I have a cat 330cl works great until operating temp. Pump starts whining, very little power on swing and right trac movement. Noticed air bubbles in the sight glass at the tank. Any ideas what the cause could be?? Much appreciated
Over 20 different flavours of 330C. Posting a Serial Number to identify exactly which one you have would be a good idea. Have you done any hydraulic system servicing recently, for example cleaned the implement pump suction screen located in the bottom of the hydraulic tank, or replaced any filters.? If you replaced any filters did you cut the old ones open to check for debris.?
Yes our service guy did a complete service on the machine, but did not cut any filters open. Machine hasn't been used in a good while after service, so it has weak batteries on it being boosted to try and troubleshoot. Would that play a role in the cavitation? Low voltage??
Still need a Serial Number otherwise it's going to be a cr@p shoot. Did he remove and clean the tank suction screen.? Unlikely. A lot of these machines have hydraulic tanks that build up pressure inside as the oil gets hot. Again with a S/N I can take a look at the tank setup. Your machine may have a radiator-style pressure cap on the tank.
I'll get a serial number today. Appreciate your time and response also!!
Hey Nige, 0330CPKDD00170 It didn't have pressure on the tank when we cracked open the cap at the top of the tank the last time we ran it checking it out
Attached is a parts breakdown of the hydraulic tank. I would first suggest to look into whether or not the Suction Screen (Item Ref #2) was ever removed and cleaned when the hydraulic system was last serviced. The procedure to remove & clean it is included on the attachment, and especially you should note the text I highlighted in Step 5. Second you need to look at the tank pressure cap #26. Is it actually complete and is it working.? I cannot find a pressure specification for it, maybe someone else knows. Even if you crack it with the machine cold I would expect there to be a small amount of pressure behind it. If the tank is not pressurizing correctly that could possibly explain the cavitation sounds from the pump as the hydraulic system warms up.
The phenomenon as you described helps us eliminate the error caused by the two main pumps. The reason is that SWING is operated by the left side pump (A2 pump ). While the right track is operated by the right side pump (A1 pump). If the error is due to the pump, when the swing is weak, the left track will also be weak, not the right track. I'm afraid this machine has been repaired in the past and the hydraulic lines have been connected incorrectly.
Hey guys. I have a similar situation going on here and was looking for some insights. My 2002 330C SN DKY624 has 14k hours on it, I just got in a couple months ago from a 1 owner company in MO. The guy who sold it to me said that the pump would make a noise when it got warm and you were doing several functions at once. Sure enough it make a whining sound but then after operating temps get up to about 3/4 on the guage if working it hard it will start a jerking movement and making a creaking noise. I did notice that there were some air bubbles in the sight glass. Here's what I have done. Shortly after I got it the "return hyd filter is plugged" message came on. I replaced the return filter, pilot and case drain filters. No noticeable shavings in the return filter, I did not cut open the other 2. The problem still occurred. After reading up on it I cleaned the screen in the tank and the one near the pilot filter. Neither had a lot of metal shavings, it wasn't much but more rubber and silicone type debris. After cleaning both , I ran for 30 min and it did the same thing. The "return filter is plugged " message has came on again. I feel like the pump may be starting to fail but really figure I would have more metal in the filters. Any ideas on what to do next? Should I rebuild/replace the pump before it craters and trashes the entire system? Thanks in advance, you guys are always great. Danny