New here, have a hydro fluid question

[NW.Wisc.guy]

soo... I bought a 05 Case 430 last fall with 304 hrs on it. It’s the 1st piece of equipment I’ve ever had and lately I’ve been looking for answers to some issues I’ve had with it so I figured the thing to do was jump in here and join the discussions. I had put only a few hours on it when I was plowing a neighbors driveway a few months ago and the machine died and it wouldn’t crank. It sat there for months since couldn’t figure it out but then a friend from the very small town near here that is good with a meter came by and figured it out to be a stop solenoid on the hydraulics valve was shorted out. But I have a question for you all, in the work we did we lost 2 gallons of hydraulic fluid which is supposed to be 10w30 oil according to Case but not knowing this when I refilled the reservoir I put 2 gallons of AW32 fluid in. Would you drain the reservoir and refill it with the motor oil or do you think I’d be ok with the mix? Thanks for the help and cheers to everyone.

 

[heymccall]

No harm caused... on my Case skidsteer, I use TO4 spec 10W hydraulic oil. Been using it for well over 20 years now.

When using 10w30, an HTO additive is to be mixed in.

 

[phil314]

I agree no harm so far.

My bigger concern would be Why had you lost 2 gallons? Slow leaks become big leaks and running it out of fluid is very very bad.
Also with only 304 hours, I'm willing to bet the fluid has never been changed.
And after 14 year, it probably should be. It still can get condensation and such just sitting.

 

[NW.Wisc.guy]

I agree no harm so far.

My bigger concern would be Why had you lost 2 gallons? Slow leaks become big leaks and running it out of fluid is very very bad.
Also with only 304 hours, I'm willing to bet the fluid has never been changed.
And after 14 year, it probably should be. It still can get condensation and such just sitting.

On the 430 model and likely on the whole 400 series they made in the mid 2000’s you have to manually winch the bucket arms up in order to raise the cab for access to the inner workings of the skid. To do so we disconnected the hoses on both sides of the lift cylinders and while they were disconnected we started the skid steer thinking that we wouldn’t lose any fluid but we did and it came out pretty fast. You are correct that the fluid has likely never been changed. I didn’t get any service records with the machine but we did catch some of the oil when we winched up the arms and it was a bit dark. Maybe this summer I’ll drain the reservoir of the fluid and put new 10w30 in it with the additive.

 

[NW.Wisc.guy]

I should have said that you have to winch the lift arms up... if your skid is dead and you need to raise the cab. I looked for a edit tab but apparently there isn’t one one this forum?

 

[jacobd]

Mixing in some AW32 probably won't hurt anything but if it were me I'd go ahead and change the fluid and filter just to be safe. And our 430's do not require HTO additive that's only used in loaders that have orbital style drive motors. The 400 series use radial piston motors.

Btw I've make the same mistake of starting up the machine with lines disconnected. That fluid moves fast!