I had a job this spring for a house being built. I came out and cleared a spot in the woods so they could se how the land laid. I returned 4 months later to the machine, after checking all the fluids and greasing I ran for about 1 hour just to pile up the burn piles. I returned the next day, started to check fluids again and noticed I could not see the letters in the sight glass on the hydraulic tank due to water in the oil. Witch means one of two thing either water got there from condensation(but after talking to two heavy equipment mechanics say that impossible) or some neighbor did not like looking at my machine for months and decided do dump some water in the tank. Any ideas? THANKS
Going to have to drain/refill, change filter then run awhile and change filter again until clears up as there is nothing going to pull water out or separate from the oil save a specialized skid filter system.
get yourself some game cameras and put up in hidden spots around the work area and make sure they cover your machine when parked to see if anyone is tampering,,if so payback should be expensive to the culprit...
Once you get the water out if you machine is not already fitted with these might want to look into it. Would need full S/N to be sure of part numbers: A lot Cat equipment comes from factory with these type caps and if not they can be "retro-fitted" easy on most applications and not just for hydraulic tanks even for many dipsticks.
the locking caps are good, but they only keep good people out of the machine, I have seen the locked caps broken off and more cost in damage than if just the fuel was taken from an unlocked cap or fuel tanks just punctured to steal the fuel, if someone wants to mess with your machine and just cause vandalism, there is nothing you can do other than stand guard or the person knows the area is protected...leaving a machine sit like that is an invitation to the low lives to mess with it...if all that was done was water in the hydro tank your lucky..they could have poured a few gallons down the exhaust and really do some damage..
A broke cap would be validation for an insurance claim
I went ahead and drained oil with bucket up trying to get all the oil out. I'm going to change the oil and filters two times and then get oil tested. Also I do have the locking cap but never thought any one would mess with a hydraulic tank, it's going to be a expensive lesson
Almost be worth finding a busted hasp lock.
At least you would know something was done and it would let you check it out before starting the engine. There is no perfect amount of protection if someone wants to cause damage they can and will.