I have a friend that has a Caterpillar 216 skid steer that had been sitting for a while with a tire problem. He finally fixed the tire, but when he tried to start it, it wouldn't power up the instrument panel when the key was turned on. The battery is freshly charged and was verified by the local auto parts store as good. The posts are clean and the cables ends are tight. All of the fuses are good and correct. The rear lights power on and the hour meter shows 2303 hours, but none of the other instrument panel lights come on and there is not even a click when the key is turned to start. I'm not familiar with this machine and expect that it's something relatively simple. My first thought is to pull the switch and start checking there, but I thought I'd fish for some input before starting to disassemble the thing. Any ideas? Thanks for your time, Michael.
Could be a relay is stuck or got corrroded while sitting. Really anything is possible but I would check the easy stuff first; fuses, relays, harnesses with obvious damage(water can damage a wire from the inside out).
Do not forget rodent damage. Them suckers just love wiring. Oh yea and them mud dobbers.
Thanks Thanks guys. I'll start looking for the obvious wire issues and corrosion.
The squirrels around here are chewing on everything could be one got to the wiring.
Not overly familiar with Cat electrical, So forgive me if this is way off course. When the unit was shut down, were any AUX. functions left engaged? This will usually prevent a unit from starting even if all other safety systems are good. Have seen this happen when people are working an attachment and just turn the key off and not stop the Aux. first. next time they so to start it, it won't start. Again this may be way off the mark. cheers
Thanks Thanks for the reply. There was nothing attached when the machine was turned off, but I'm not familiar with Cat electronics either and appreciate your thoughts. Michael