Gentlemen, Can methyl hydrate be safely added to the hydraulic system of a 580 superK Case backhoe to eliminate any ice in the system. It’s -1F and the hydraulics won’t work, loader bucket, back hoe, etc. won’t move. Thanks in advance for your time. Senator
Alcohol, after the fact, is useless. And NO! Just like adding fuel additives after you're gelled up. It just sits on top. First thing to do is get a torpedo heater blowing on the hydraulic tank and pumps. Use some tarp to build a tent to retain the heat. Crack the drain plug loose, see if water, in fact, drips out. If so, you've probably hurt it already. Let's assume, no water, does the oil pour out into a drain bucket or does it come out in slow sludgey plops? If you don't see any waxing, i would not drain another drop. Check your suction hoses to your pump(s) Are they tight? Any cracks, any unusual angles. Do any show signs of leakage? Did she make any racket when running? Howling, rumbling, grinding, anything like that. This could all be a sticking or inoperative safety solenoid or lever/switch. Please open a new post under loader backhoes heading stating, lost hydraulics, engine runs. Something like that. Those guys in the backhoe group are always helping eachother. Lots of knowledge there. Good luck and welcome to the forums. We're glad to have you. Oh and stop by new member thread. Introduce yourself and say, Hey!
Welcome to HEF, Senator ! Does the hydraulic oil look milky ? That is a certain indication of water contamination. If it looks good then do what funwithfuel suggested, especially about the pour-abilty of the cold oil. It may have the wrong weight oil in the system. Have you changed the hydraulic filter and cleaned the hydraulic oil suction strainer ??
Thanks very much! Will do.
Thanks very much “ funwithfuel” ! Will do.
Yeah, but... Was she making noise when it was running?
Yes, for a short time?
It raised the back hoe and one stabilizer that were down and made the noise when I raised front bucket a little, stopped put it down and plowed snow, pushed only, power steering loosing strength periodically thinking it would warm up, but didn’t. After letting it run for 40-60 minutes; nothing. Negative 3 F degrees. Did have water in system in two summers ago, drained and replaced hydraulic oil, had worked ok last winter. New water accumulation.???
Do you have sufficient oil? If it raised the boom and outrigger , the pump was functioning. Hopefully there was enough oil to keep the pump lubricated. Maybe a few steps back, let's check the hydraulic fluid level before going any further.
If it has plenty of oil you may need to look at the pump shaft to see if it is turning. Sheared splines in the coupler assembly make quite a racket when they strip. I hope that is not the problem.
Thank you! the backhoe is 20 miles away in the country. I’ll check levels and take a hydraulic filter with me tomorrow when it’s supposed to warm up a bit.My initial question was to find out if Methyl hydrate would help or even hurt the system. Any other suggestions or anything besides tools, etc. that I might need or try? Thanks again.
I thought funwithfuel answered your question quite well. I would say the same -- no wood alcohol in the hydraulic oil. It seems to me that the alcohol would bond to the water and create concoction that would be quite detrimental to the hydraulic pump. IMHO of course. If the oil does in fact have enough water contamination that it is causing the problems you describe, a complete system flush is needed. You need to drain the hydraulic reservoir to be able to clean the suction screen. Do you have or need a service manual for the machine ?
Thanks again; need to get service manual.
Thanks again; need to get service manual.
Do you know the location of the suction screen ? It is a little difficult to get access to. Do you know which series your 580K is ? Be careful if you purchase a service manual. There are different four models. They all have different service and parts manuals. 580K, 580K phase 2, 580K phase 3 and 580SK.
No I don’t. I have. 1992 Super K 580, Ser.# JJGO168434, so it belongs to the Super K group, I believe after reading some threads. Thanks very much for your time. Stay well!
I have the 580SK service manual. If you send me your email address IN A PM (private message), I can send you a link to my Google Drive and you can download the service manual from it.
Thanks! How do you send a private message?
Click your cursor on the username of the member you want send a PM to, and you will get a pop-up box that looks like this. ↓↓↓↓ Then click on the start a conversation. A new page will open and you can then send the info. Any time a PM is sent to a member, HEF generates an email notification and sends it to the recipient.
Welcome Senator and good on you Tinkerer. Here's to the pump still being connected.
Senator; After you log-in, look at the upper RH corner of the HEF homepage. Look for the little icon that looks like a red envelope. It is right next to your username. Click on it and you will find a message I'm going to send you. It will have my email address in it. Send me Your email address and I will reply with an invitation to download the service manual from my Google drive.
Check your email inbox, Senator.
Hello Gentlemen, I was very fortunate that we had a short window of above freezing temperatures a couple of days ago and with some electric heaters, got the hydraulic system thawed and it worked!!! I did drain the system and replaced the oil and filter. It seems to be working ok in the freezing temps after a good warm up. My 1992 Super K is a phase 3. It has a spin on hydraulic filter. I plan to drain the system again to dilute the water as much as possible-when the weather warms up. I did check with a mechanic at the local Case dealer and he, as you all suggested, that I shouldn’t add any methyl hydrate. I asked if there was any additive that would help and was told that the only thing was to flush the system a few times. I believe I did find the source of the water and it was repaired previously with another repair task. I’d like to thank you all for your
assistance. Stay well! Cheers! M
Thanks for the update ! If you haven't already cleaned the hydraulic suction screen I would encourage you to do so as soon it is convenient. Hopefully it is as clean as a new one.
Good day Tinkerer! I gather the hydraulic suction screen is on the pump? -will have to check the manual that you graciously supplied. Thanks
If the tank holds pressure and the cap is secure, you are most likely looking at water that somebody poured in there from a contaminated 5 gallon can. They popped a leak, fixed the leak and filled it from a can that sat outside without any care.