First off, I read a lot of posts on here and have solved many issues without posting and want to say thank you to all of you who have answered questions on this site. It has a huge impact for a lot of people other than those directly posting or responding. So, After hours of searching with no luck I decided to do a post before I call bobcat to send a guy. My problem, I have a 2009 bobcat S205 with around 4,000 hours. It has the deluxe instrument panel, keyless panel, AC, and Heat for cab. (Just want to give as much information upfront as possible.) I was using the machine earlier this week and got out to reset forks and machine died. I get back in and press enter on the keyless and no power to either left or right panel. I can press enter and then run button and the machine will start and run for 5 seconds and then die. When I press the hydraulic lock button on the left, it will not release traction lock or hydraulic functions. I have 12.5 volts to the keyless panel. All fuses are good and swapped relays with no success. I am thinking I have one of two issues: 1. The keyless panel is shot and it relays the power for left side panel. 2. A sensor is bad and keeping panels from lighting up and killing the machine. The 5 second run time makes me think this is a safety kill from the computer. (Hydraulic and oil levels are all good) Has anyone had a issue with this or have any ideas?
Welcome to HEF popeye0092. :drinkup Interesting problem you have there, can't say I've ever seen one that doesn't power up either the left or right panel, yet you can push the start button and it will start and run for a few seconds before it dies. When you press the enter button to power it up, do you hear a long beep from the alarm? Does the hour meter display light up at all?
No beep when I press the run/enter button(yellow) to power the keyless panel. There are two clicks (sounds like relays) then two quicker clicks right after(same sound but closer together). the hour meter does not light up, although when I press and hold the light button (believe that you pull codes that way) it does flash on and off very quickly.( no lights, just the black digital read out) basically looks black and doesn't say anything
check for 12v + and verify the ground at the same connector at the LH panel connector red or red/white & black ground wire 12v+ in the cab harness feeds both panels. most common place for a problem is in the area where the cab harness connects to the mainframe harness under the cab. :drinkup
Left hand panel has 12.5 v and ground is good. 12.5v at the main frame harness, ground is good. Went through battery connections and cleaned everything real good. Clean body grounds as well. No success.
any active fault codes? :drinkup
No fault codes show. Panel just flashes on and off when you hold the light switch.
I've never seen a Bobcat do what yours is doing so I can't say anything with any certainty, and crewchief has far more experience with these machines than I. Just for my own curiosity though, you can push the yellow Enter button and it will power up something because you can hit the green Run button (start) and sure enough it sill start for a couple of seconds until it dies, most likely from an active code that you can neither hear (alarm not working) nor can see (hour meter not working). My first thought would be the microprocessor in the left panel isn't communicating with the main controller, but if that were the case how does it power up and start the engine? Seems like there's some form of communication there. Again, I've never seen something like this and I'm curious, more of a question to crewchief, would a Bobcat tech be able to plug their laptop into this machine and get some clues as to what's causing the problem?
Correct, the panel must be working in some form as it allows me to start the engine but nothing ever blinks or lights up on either panel when doing so. The engine will run 5 seconds, then die. When trying to check for codes using the light button, left panel (hour meter display) will flash on and off. No other lights will though. I am confused by this because if it was the panel that is bad, I would assume it would not allow you to start the engine? And if the keyless was not working, why would the guages (left panel) not work? Could the main computer be causing this? Are there any sensors that would kill the engine after a 5 second run time to prevent damage? I spent 4 hours testing, cleaning and inspecting yesterday and still clueless. Thought it was going to be something simple but now that I'm running out of ideas or ways to test, it's looking like I need to pay for a service call or lift it with my excavator on to a trailer and deliver it lol.
it may be the LH panel, the bobcat controller could be bad, or you still have a power/ground problem. the panels pull 5 amp or so when they are on, sometimes testing just with a meter doesnt put enough load on the wirig to tell you anything. connecting to service software would show if the controller is communicating, and would show any stored faults :drinkup
Alright, well thank for the input before shelling out the money to call bobcat for their fancy software. This is just a personal machine and not a lot of money to spare for service calls and bobcat's low priced fees. Lol makes me feel better about doing so. I will reply with an update on what the cause was once it has been solved.
So I took it to the dealer and shelled out $700 in repairs. Apparently the fuse box had a lot of corrosion and had to be re-soldered. I am assuming I was able to get enough volts to the panel but once the system was under load, it wasn't getting enough volts or maybe amps to turn on panels? I know the volts were good to both panels when I took it in. It was kind of surprising to me, it would have took me a while before I ever took the fuse box off to look for corrosion so $700 was worth it, lol. Thanks again for the all the input.
Good to hear you got it sorted out popeye0092. As it turned out, yours is one of those problems that would have been dang near impossible to figure out on a forum. That's one of those problems that a mechanic has to use a methodical process to go through the system until he isolates where the problem is and dive into it. Yes, the back side of the fuse panel is not readily visible, it requires actually yanking it out of that rubber protector boot. But yes, I've seen various forms of carnage on the backside of a Bobcat fuse panel, yours isn't the first.
Thank you. I will try that I was in there once. Repaired 2 wires didn't think i'd do it anymore to be tested. Good will look again The two Wires I repaired were purple, red was a white stripe right next to each other
red/white is fused power to the panel, purple is a communication wire. be sure to check for 12v power using the black wires at the panel connector, many times ive seen where the ground is the problem, sometimes right at the mainframe to cab harness connector