I finally picked up my first D series machine, the last 3 have been B2's and B3's. This new to me 246D is a 2017 with 4050 hours on it. Was sold as a non-runner, but as far as I can tell it's running pretty good and the only major things it needs are a new battery, a good service and some work on the door. This is my first time running a D series machine, lots of time on the old B3 track machine. One thing I've found is that the drive is very jumpy and not smooth vs. what I'm use to. I thought it was maybe an issue with the drive motors, but I think it might be electrical. I didn't realize that the D series actually uses electrohydraulic controls vs. the true pilot controls on the older machines. I guess I'm asking if this is common for these machines to be "jumpy" vs. the older ones? Or is it that I might have a bad joystick? The right implement controller seems to operate the same as what I'm use to, the drive side though isn't.
Have the hydrostatic drive system calibrated, both electronically in terms of the joystick and hydraulically in terms of the pump/drive motors, would be my first suggestion.
I'm guessing thats a procedure that requires Cat ET?
Certainly the electronic side of the joystick will be. Not sure about the hydrostatic side of it. I would need a Serial Number to check.
Serial #BYF03481 I forgot to add, the machine had some stored codes that I pulled from the display. No active codes though. Here's the list with what I think all the codes mean. I've since cleared them, no fault have returned. E232-1 Fuel/water separator high water level e441-1 Idle Elevated to Increase Battery Voltage e459-2 Engine power rated mismatch e568-2 unexpected left motor forward speed detected e569-2 unexpected left motor reverse speed detected e570-2 unexpected right motor forward speed detected e571-2 unexpected right motor reverse speed detected e695-3 unexpected motor speed detection disabled e875-3 Low System Voltage e875-2 Low System Voltage e875-1 Low System Voltage e876-3 High System Voltage e876-1 High System Voltage
E568-2 through E571-2 are all indications that something was amiss in the past twixt joystick and drive motors. Basically they are saying that for a given movement of the joystick the resulting movement of the drive motor was not in sync. Maybe the LH joystick was replaced in the past, or the ECM. Under these circumstances a calibration is required. Attached the ECM calibrations. The highlighted ones really need to be done and TBH while hooked up to the machine it might be just as well to calibrate every parameter that shows up as being calibratable. (Some items on the list in that document may refer to attachments your machine does not have) Thing is that the ECM always retains an existing calibration until such time as a new successful calibration overrides it. So you have nothint to lose by attempting a calibration of a particular parameter. Second attachment is the calibration procedure for the hydrostatic drive system.
Thank you @Nige , I'll start working on getting my hands on Cat ET. In the meantime I'll keep bugging the dealer for a service history, I'll get the battery replaced and will go through the machine to see if the ECU or joystick have been replaced.
Unless that same dealer serviced it for the whole of its previous life the chances of getting much information out of them are only slightly above zero.
It's a former dealer rental fleet machine, I've had good luck in the past getting some info from them. It's out of region though, so they were having a hard time getting this one for me.
I've done a bit of progress on the machine over the last few weeks. The battery was swapped out, quick-coupler freed up, and the door will now close. I took the speed sensors out of each motor and cleaned them, both had some metal particles on them, but nothing crazy. It's due for a hydraulic filter swap so I might tackle that next, seeing if there are any particles in it. I had a buddy that has CAT ET come over and take a look at the machine. We put the machine up on blocks, and ran through the calibrations. Regrettably, the charge relief valve wasn't checked though prior to doing the tests, an oversight on my part. The calibrations highlighted were completed though. He also cleared all the historical codes, with E459-2, E858-2 and 3700-3 still being present. The machine seems somewhat better, but the issue persists. The jerkiness is only while reversing, and favors the left side motor. Another way of describing it is that you can't slowly reverse and come to a smooth stop, it lurches when releasing the joystick. I think the next steps will be swapping out the hydraulic filter as mentioned above (it's due anyways). I also want to fix the bucket sensor wiring, in case that's causing a short. I also recently picked up a 239D, and might try swapping the joystick out from one machine to the other to see if that solves things.
Cut the old filter open and look for any particles that might be hiding in the pleats of the filter media. This VIDEO is the best explanation I have seen of the process for the uninitiated. Engine oil filter or hydraulic filter; the procedure is the same for both.