CT230 First Troubles

[Canada_CT230]

I purchased a CT230 back in July 09. Its got 53 hours on it now and been running flawlessly for the 53 hours. Today while doing some light snow work and moving frozen pumpkins into the compost. I smelt hydraulic fluid and upon further investigation found the engine compartment covered in fluid.

Too dark to see where its coming from but I'm assuming its gotta be a fitting or pump under the hood. I'll take a look tomorrow during the daylight and when I can get down and dirty.

Any suggestions?

 

[Canada_CT230]

Update. I ran the extension cord out to the shed and hooked up the halogen flood light.

Took the side panels off and fired the CT230 up. I found hyd. oil pouring out of the hyd. oil cooler. It then is being sucked through the radiator and spun all over the engine compartment by the fan. What a mess. The inlet and outlet fittings are tight. I think it is cracked.

Looks like an easy fix that I could do myself but only if the dealer will ship me the part under warranty. Otherwise I will have to find a trailer and drive it an hour to the dealer.

Thats the scoop.

 

[wallace]

There will be to lines coming up from underneath and going to the cooler make sure the are rubber lines and not steel...
Quite some time ago Kioti had problems with some of the steel lines not flexing enough and that would result in pressure being applied to the cooler and cracking the cooler.
Not saying this is the same problem you have but just a heads up..
The lines should be rubber.

 

[Canada_CT230]

Yup, the lines are rubber. They go into an 180-degree elbow assembly on the top of the cooler. There is no fluid coming from the fittings but instead part way down the face of the cooler. Hence why I suspect the cooler is cracked.

I don't know how or why the cooler would crack. It is cold here (about -12C) today. A lot warmer than the -30C we did have.

The tractor was plugged in all day and the block was nice and warm. Not sure how much of that heat makes it to the hyd. system though.

Just bad luck?

 

[dfkrug]

Looks like an easy fix that I could do myself but only if the dealer will ship me the part under warranty.

Will he do that? Hopefully yes.

I may be cracking open my CT230's 3-pt cyl housing to fix a problem.

 

[Canada_CT230]

Well the CT230 is fixed. I swapped out the hyd. oil cooler with the dealer. Saved me from locating a trailer and hauling it to/from the dealer which is over an hour away. They borrowed one off a floor model. Awesome dealer support.

To my surprise the replacement cooler is larger and of different construction. I wonder if they had issues. The old one had flat wide tubes and the new one is just a continous tube. The new one looks beefier.

It only took about 10 minutes to remove the cooler. Had to push aside the air filter. Only had the break the cooler lines and remove two nuts to remove the cooler.

What a mess in the engine compartment with all the oil. I drove into town and got the hot water and soap on it. Hopefully clean enough until summer.

 

[Sabretooth]

Canada_CT230 Glad to hear that you got the little machine up and running I have been following this since you posted as I just took delivery of one this past week used it for the first time yesterday just patching up the driveway up and taking my shredder out of the bed of the pickup (has been in there since August when I was told I was originally getting it). You had me a little worried reading that POST though glad the dealer took care of it like that on your end. So far it with 4hrs it runs great as far as I can tell.

Would you be able to take a picture of the what your talking about with the new cooler, would like to compare it to the one on mine. Hope it is the latter as I think I am one of the last to recieve it.

 

[dfkrug]

Would you be able to take a picture of the what you're talking about with the new cooler, would like to compare it to the one on mine.

I would, too. Let's see pix.

(Glad you got the part from the dealer, CANADA.)

 

[Canada_CT230]

Here is a pic. Its not great but you can identify.

The old cooler is about 6x12 and the new is about 10x12. This is just a guess on the sizes but you can easily identify them. The new also has the loops on the end of the cooler. The old has a stacked vertical tube (kinda like an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen).

The picture shows the end loops. Hope that helps.

 

[Sabretooth]

Thanks Canada_CT230 for the pic

 

[airbusdriver]

Howdy Canada_CT230, I'm thinking you are dealing with BOBCAT on Rte 90 in Winnipeg? How have you found their service? So far they have treated me like royalty. Very impressed!

Happy Holidays,

Airbusdriver

 

[Canada_CT230]

Nope.

They took three weeks to answer my email about getting a quotation/info on the CT230. My dealer answered my email the very next morning.

I actually had purchased and took delivery of my machine by the time they got around to calling me. I told them they were a little too late.

If you snooze you lose.

 

[krazsk]

My oil cooler started to leak too. I was out blowing some snow in no temperature (around 0 degrees F). I guess this is a known COLD weather problem. If you live where it gets cold like this, you may want to ask your dealer about it. They gave me a replacement that isn't exactly the same, slightly different dimensions. Apparently they have a fix for the cold weather cracking, since it's different than the original. CT225.

 

[Canada_CT230]

I have not have any further issues since the new (different sized) oil cooler went in. It is a completely different design and does look beefier. Knock on wood!

We had much colder temps since that leak occurred. I also let it run a minimum of 15 minutes before moving the tractor. I then back it out and cycle all hydraulics to circulate the oil. Then I start to drive slow. Hopefully all this works for many many years to come.

 

[krazsk]

My replacement oil cooler looks like the original. slightly different dimensions, like 1/4 inch taller, but painted silver rather than black.

 

[Canada_CT230]

That is in now way the same as my replacement cooler. Mine is much larger and of different construction.

I had a difficult time in getting a good photo but maybe this weekend I'll try again.

 

[qed-cat225]

okay saw a few drop of fluid under my CT225 the last couple days and did not think anything of it, well popped the hood tonight and guess what the entire oil cooler is caked in fluid, is this what happened to you all? how easy is it to replace etc or does it make a huge mess replacing it? Will be off to the bobcat dealer tomorrow!

 

[Canada_CT230]

Don't use it. That is when it makes a huge mess. The radiator fan sucks and sprays it all all around the engine compartment.

What I did was to take all hydro pressure out of the lines by lowering the 3pt and FEL (wiggle the levers).

Move the air filter assembly out of the way. Crack the nuts on top of the cooler. Remove the two nuts holding the cooler to the tractor frame. Remove the two hydro lines. Be careful not to lose the o-rings in there. Does not make a huge mess but I did put a plastic bag over the hydro lines. The cooler will be full of oil. Keep it upright or drain it.

Install is just reverse. Check fluid level and add as required.

 

[krazsk]

Hey Msiewert96, Let us know what your replacement looks like. Like my pic, or like Canada_CT230's pic. Also I'll second his description of the change. It's pretty easy if you remove the battery and air cleaner and doesn't cause much of a mess.

 

[qed-cat225]

will do they did not have in stock so should be getting this week and since its warranty they can install it for me funny though know one has heard of this being an issue, jump over to the kioti thread and you see all sorts of this issue