS box that none of the lights are coming on. Sorry I thought that was the ecu
Not sure what to tell you. BICS controllers are fairly reliable, but that doesn't mean yours is good, they just don't mess up often. Wiring problems are more typical, it could be your BICS controller is just not getting power. I don't know enough about the 753C to know what to check on the wiring. Maybe try to contact your local Bobcat dealer and ask them if they can test the BICS controller and provide you with a wiring schematic for your machine.
Do you know Anything about the switch under the seat? I lifted the cab and it looks like there is a switch under there that has come apart. How does that switch work or what is it's function?
The seat switch is a magnetic switch that activates when you sit in the seat. If the switch is not activated, the BICS controller won't allow loader operation or parking brake release. It has three wires that go to it, I don't know what the function of each wire is so I don't know how to bypass that switch. Anytime I've worked on them when they are broke I've always replaced components necessary for seat switch to operate properly.
Thank you for your help I finally solved the problem. It was the broken seat switch and a faulty or weak fuse
Awesome! Thanks for the update bspoon3.
for those of you that are having seat switch issues, debris under the seat, dirt, rust ect stuck to the switch itself, tools jammed behind the seat, rusted seat tracks will all cause the seat switch to not function. there is a bypass kit available from bobcat. it replaces the bics controller, and PTO button, just remember to unplug the seat switch harness from the seat switch. :drinkup
What's the part number for this kit?
there are 3 different kits available, depending on model and serial # off the top of my head i think 6717700 is the PN for the most popular kit. it's called a push to operate kit (PTO) listed in options and accesories :drinkup