I recently purchased a used 2008 mini excavator John Deere 17ZTS, which is the same as the Hitachi EX17, from my local dealer. It has a button on the left side of the control console, that I can not figure out what it does. When it is pushed a little green light comes on, but nothing else seems to happen. This button is NOT in the operators manual, and the dealer does not know what it does, nor does the JD factory. They have said they will contact Japan to try to find out, but that it isn’t in any of their service books. I believe it must be one of two things; 1) Some type of proportional load sensing hydraulics, that speeds up unloaded hydraulic functions - this was mentioned in some info I found while researching excavators. 2) Engine speed adjustment based on load, or automatic idle. It only has about 4-6 weeks of the factory warrantee left, and need to find out if something is broken. Besides this is driving me batty!
it just turns idle control on or off. Turn the button till the light comes on and then put it at full idle and c if the engine idles down(it should).Then turn the button off and while still at full idle it should stay there.
Thanks for the help. Just to be sure I understand what you mean, when you say full idle, you mean wide open, correct? How about long should it take? 10 seconds, or 10 minutes? I have tried it, for about a minute, and nothing changed.
Looks like an auto idle control to me. Throttle engine up, push the button so green light comes on, and wait. Engine should idle down until you move a control lever, then it throttles up. Most auto idle controls throttle down within 2 - 4 seconds. 8 - 10 seconds max. If it doesn't idle down, somthings wrong with it. The Deere dealer not knowing what it is??? That puzzles me.
It is an auto idle. I had one on my 03 35zts and it also did nothing. I think in the manual it is listed as an option that neither of us got I guess.
atcoequip and humboldt are both correct. It should idle down to about 1/8 speed from wide open. it only engages when controls are not moved for 4 seconds. Every machine I've every been on worked and it is standard I believe.
It is the "cause the owner to post on Heavy Equipment Forums" button.:yup Yours is a test machine, but we have plans to have them installed industry wide... :naughty
Certainly looks like auto idle - very uncommon on 1.5 ton machine so you may not actually have it!!!! As said before all it does is idle then engine when the controls are not used for about 10 secs, straight away you touch a control the engine should speed up to the throttle setting/speed that you were running the machine at prior to it idling automatically.
Ok, I am convinced. But it does not work. I reved it up for five minutes straight with button on, and off.... Then I moved a control lever, no change. Either it is broke, or was never installed. Thanks for your help!
It looks like the button on my 120ex. I think it alows the engine to idle higher in cold weather to worm it up quicker then it will idle down when it is warm. dose that make any sense? atleast that is what my 120 has
Not bad... not bad at all... :lmao OCR... LOL Although... I thought it might have something to do with the lights...
I have hitachi 50 with same set up. As far as i know if you have dial type throttle you have problem. If you have lever- manual type then you dont This is U.K spec. regards
Mystery Solved I contacted the JD factory they did not know either.... They contacted the factory in Japan..... They did not know.... We sent some pictures and finally got an official answer after several weeks. This is for an auto idle option that is only available in the far east. The machines sold in the US are supposed to come with a piece of plastic that blocks off the switch. I feel better now that I know. Thanks for all of the suggestions.
At least we were on the right track!!
No! its nothing to do with the tracks, thats another thread your posting in
I have the identical control panel on my '99 Hitachi EX55UR-3, with the dial type throttle control. When the throttle turned up, and this button is activated, it will drop to idle within about 5sec of stopping movement. Pull a lever and it jumps back up to your dial throttle setting.
why only machines in the far east?
Probably because different markets usually want different features so in order to keep as many people happy manufacturers provide different features as standard for different areas of the world e.g here in the UK our mini's are usually standard with long arms and auxiliary piping, yet in Europe short arms are preffered so are provided standard. For example my Kubota K008-3 micro excavator has single speed tracking with no option for 2 speed tracking yet in the states 2 speed tracking is standard on the same machine!!!!