JLG 400S with 3-cylinder Deutz engine. Questions (in order of difficulty): 1) How do you drain the engine oil? Can't find the drain plug on the oil pan. 2) Creep speed only? Following manual instructions on controls, can never get close to 4.5 MPH advertized speed. 3)As in previous "400S Woes" thread, the controls seem to have a mind of their own. Boom swing and boom lift will ocassionally not function from both the ground control station and platform control - all other controls work. Typically, I start the engine and check the swing and lift - if they don't work from the ground (about 25% of the time), I just shut down and try again later - sometimes hours or days later. Then they usually work for another lift job. Thank you forum - it's lonely out here.
Answering own question #1 Found the oil drain - not at the bottom of the pan, but on side about 2 inches above bottom and on inside side of Deutz engine. Small valve attached to drain hose - pullout on the clip and turn the valve about 90 degrees CCW and out comes the black oil from the bottom of the pan. Amazing! Pure genius, no tools required, apparently uses siphon from pick-up point at bottom of pan and long enough hose to siphon nearly all of the oil. Attaway to go Deutz! Continuing to investigate question #2 Found the roller two switches at the rear of the boom that detect when the boom is above horizontal to limit speed to creep. Switches are hidden behind a sleet metal clip on the right side of the boom. They are nearly impossible to find (and inaccessible?). Need to track two electrical wire leads to ? to check for appropriate output from switches.
Limit switch: We had a 600s that had a similar problem. The problem was that the limit switch arm was slightly bent and would stick every time you raised the boom. The machine would think the boom was above the acceptable limit and switch to creep mode. Control problems: We have a 400s that uses control cards to proportion the controls. The problem was that the control card for the drive and lift/ lower were bad. An easy way to test was to switch the malfunctioning control wire harness for a control card that is working properly. This will tell you if its the card or the control itself (if your machine uses these cards). I bought them from Hindley Electronics and they were about $650 each. I little salty but beats having no machine!