CAT 299XE

Question for you hydraulic mechanical guru’s. Had one of our 299’s flash a red indicator and then went to yellow, It was for low voltage on several things like the speed sensors, Loader bucket arm etc etc. about 7-8 codes in the system now and after it did that the hydraulic power to the mulcher seems to be cut back, almost like it’s in low flow which it isn’t. Machine runs mine other than the lack of hydraulic power aka flow to the attachment and its not in limp mode, I’m very familiar with that lol Could something have the hydraulic pressure to the attachments throttled back, like a limp mode for that part? It’s really weird, never had something like this happen before or maybe it was a fluke the codes flashed and the problem was already their previously. I wasn’t in it at the time but I know it’s not right now, they turned the high flow off swapping attachments and when they swapped back is when they noticed something was wrong.
The lower high flow connection is leaking a little bit but it’s very minor, like a drip every few seconds, any thoughts before I haul it in for repair?

Hi Reuben, low battery voltage can trigger a bunch of errors messages like that, but so can many other things.

Maybe post your s/n and some more details of the error messages, might get a few more responses.

I’ll take a pic of the error messages today and post them this evening,

The only error messages were the speed sensor and bucket, I’m not sure what the red message was that popped up unless it was the speed sensor. I know it was flashing red for several minutes while he drove it back to the trailer, I guess it needs to go back to CAT for a lookie look.

Maybe something simple like the electrical plug for the attachment got a bent pin or some dirt in there?
Strange issue... is there a way to see if another high flow attachment works on the machine?

This high flow indicator is showing its activated on the display panel so I’m not really sure myself. It’s about due for it’s first service so I’m going to let them check it out. I’m sure it’s something simple so it’s no big deal, I have hooked up a different high flow attachment and it’s the same result so it’s definitely not working right.

Reuben Frazier said:

This high flow indicator is showing its activated on the display panel so I’m not really sure myself. It’s about due for it’s first service so I’m going to let them check it out. I’m sure it’s something simple so it’s no big deal, I have hooked up a different high flow attachment and it’s the same result so it’s definitely not working right.

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I have been running a 2020 299D3 XPS/Hi Flow rental for the past 4 days - I have had a fuel system issue put me into limp mode, cat was dispatched and determined it was a fuel filter. Not being allowed to carry fuel filters they had to drive 120 miles round trip to get one - lost a day of work so worked at night to play catch up. The fuel gauge wont go down under 3/4 tank. It only has a lil over 1000 hours on it.

maybe its related to mine and has some gremlins.

I’m past the gremlin stage and it’s not going into limp mode.

@Reuben Frazier - were you able to get this sorted out? dirty ground? have you checked battery voltage? maybe its not charging properly and running the voltage down below a certain threshold while running AC, they draw a lot of juice.

searcyfarms said:

The fuel gauge wont go down under 3/4 tank. It only has a lil over 1000 hours on it.

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Funny you should say that, have seen a few of them lately. Wouldn't be surprised if we see a service letter out for the fuel senders soon.

FWIW I still think the D3's are an awesome machine, but every now and then we see one with gremlin after gremlin.

Hilarious such a simple thing as fuel sender is quirky and seeing it here/there on them.

I liked the 299 dont get me wrong, but with the attachment I was using. The 299 D3 XPS has less than 35 gpm on hi flow so when working on soft ground or slight grade it was tough for the machine to have the power/flow to move it while trying to spin the head back up. Frustrating but you cant fault Cat on that, ANY sub 40gpm machine is going to struggle with it. It looks like the XE version of the 299 has appx 40gpm. The new Deere 333G does and so does the Kubota SVL95, I would bet Takeuchi is right there also.

The 299 is priced 20K higher than the others thats a lot of $$ for what difference? I am still looking into that part.

I would love to have a 299 XE but I cant afford one. IF I had a business to run using hi flow w/one of those mulchers, it would be an XE only.

Chrisso said:

Funny you should say that, have seen a few of them lately. Wouldn't be surprised if we see a service letter out for the fuel senders soon.

FWIW I still think the D3's are an awesome machine, but every now and then we see one with gremlin after gremlin.

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searcyfarms said:

The 299 is priced 20K higher than the others thats a lot of $$ for what difference? I am still looking into that part

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I think that's a question for the operators out there. I know sales will give you all the right answers!

Suspension undercarriages seem to be the biggest selling point for cat.

Chrisso said:

Suspension undercarriages seem to be the biggest selling point for cat.

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Except the 299 doesn't have a suspension undercarriage

The answer to the question at hand is the CATS will hold up to the abuse over time where the others won’t. We’ve owned them all and know first hand what happens. Yes the newer CATs had some issues but once those were lined out it’s business as usual.. I’ve been so mad at them I wanted to scream but their still night and day better than the others on anything mulching or brush clearing. Yes they cost more but they hold up and the resale value is even more than the original expense paid up front when it comes time to sell so it’s a wash at worst.

As to the suspension, yes the cats have a suspended suspension that works way better and is smoother over rough ground. We run it turned off running slow but when we’re running at higher speeds it’s set to come on at 4 MPH on the control panel.

I personally have around 10,000 hours in CAT 299’s so I can answer most any question pertaining to one with some serious butt answers LOL

I think you mean "ride control" or "boom suspension". I thought you were referring to the ASV style on the "7"s.

heymccall said:

Except the 299 doesn't have a suspension undercarriage

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Well, there you go.
I learn something new every day. Thank you for the clarification.

No probs, actually interesting to see them in action like that.

But yes the suspension Reuben's referring to is ride control.