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CAT 304E2 overheating

D

DirtyHoe

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2016
Messages
290
Location
Albany, Oregon
Hi,
I'm renting a CAT 304E2. I ran it about 2 hours digging and pushing a little dirt. It's a 92 degree day. I had the AC on, but it's not very cold. Ran the engine one notch down from full power.
The alarm went off and I got this screen message: "E361[3] high engine coolant temperature. Shutdown safely." Another message says "Engine fault check engine. "
I shut it down immediately.
I checked the air filter and the fluids are full. Radiators are clean.
What else can I check before I call the owner? Will this code clear after it cools down or does it need repaired?

Thanks,
Steve
 
6

63 caveman

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2017
Messages
343
Location
western Pa.
You dirty hoe, I would be glad you're renting that machine! If the hydraulic cooler and rad are not plugged up with dirt it could have a cracked head, seen it on a couple of 303 and 304 cats.
 
uffex

uffex

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
4,464
Location
Lincoln UK
Occupation
Admin
Good day
This may not be so interesting as you are renting however most manufactures offer whats refered to as tropical specification mostly s different fan sometimes cooler matrix may be worth the question.
Kind regards
Uffex
 
CM1995

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,374
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Rented an enclosed cab 304E2 a couple of weeks ago that overheated and everything was right with the belts and coolant levels.

My operator took the rear door off to allow the engine heat to dissipate and finished the job. Rental Store mechanic said the machine needed a heat shield on the particulate filter/muffler which required the cab to be removed. Don't know if that's what it was or not, sent the machine back for them to deal with.

Rented a 304E2 open cab at the moment with no overheating issues. Ran hammers on both machines.
 
D

DirtyHoe

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2016
Messages
290
Location
Albany, Oregon
Interesting. This is an enclosed cab too. Yesterday was about 10 degrees cooler. I left the AC off. I ran it about 5 hours in the shade and the temperature never got above the half way point on the gauge.

Steve
 
CM1995

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,374
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
For the record our temps have been 90-100 range for the last month when we had the 304 that overheated. The A/C couldn't keep up even with the rear door off.
 
RollOver Pete

RollOver Pete

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
1,510
Location
Indio, Ca
Occupation
Operating Engineer/mechanic
If it's a rental, call them and ask them to fix it or bring you another one. Depending on who owns the machine, they can blame/back charge you for breaking their machine. I've seen it happen with UR.
 
D

DirtyHoe

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2016
Messages
290
Location
Albany, Oregon
Well, I made it through the weekly rental and returned it one piece. The overheating is definitely tied to the AC being on. If I left the AC off the engine temperature was fine. I blew out a fair amount of dirt from all the coolers(engine, AC, and hydraulic), but it didn't make a difference.

Steve
 
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