I have a Cat 257B, VIN SLK04863, that has left me stranded in the middle of the woods. I was using it, everything was normal, I got out of the machine to move an item, the machine was left running, I got back in. Lowered the lap bar, went to release the parking brake and both the lap bar light and the parking brake light was flashing. After doing some research I assumed the lap bar switch went bad so I replaced it with a new one. Currently when I turn on the key both lights flash but the machine won't even attempt to crank. I checked the seat switch with my DMM and it is working properly, I checked the new switch for continuity and the only thing I get is continuity between the pink wire and ground no matter what position the lap bar is in. I'm not really clear on what is supposed to happen but with the key on I get 7.4 volts at the seat. Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately I cannot afford to hire a mechanic to come out and look at this.
Click this LINK . It will take you to a thread that has all the information you need to troubleshoot your issue, including complete procedures plus an electrical schematic that is also applicable to your machine Serial Number. Take note of the posts where an error was discovered in the troubleshooting procedure. Don't fall into the same trap. Any questions please post back here.