For the last week, my Cat 299d hydraulic pump has been cavitating ever so often, when I open my grapple or when I move the machine forward. It would only do it sometimes. I thought the guage was broke and ended up toping off the tank, howeve I could only add (1) gallon, before the tank over filled. Today, the hydraulic pump started cavitating so bad, I had to shut the machine down. I opened the cab and found a loose hydraulic hose, that I could move with my hand, so I assumed this was the issue and tighten the hose up and checked all the other hosed I could see. Put (5) gallons in the tank and started it back up and it ran about 100 yards and the pump cavitated again so bad, that I shut it down again. raised the cab again and found my (5) gallons of hydraulic oil in the bottom of the machine. It seems like the oil leak may be on the bottom side towards the back of the pump, however, I can't see much or feel much under the pump Tried to start the machine when the cab was up, but must be a sensor. (In the past, I've seen Cat maintance have a remote start) which the could start the machine with cab up in the air, to see where the leak is coming from. I'm at a lost for what my next steps should be, since I can't see the leak or feal any damaged hoses of fitting, not sure how to proceed? Model - 2018 Cat 299D2 XHP SERIAL NUMBER: DX203342 Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
The first thing I would suggest, if you haven't already done it, is to replace the hydraulic filter and cut open the old one looking for particles wedged in the pleats of the filter media. This Video shows the procedure. I know it's an engine filter but the principle is the same.
1st cavitation was probably the loose hose if it was the suction line. The 2nd is more than likely due to your oil loss. Clean up the oil in that well, set the cab back down, add oil to the tank, and do a quick start and stop. Raise the cab and follow the oil trail. More than likely its one of the travel motor hoses that has rubbed a thin spot in it.
Vetech, Can you point me in the direction of the travel motor hose? We verified all the osed visual and by hand that we could get too, although some hoses under and towards the back where difficult to get to. When it was running, you could look through the side vent and see the hydraulic oil in the bottom foaming, but could not determine the location of where the leak was. I'll attempt to clean the well out the best that I can with rags. I can't power wash it, since it is out in the field. I'll report back what I find. Thanks!
Nige - sorry, I missed your response. Just saw it. I'll cut open and check the hydraulic filter as you said and will report back tomorrow. Thanks!
After taking the advice from Vetech,, I took an hour to clean and wipe up all the hydralic oil in the pan and then filled my hydraulic tank back up. Started the engine and then shut it back down and then lifted the cab in the air and located the leak. It turns out that I had a hose that was rubbing near the pump that was leaking. Remove hose and had a new one made up. (Cost $400 for a 4 foot hose with a 90 degree end. While checking my other hydraulic drie line hoses, found 3 other hoses that are severely worn, Ineed to replace them. Kind of sad, that I'm having all these issues with the 299D. I have 1400 hours anand was planning on replacing them next week. Took machine out to do some work for a few hours and then the right Pin that hold the hydraulic piston for the lift arm came totally out of the machine. Took machine back to our work shop and now need to repair this. I'll start a new thread on this to get some advice. Thanks! Bought a (500 hr) Demo Machine w/ 2 year extended warranty from a Cat dealer 1) Leaky seal on drive line motor (Causing Drive oil to empty out and destroyed teeth on motor) This was covered under under warranty, however dealers service managor, reused to cover it, until I hreatened legal action. Apparently the Cat dealers self insure and when you buy a warranty, you are actually buying it from the dealer. There a a big incentive to not Warrenty the problem, since the dealer pays for the repair out of his own pocket. 2) Altenatoir Failed (Replaced) $189 bought on ebay 3) Turbo went out (Replaced) $1200 (Bought from Desielpro online) 3) Fuel Pump wen out (Replaced) $80 Bought on Ebay 4) Hydraulic Drive Lone hose blown (Replaced) $400 5) Hydrauic lift assist pistons Faid (Need to replace) 6) Lift arms are racked (Need to straighten) 7) Lift Arms are cracked (Need to reweld after arms straightened) 8) Pin on Hydraulic piston for arm slipped out of machiine causing arm to drop out of machine (Just happened and needs repaired)
Sorry in regard to all your problems but welcome to the World of Yellow Iron. However if you are expecting a machine to be as reliable as your pickup truck or automobile then I am afraid that you are labouring under a major misapprehension.
My previous machine was a 289C. I bought it new for $68k in 2010. Alothugh we has issues with it was able to work the bugs out of it, I'm bretty disapppointed with the arms being racked. I'll admit that we are hard on use the machines hard in the forest, but seems like the 299d2 has had more issure that I would expect for 1500 hours. I'm learning to work on the machines myself, since it seems liike the Cat mechanics in my area are not qualified to work on the machines, and the sevice manages just want to replace parts to make the highest amount of profit At one time we had a great mechanic, but he left cat to go work as a mechanic for the coal mines. the replacement mechainces don't have enough tools on the truck and end up using mine. I guess they have to buy there own tools and when they start out, they don't have the tolls needed to service the machine. One time I had a new mechanic come out driving a pickup truck with only a small tool box. He did not have the right wrench and had to drive back to the shop and get the tool. I had to pay time plus milage on 2 trips. Ended up leaving that dealer and buying a used demo/lease machine from another dealer outside my territory. This dealer could only sell me a used machine, since cat requires you to buy a new cat for the dealer closest to you. Looked real hard a a new Kabota and tested both the Cat 299d and Kubota side by side for 2 weeks. I would have bought a New Kubota for $20k les then the new cat 299d, however the kubota suspension did not ride nearly as nise as the AVS trac system that Cat purchased. The Kobota beat me to death after using it in the wood for 6-8 hours a day.
It sounds like you have a crappy and/or shady dealer. If all the stuff you had to repair happened in the extended warranty period, it should have been covered. I don't think a pin coming out would be warranty though unless it was taken out to repair the cylinder or something else. I've read about quite a few problems with the 299's. Thinking they might not be the best machine to consider. Shouldn't be having so many problems with relatively low (1500) hours on it.
Just a feature of the creature, nowadays. It’s very difficult to find a skilled mechanic that is both capable and gives a crap. Hoses are a preventative maintenance responsibility. Even on a new machine under warranty. They rub on stuff. You have to inspect them and install chaffing guard or this is what happens. It sucks. It’s expensive, it’s dirty and soul crushing. Everything about this biz is soul crushing. It breaks your wallet, it breaks your heart and then your wife leaves you for the mechanic. The Dealership screws you and then the dealer tech steals your wife. It happens every time.
Our local Dealership has been purchased out 2 times in the past 10 years. The current ownership owns dealership all over the midwest now and is profit driven. Same thing has happened to the John Deere Dealership. The John Deer dealership had a Monthly sales goal chart in the Service managers office showing last years and last months sales, and the the goal for that months sales. It was then I began to understand that they where not interested in repairing my equipment as cheap as possible, rather to charge as much as possible to meet sales goals. No need to repair a engine on a John Deer Gator, just sale a new engine and tell the customer that the engine is not repairable. I could go on and on, about the crappy service from john Deere. Needless to say that I now have to do my own John Deere repairs also. I'm no mechanic, but have been forced to learn. I stopped using the Cat service department, when my original mechanic, who really cared and could fix anything, left. Cat replaced him with some kid that just got out of school. The kids first job was to replace my pump on a forestry mulcher. He installed thenew pump (over $3000) and when I took it out for the day, it failed withing 4 hours. I called the service manager to tell him I was broke down, he told me I would need to buy a new pump again. I mentioned that I thought it should be replaced at no charge, and he said his hands where tied with the new owners. and he could not do anything except, maybe give me a small discount on labor in the future to help offset the cost. He mentioned the new owners expected him to hit sales goals and he no longer had any power to help in situations like this. He ended up quitting, like so many of the old employees. I ended up calling the manufacture of the Forestry Mulcher, to question why the pump failed withing only a few hours of use, and they responded that the bolts needed to be torqued down evenly at the same torque specs. I ended up buying a new pump and installed it myself, following the manufactures instructions. Never had a problem on the pump since then (that was 10 years ago). It was then, I decided that I was going to have to do my own repairs if I want the job done right. I have no problem paying the price for labor, if we had qualified mechanic, however my dealer now charges over $200 an hour plus $200 to drive out, to the site. So it cost $400 just for the mechanic to look at the machine. If he needs a part, then It's another minimum of $400 to drive back to the shop and back to the site again. Once the mechanics is on site, it seems like they have no accountability and can take as much time as needed to complete the job. Another issue, is when you call the service manager to tell them you have an problem and need service, you would think the mechanic would call you to discuss the issue, before he leaves the shople to diagnose the issue. The mechanic just shows up and that is when he learns about what the problem is. In some cases he maybe able to bring a part along with him, saving him a trip back.