Recently purchased a 2013 Caterpillar Dozer D5K2 XL. Serial # KWW00607 Instrument Cluster displays incorrect oil, water and fuel readings. From cold start, all three gauges showns needle approximately 1/3, including fuel which I filled full. The white schroll buttom on the bottom of the display seems to work fine; I can schroll to see hours, miles, etc. I do not have a wiring schematic for the dozer and I have not checked the fuse box. I am not sure which fuse's control the Instrument Cluster. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.
A couple of questions. 1. With the key off, do all the gauges read zero, or close to it.? 2. Any time that you turn on the key, do all the gauges sweep full scale, all the warning lights flash, and the alarm buzzer sound for a period of 3 seconds.?
I would also suggest that you should get hold of an Operation & Maintenance Manual for it. Click HERE , put SEBU8498 in the box and click the Search button. If you select the download option you'll have it in 5 minutes or less.
With the key off, the neddles on the gauges are approximately 1/3. Any time I turn on the key, the gauges remain at 1/3 and DO NOT sweep full scale. They do not move at all. I see LED display towards the bottom half of the display that do flash but I DO NOT hear an alarm buzzer at all, just a slight hum which I believe is the electric fuel pump engaging. I have an Operation & Maintenance Manual and a Parts Manual for this machine.
That is not good. I'll send you an electrical schematic. Keep an eye on your message inbox. Provided everything has power then I think the next move would be to get Cat ET hooked up to the machine and get a Product Status Report. Unfortunately there is no way on your particular model to access Diagnostic Codes without the use of ET.
Cat ET? Is that a tool I can purchase to use to self diagnose or is this Cat Electronic Tech coming out? The dozer starts up immediately when key is turned. Shows 1595 hours.
"Caterpillar® Electronic Technician (Cat ET) is diagnostic software required to communicate, diagnose and service electronically-controlled Cat engines, and machines." It is available to customers but I suspect the price might make your eyes water. I would estimate the initial setup (hardware & software) would probably run around $2k with an annual licence fee of around $500 to also consider.
Got the schematic. Thank You. I will contact the local CAT dealer Monday to get that process going. Yes, my eyes glossed over when you told me the cost. I looked up the cost of a new Instrument Cluster and I believe it is approximately $1300. I guess they may prove to be frutile to replace the cluster not knowing if that will fix the problem.
By protocol the tech should do a PSR when he first connects to the machine, and another one after doing whatever diagnostic work is carried out. Make sure that is done. Also make sure the tech gives you an Adobe pdf copy of both documents before he leaves the machine. Keep a memory stick handy....... TBH in your current situation I would be using the schematic to at a minimum check for power at the back side of the gauge module. At least do all the basics yourself before calling out the big guns. It would be embarrasing to get a dealer tech out to the machine for a blown fuse...........
IMHO don't even consider allowing a dealer to do that without first being given a cast-iron guarantee that it WILL fix the problem.
Thank you for your help and insight knowledge. I will keep this post updated as I progress with CAT ET.
Nige is spot on. A simple check you could perform is study the wiring diagram for ground connections related to the instrument panel and check them out. A good visual inspection of all the related connections and harnesses. Sometimes, just disconnecting and connecting a harness can clean the contacts enough to locate the issue. Have a spray can of contact cleaner handy.
Update, I met a retired Cat Service Manager from the local dealership and he shared two service technicians names that are still actively working and they assured me the instrument cluster symptoms I am experiencing is not unusual and they frequently stop working when they lose the Argon gas sealed in the unit. They suggested I replace the cluster myself and save the Cat trip charge. I ordered and replaced it myself and all gauges are working correctly now. One other point, my retired Cat Serv Mgr friend had me check with the active working technician to see if the cluster needed to be programmed or re-programmed to the ECM on my dozer. On this dozer it was plug and play and did not need to be programmed to the ECM. Apparently some dozers need programming of the cluster to work with the ECM. ***Special thanks to Nige and Coaldust for your help and support.
Thanks for the update.
Nice to get an update. Quite a bit to pay at 1500 hours. How far out of warranty was it?
That’s a new one, for me at least…..