My Cat 246c hydraulic fluid overheated yesterday while using a brush mower. This is the first time it has ever overheated and ended up causing the engine to overheat. I shut it down immediately since I am not sure how hot the oil temp was since my cat only has a warning light. Does anyone know at what temperature the warning light is set to activate? Will changing out all the hydraulic fluid every year as caterpillar recommends help it stay cool?
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How often do you change the hydraulic fluid?
- Thread starter jfp2673
- Start date
happygolucky
Active Member
Not familiar with your machine but does it have an oil cooler on it probably in front of the radiator. I would check it to make sure it was clean after I made sure the oil level was proper and the fan blade wasn't loose and tuning okay. don't think the oil is causing it to get hot. if you go on the net and do a search on your machine warning light you probably will find the answer to your question about you light and probably your over heating question. lots of information on the net .
Dittoes to what happy said. Also having a IR temp gun, on the machine, can help diagnose if you have a bad sensor, or where the hop spots are. They are cheap (HF has them, in the $30 range). Most hyd oil starts to degrade at about 250ºF, and gets worse, after that. If it smells rancid, it probably is...
On edit, I looked up temp that hyd fluid starts to be damaged, it is at about 180ºF that seal erosion starts, and damage starts...
On edit, I looked up temp that hyd fluid starts to be damaged, it is at about 180ºF that seal erosion starts, and damage starts...
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JS300
Senior Member
I had the same problem on a Case 450 while running a brush mower. Turned out that the fan wasn't turning at full throttle, it spun fine at idle though (belt was slipping). I would check the the cooler first. We blow it out twice a day while running the mower. Mowers seem to put a big load on a machine.
Not only that, they also create a lot of the dust and chaff, that causes the overheating, in the first place...
On the cat 246c the oil cooler and radiator are one unit. The top half of the radiator cools the antifreeze and bottom half cools the hydraulic oil. I am curious since this is the first time it ever overheated in the last 4 years if it has something to do with the age of the oil. I checked the fan and appears to be working fine. After letting it cool down, I started it up and is running normal temperature now but that was just with the machine idling in my driveway. I did check it with a IR gun after it cooled down and the radiator appears to be cooling. My cooling fan is hydraulic and looks to be working. Maybe running a brush mower is causing to much heat on the auxiliary hydraulics. Does anyone change their hydraulic oil once a year? The hydraulic oil looks and smells normal. I will try and blow out the radiator in the morning.
Generally speaking yearly hydro oil changes aren't necessary unless you have a metal tank like a lot of case and gehl machines do - these can develop moisture inside the tank in regions that weather changes would cause sweating. Even still, not a lot of water gets in there.
Your cat should have a plastic tank. I try to avoid using a mower in high summer time heat since it taxes the hydro temps ...I like early mornings for those jobs.
I've had people tell me they've gotten 4 to 5k hrs on new holland machines without ever changing the hydro oil. I wouldn't do it though.
Your cat should have a plastic tank. I try to avoid using a mower in high summer time heat since it taxes the hydro temps ...I like early mornings for those jobs.
I've had people tell me they've gotten 4 to 5k hrs on new holland machines without ever changing the hydro oil. I wouldn't do it though.
JS300
Senior Member
Have you ran the cutter in the past without any problems or is this a new attachment? It could be that the cooler isn't big enough. I have a 72" cutter and my oil coller is bigger than the radiator. The hoses get so hot you need gloves to take them loose and even then you don't want to hold them too long.
I have run the cutter for about a year now and it has never overheated before. The ambient temperature was about 90 degrees out side, but I have mowed in the past with 100 degree weather and never overheated before. The grass was probably the highest I have mowed yet (almost 6 feet high) and the mower cut it up like it was nothing. It did take about 90 minutes of mowing before my warning light went off so it may be a combination of pushing the machine to its limit and fine dust getting into the radiator. Has anyone tried water wetter for diesel engines?
92U 3406
Senior Member
I would clean that cooler out really good. It may look clean but you'd be amazed by how much crap gets stuck in there. Normally we just lift up the guard up off the top and steam clean the core out until nothing but clean water runs out the bottom. Could take 5-10 minutes of washing to get it cleared out if its really bad.