Is there anyway to completely flush an excavator hydraulic system? I'm be ing told that once its contaminated you might as well get rid of the machine.
I too have heard that. You would think the brainiacs that design the sytems would realize the most common cause of hydro system FUBAR is the pumps and protect the system from their inevitable failure. I just cannot see a spool turning into a pile of swarf. Chunks of rubber could block some stuff but not total the system. though I am green on some of these systems, I am willing to wager a crash cart (bypass filter system) with partial disassembly of the system to manually cycle fluids through the system with the right circuits getting love, you can make it all better. I guess I need to shop for a 345 with a junk hydro system.
There is a way to completely flush the system. Disassemble piece by piece and clean each one. Also don't forget that every hose has to be cleaned inside using the compressed air gun and the sponge projectiles. Oil analysis, maintaining oil cleanliness with kidney loop machines, and prompt maintenance if you find something wrong are your friends in this.
EX 120 metal in oil cooler I just bought a ex120-2 i found a small leak in the oil cooler and when i took it off to fix, the bottom line was almost full of metal,and small pieces of rubber,but mostly metal. Machine has plenty of power and runs good. Not sure what to do. I did clean the lines and changed all filters and cleaned tank. Any ideas???THANKS
Maybe the particles you found are from a previous failure and have accumulated in the bottom of the oil cooler, at least you should cross your fingers and hope this is the case. What sort of metal, magnetic, or non-magnetic..? Take an oil sample and ask the lab to analyze for metals (which will generally be particles of 5 microns or smaller) and for ISO particle count (particles larger than 5 microns). You should be aiming for an ISO Cleanliness Code of 18/15 or lower for an hydraulic system in good condition. If you're not sure what the particle count numbers mean when you get the lab report back post again and I can try to help you.
I agree that its previous failure and also checked and metal is magnetic.
Did the machine have a catastrophic cylinder or pump failure when it was in the hands of the previous owner ..?? If so it sounds like they didn't do a full system clean out correctly after the failure. Magnetic particles would be likely from either a cylinder piston or a pump. No idea how many pumps this machine has.