We own a 94 Komatsu WA-180 loader. We had this machine for about 9 years. From day 1 if you put it in F or R the trans would make a howling sound and then go into gear. The trans would have to be warm for it to travel over the road or else it would move very slow in 3rd gear. This is a snow machine so it rarely gets used in the summer. After moving it the other day for maintenance I noticed it makes the howling noise in all 3 gears before moving and even when the trans is warm it barley makes it up the slightest incline in 3rd gear. Trans is not slipping. 1st and 2nd move fine even though the howling noise is made when you put it in F or R in any gear. Trans oil and filter currently have less than 200 hrs and we use Hyken 052 oil in the trans of all of our loaders. After driving it 2 miles I checked the fluid and its full and looks brand new. It is not milky at all but I did notice tiny little bubbles in the clear oil like you would find in soda. Any ideas or questions?
I believe there are suction strainers in the bottom of that transmission. Did you pull those out and clean them when you change the oil and filter? They have magnets in them which can be pulled off the strainer baskets. You will need new O rings for the housings so you should call your local dealer for those. Good Luck!
I will assume you are checking the oil level correctly. I believe that machine is at idle in neutral. I would also tighten all the suction hose clamps to the trans pump. After you clean the suction screen as recommended by John C.
Thats right Dressta1 ,Check oil on flat ground in neutral and low idle. On the dipstick there is an L and H.the oil must be between that 2 points. i do not know what kind of oil that is hyken 052.if u use oil that is to thick you can have the same problems that u mentioned. that declares u have to warm up first and then traveling would go faster.the oil becomes thinner we use 10W oil.
the trans oil level was checked correctly. Kendall Hyken 052 was reccomended to us by our hydraulic guy when we first bought this machine because of the problems listed already. We have been using this oil ever since and also in our Komatsu WA350, Dresser 520B, Dresser 515C, and even in our Elgins for the hydrostatic drives. This wa180 is the only machine we have been and continue to have this problem with. What I did not ever do however was the suction screens. That is where I will go next
Id start with the suction screens for sure, hard to say without out knowing what dash machine you have but im sure that the screens are to be cleaned every 1k hours or so.
If you don't find any debris in the screens, the next logical step would be a pressure test the trans. This can be done with an auto parts store automatic transmission pressure test kit. Most stores have them on the shelf. Your local dealer can provide a diagram of the test ports. If the charge pump is worn, the results of your test will tell you as much. If you can provide a model and serial i might be able to dig up the charts and info you need.
When you say "howling" the first thing that came to mind was gear shift hunting, is the transmission hunting at all? I'm sure if it was you would of said, but I have to ask just incase
i just traded in that same machine did the same thing even after in was rebuilt it worked better if the oil was over full, allso if you ran the bucket all the way up and back down i would do this twice and the trany worked a lot better sounds crazy but it worked
Are you sure its the transmission howling and not the transmission charging pump? Check if there is air being sucked into the suction side of the transmission charging pump. If you cant find anywhere that air could be admitted, take the pump off and inspect that. Let me know how you go, if to no avail I'll give you further advice.
What did you do? It seems I have the same problem. Thanks. Snowdog