Hello, Friday at quitting time...my operator of my CAT 320c excavator (ANB serial) called and said my machine started running hot. I have had an intermittent belt squeaking problem that I have yet to track down. I have replaced the expensive Mitsubi serpantine belt. Checked the alternator bearing..etc.. adjusted. Etc... He said that the belt all the sudden had NO squeak when revving up or down or cranking and then ran hot. So i drove out to inspect the machine. The radiator is full of coolant. the radiator looks clean. I will be swinging open the radiator and cleaning...but if this happen radically all of the sudden....that cant exactly be it...although a dirty radiator might not help.... Machine has 4900 hours. So I quickly called CAT to order a thermostat and had it drop shipped to a drop box. I just picked it up this evening. I also asked CAT about a waterpump. He said it would roughly 200 dollars and a 150 dollar core? sound right? He said he didnt have it in stock and i would have to have one shipped from indiana...cant get till wednesday unless i pay extra expensive shipping. I decided to wait on the waterpump until i try the cheapest and easiest thermostat replace. Now, if i need a waterpump..can i buy this waterpump aftermarket? where in Georgia? NAPA? I mean..this is a 3126 right? Any ideas? So i was thinking....what if i was having the belt squeak due to water pump bearing sticking issues? And maybe the fins broke loose from the shaft and it all the sudden quit cooling? What is a good method on checking water pump flow? I dont see a weep hole leaking coolant.... Any ideas? I really need to fix this at the cheapest method possible. Tight budget and I have to do a lot of fix it myself things... Hard times in the grading business in this economy! Does anyone have the PDF on the waterpump replacement method? Do i have to really stand on my head to reach down and do this? Ughh.... The operator said he could let the machine cool at idle..then when revving it up and digging it quickly hits hot again! Thanks guys! Any suggestions and help appreciated!
I have done a water pump on a cat 120. The pully seized up and snapped the belt. I would make sure the cool is still good and clean. Check engine oil make sure that's still good to over heating dose ruin the oil also. I would double check the belts make sure they have proper tension still than look at everything while the machine is running at ideal make sure everything is working properly. Than rev the machine up and check everything again make sure the fan and belts are doing what they are suppose to. It could be a wore out pump but it is still working cuz it dose cool the machine down if it failed it would just overheat and that's it not cool back down so that would be the last thing I would try changing.
Get the radiator out and clean it externally. Most likely the space between the oil cooler and radiator is blocked with trash. It will cost you nothing apart from maybe a few skinned knuckles.
The price for the water pump is in line with what I paid for my 953, 3216. I think it was $250 and a $150 core. I went with the Cat but mine was the water pump, pulley bearing grenade'd itself. Like Nige said check your radiator for cleanliness, even if it's not that it's good preventive maintenance. Hard to believe Yancey doesn't have a water pump in stock.
One of the last overheating threads turned out to be a "loose" harmonic balancer (after I diagnosed it as muskrats). That would explain the squeak going away suddenly and overheating. Get a temperature gun, and read the inlet and outlet of the radiator, the hose neck, etc. That might help you figure out how well the water pump is working. Also, take a temperature of the crankshaft pulley, if it's slipping it should get hotter at high speed, and maybe cooler at idle?
Yes! It is so hard to believe they don't have a cat 320c water pump in stock! I've noticed that lately they don't have a lot of stuff in stock. Hmmmm...... Thanks for the replies guys. I will be going out to begin work on the machine in just a little bit. Typical working on a Sunday thing....ugh.... I will definitely clean the radiator. Needs it always. Mine has a swing out. Are you guys saying I should pull the radiator out and clean it? The thing is....it wasn't in a dusty environment and the overheating just happened quickly. One weird thing I am pondering on.....I had a problem with a small wiring harness that runs up the left hand bottom side of the suspension seat frame. The horn would blow as the seat bounced up and down. The wiring harness got cocked in a position that the bouncing seat rubbed through the wire look shield and shorted out the wire that goes to the horn button. I tried to crimp a crimp connector and it lasted a while but did it again. The wire was sooooo thin that I need some sort of small wire and connector. It's in an aggravating position to get to! Behind the door frame hinge beam...under the plastic box that is below the left hand armrest. So....I saw another post on here where some guy has a 320 and he had overheating and he replaced some sensor that is under that arm rest area? What is it? Is that a factor in my problem since I have had a wiring harness rub issue? Just a thought..... Anyway....thanks guys. I will report back ASAP. Any help is appreciated.
Is the oil cooler piggybacked on to the radiator..? If so you really need to separate the cooler from the radiatorin order to clean both of them properly. Could your problem be hotter ambient temperature..? You may have an issue that was there all the time but didn't show itself until the temp went up a bit.
I saw that you replaced the serpentine belt but I think that engine has a separate water pump belt. At least my 322C does. I'm not sure you can see it from the top of the engine.
Good point. There are 2 types, one uses a single serpentine belt for everything, the other uses a separate v-belt for the water pump.
Thanks guys. So yesterday, I worked all day on a few machines and this machine. I replaced the thermostat. My machine has the swing out oil cooler and condenser over the radiator setup. I took a degreaser and a suction blow gun and blew out the external fins on all coolers. Wasn't too bad as I had done this to machine many times before...but I was very shocked at how much dust came out considering that it looked a lot cleaner visually. Got it very clean. Then, I poured on dawn dish washing liquid. A whole bottle. Then while I was at it...I pulled off the a/c compressor that had gone bad so I could look for a new one. That's another story! Anyways...the a/c on my machine is a separate belt than the serpentine. The weep hole on my water pump is not leaking. But I ordered a water pump from Carolina tractor instead of YANCEY because I could get one a day sooner. I tightened the serpentine belt that I installed new not long ago.... Ordered a new belt. I was almost midnight when I got this done and then..well....it was dark. So I played with the machine in the dark and it did not climb in temperature. But it's cool here at night lately. So today....as I set off Carolina tractor to get my water pump and other errands in Asheville.....we were rained out this am. So I haven't gotten to test the machine out in hot summer day yet..... Drove to Asheville and got my water pump and belts. I plan on replacing that water pump in advance before it goes out. Why not right? The water pump was like $210.00 and the core is $250. Might as well replace it while I am putting on a fresh belt cause I gotta pull the shroud anyways..... And...if I factor in loss of coolant and dangerous heating problems when the water pump eventually fails in the middle of a project....I've saved money in advance right? I will let the dawn dish washing liquid do it's work on the inside of the radiator for a day or two and then fill and drain a few times and then replace with fresh red cat spec coolant. Xerex brand. The internals of Hecht radiator did have a white chalky look..... New belt. New coolant. So after this rain....I will update back to tell the tale if the thermostat and radiator external cleaning helped. Thank this far guys.
After fitting the new pump I'd suggest to give the system a quick flush by running the engine for a while with some clean water in it, then drain and fill with your new coolant. It could pay you especially if the flush shows up any sort of leak - you'll only lose water that way. I like your pro-active philosophy of replacing stuff before it fails because you're in there anyway...............
I like this I have saw this before
Only way to insure a good fix is Doing it the right way ....