955K eating oil

[56wrench]

after you clean the debris out of the belly pans, you may be surprised at what you may find mixed in with the dirt. items such as bolts, hose clamps, wrenches, sockets etc. it can be like an archeological find lol

 

[DMiller]

Whomever you buy fluids from use Name Brand, Good Quality and definite Spec qualified lubricants. Cat still offers oil sample kits can have determinations of levels of contaminants, issues coming up, wear items failing etc.

 

[Nige]

You don't have to buy Cat fluids but try to buy as good quality as you can afford. Same goes for filters. Good quality oil & filters are the cheapest insurance policy you will ever buy for a machine.
Often the Cat Parts Dept has offers on fluids & filters. You don't know unless you ask.
Fluids from NAPA & Tractor Supply are one step above buying from "Joe Blow's Gas & Groceries" IMO.

 

[Rookie955L]

So if it’s not a CAT dealer, and I asked you to go grab some hydraulic fluid and transmission oil, where is your truck going?

 

[DMiller]

I go to a Lubricants/Fuel distributor locally that I can buy bulk quantities. Warrenton Oil CO, they can get most any name brand for me at a slight mark up, I still have to fetch at their warehouse but not far.

 

[Rookie955L]

Anyone from the Louisville area?

 

[kshansen]

Anyone from the Louisville area?

Seems like it would be easy to just open the phone book if they still have them down there and look under oils.

Just a quick Google finds this outfit:
http://www.apollooil.com/store/main.aspx?p=categoryBody&c=COOF

Not sure what others think of Castrol or Shell but we used Castrol in the equipment at the quarry for several years and can't recall any lubrication related problems with any of the equipment.

 

[DMiller]

Not used much Castrol but never had issues when did use it. I still like Shell and Chevron products, been told Rotella is changed and Delo is now quite different, did NOT need to hear reformulating.

 

[Rookie955L]

Half way through getting the belly plate off. Bone dry under the engine plates.

Can anyone tell me what size the final drive fill hole nuts are? I’ve got nothing that big, must be about two inches. Here is a pic. Any idea what I could use in lieu of a drive that big.

 

[oarwhat]

One more thing on checking the oil. Make sure the engine is warm when checking it running. I like to do it at operating temp. One of my guys would start it up and check the running right away. Well the oil is cold and all of it doesn't run down to the pan like a warm engine. I had some machines a gallon overfilled because of this. Also like Nige says don't fill it right to the top of the engine stopped marks either. Those just show there's enough oil to run it. We did an oil change once and filled to the top mark that engine was 2 gallons over.

 

[kshansen]

Can anyone tell me what size the final drive fill hole nuts are? I’ve got nothing that big, must be about two inches. Here is a pic. Any idea what I could use in lieu of a drive that big.

What can I say other than if you are going to play with big boy toys you need to get big boy tools!

As for the size, don't you have a ruler or tape measure some place?

 

[Rookie955L]

Fair enough, I deserved that one.
Got the pan off and it was a mess. Ran it and the only thing I could see drip a bit was the plug/nut here.

 

[DMiller]

Plug appears loose, gasket not seated as CAN see it. Should be to the flywheel area so not so much issue. Would certainly pull the intake piping off turbo to engine and see if oil tracked, a turbo can deliver quite a bit and not be enough to cause running issues.

 

[Nige]

Plug appears loose, gasket not seated as CAN see it. Should be to the flywheel area so not so much issue.

Agreed. However worth putting right while you are in there. Also a good clean with some degreaser to remove all the oil residue.
Maybe now is the time to set the oil level correct (simply somewhere between the ADD and FULL marks) on the Engine Idling side of the stick with the engine actually running and oil at normal operating temperature.
Run the engine with the belly guards off (maybe even some light work on good ground) and see where the oil you saw before is actually coming from...?

Based on what the OP has spoken regarding the way his brother was checking the oil level in the past I would be hopeful that the engine was simply overfilled and so has been puking the extra out from various orifices.
Good points made by other BTW regarding most engines having a "sweet spot" on the dip stick. Fill the oil above that and the engine will just puke out the extra until the oil level gets back to where it wants to be.

 

[kshansen]

Agree on leaving the pans off and working to be sure about there being any leaks. Much easier to see and fix now while it's open and hopefully clean up in there!

 

[Rookie955L]

Can anyone point me in the right direction for what that plug and gasket is called? I looked on SIS and I’m not seeing it for the flywheel.

 

[Nige]

This one you mean..?


#29 is the gasket - Part Number 0L-1124.
Interesting thing is that #27 P/N 3B-4626 is listed as a "cotter pin". Is this plug supposed to be some sort of breather to allow crap to drain out of the flywheel housing..?
Have a closer look. Is there a hole in the middle of the plug..?

 

[Rookie955L]

In the middle is what looks
Like or I thought was a 3/4” drive insert for tightening it. I’ll have to get under again but it looks like a 2” plug screwed into the housing with a square hole in the middle.

 

[Nige]

Look carefully in the bottom of the square hole, or try poking it with a welding rod. Is there a round hole maybe around 3/16" diameter in the centre..?

Come to think of it we never got the S/N of this machine. I could be looking at the wrong S/N range of 85J........

 

[kshansen]

Come to think of it we never got the S/N of this machine. I could be looking at the wrong S/N range of 85J........

Hate to be a bit bitchy on that subject but...... two separate threads about one machine one going to 44 messages and one (this one) now hitting 60 messages and still no serial number!

Like they say garbage in garbage out. Only getting half the information make it frustrating to try and give an accurate answer to a question. It's Like I often had to tell one boss "Just because the driver is staring at a dogs butt does not mean it's the same as the one over there!" And I don't care if the numbers and letters on the hood match if the numbers on that little tag on the frame are not right you are just asking to get bit at some point!