Ok as said in the title we have a hydraulic problem on our bobcat 773. The bobcat runs fine and drives fine but the tilt and raise will not work. Its like it is not disengaging. The bar that you pull down is unlocking the pedals. When you try and tilt or raise it does load the engine up but doesnt move. On the back of the cab right next to the seat theres like 5 lights. All the lights are on except the tilt and raise light its not. The 4 in 1 bucket still works. Is there a solenoid or valve that we can test or fix and wheres it located thanks
Sounds like you have either a C or F series machine. If the lift/tilt is not lit up at all on the BICS controller the lift/tilt functions won't work. If the lift/tilt light is flashing it's indicating a fault. Since all the other LED lights are lit up on the BICS controller, only one not lit up is the lift/tilt LED and it's not flashing either. Sounds like you either have a faulty BICS controller or the harness is disconnected from the BICS solenoid on the main control valve. Only other thing I can think of would be if your machine has a seat switch, if it does and it's not operating properly it won't allow the lift/tilt functions to work.
Hey thanks for your reply. Our bobcat is a C series. On the BICS its called the valve. The valve the seat bar and system activated lights on the BICS are not lit up either. As for the seat switch its never been connected and was running fine before hand. When i was mucking around with the valve solenoid i unplugged it and started the machine up and it flashed only once but every 2 second intervals. Then plugged it in and restarted the machine and it didnt flash or come on. To me it seems like the valve on the hydraulic switch thingo thats directly under the hydraulic tank furtherest one back mounted on the right hand side of the machine when sitting in the seat. Sorry i dont know the name haha.
Your hydraulic main control valve should look similar to the one in the pic below, the red arrow points to the BICS solenoid that controls the hydraulic interlock valve, that solenoid has to be powered up to unlock the lift/tilt functions and it's controlled by the BICS controller to the right of the seat. The BICS controller gets inputs from the seat switch, lap bar, and enable button (if equipped). Once it gets input from these components it sends voltage to the BICS solenoid valve to unlock the lift/tilt functions.
Ok we think theres just no power to the BICS. Is there a wiring diagram of that side of things and how do we test it. with a multimeter or test light ? Thanks
Hey still have the problem mate please get back to me thanks.
You do have power to the BICS controller since you have LED's lighting up, but you may not be getting power to the BICS lockout valve solenoid. That's a 12V coil on that solenoid, in a pinch you could always rig up a power and ground wire to the solenoid and make it operate, but you'd be losing you safety features because the lap bar (and seat switch if you have one) would be basically disabled. Bobcat has never provided diagrams of the inner working of the BICS controller, they keep that a tight secret, one of those "if we tell you we'd have to kill you" kind of things. And I don't have the manual for a 773 C series, I do have one for the 763 C series, they may be similar in how this circuit is wired up. As for testing the BICS controller, I'm not aware of anything you can do, again, one doesn't know what's going on inside that little black box, and Bobcat ain't sayin'. I do know that Bobcat dealers have a tester developed by Bobcat to test the BICS controller, but again, that's a dealer only tool, you'd have to take the machine to a dealer. One thing you could do is disconnect the harness connector from the BICS controller and inspect the pins and sockets in the connector looking for signs of corrosion or a bad connection. And test the wire that runs from the BICS controller to the BICS solenoid, should be a dark green wire, test it for continuity. If that doesn't sort it out, you may have a bad BICS controller, but I wouldn't condemn it on just a guess unless you feel that has to be the problem, and the only way to know for sure is to get a dealer to test it. That's about all the advice I can offer. I'd for sure rig up a power/ground wire on the BICS solenoid if for nothing else just to verify the system works and the problem is in the BICS electrical controls. Here's a pic of the BICS circuit on a 763 C series. Again, yours may be different, I don't have any way of knowing. I hope you get it sorted out.
Could you tell me where the bics solenoid is located thanks. And maybe a picture of it cheers. Sorry for being a pain haha
See the pic I posted in post #4, the BICS solenoid valve is mounted on the main control valve. Bobcat used a number of different main control valves over the years so there's no way I can know just what control valve you have, but it should be similar to the pic I posted.
Ok thanks mate ill see how i ho
Hi Willie, I have a Bobcat 773 C Series (hand controls). I had it parked in my forest for about a 1 month. When I went to start her up, it started fine, but it would not move. I suspect the BICS controller is bad. I managed to get the machine moved into my garage by dis-engaging the traction solenoid. I was trying to find the hydraulic interlock value solenoid and ran across your post. I looked to see if I can find anything like the picture that you posted, but I can't find it. I would be grateful if you could tell me where this solenoid is physically located - I'm hoping to bypass it, at least to get my machine working until I can replace the BICS. Thank you very much!
Early C series machines didn't use the interlock valve on the main control valve, instead they had plungers that locked the foot pedals, when you dropped the lap bar it would depress the plungers on the left and right side of the frame that would unlock the foot pedals. Later C series incorporated the interlock valve on the main control valve and became the main lockout on Bobcat main hyd valves, later they added solenoid spool locks as well. If your C series has the plungers that are depressed by dropping the lap bar then you don't have the BICS interlock, but if you don't have those plungers there's an interlock on the control valve.
Thanks Willie. You definitely know your stuff! I believe that my 773 C series with advanced hand controls has a BICS controller with the traction control solenoid (drops the bar to stop movement of the machine) and hydraulic solenoid valve. It also has two auxiliary electric solenoids on the control valve. If I don't use the auxiliary controls, does this mean that the BICS sends the signal to the hydraulic solenoid valve to "unlock" the hydraulics, or do the auxiliary electric solenoids also provide a BICS unlock function for the main lift and tilt?
If your machine is Advanced Hand Controls then the main control valve should have the BICS lock solenoid valve on the main control valve. Bobcat used a number of different control valves and there's no way I can no what's fitted to your machine, but the BICS solenoid valve is typically in about the center of the valve body in between all the pipe connections, they're typically not hard to find. The BICS lockout only locks the lift and tilt functions, has nothing to do with the auxiliary circuit or auxiliary solenoid valves.