CAT 304 CR - Excavator Starter Fault - 2021#31

[@DanielAtkinsFirewood]

Automotive can be the same way.. simple to fix but the hour or so get through it is the hardest..

[@TheRuralProject]

Oh yes, I took me hours to get to it, especially the first time I did this when I didn’t know what could off or where the access was. It was comical, but I wasn’t laughing 😂

[@jmdarling76]

Replaced starter today on my 304CR....... didn't know that access was there. I did everything from underneath and it was a huge PITA but we got it. Oddly enough I have never seen the little green light above low fuel light until today. Had this machine since 06 and have personally put about 1200hrs on it and it's never lit up once, didn't even know it was there. What does that light mean?

[@Alan_Hans__]

I had a similar issue with my big block Daewoo Matiz (3cyl and 800cc classes as big block?? ). It's an absolute fair mongrel to get to the starter as the engine bay is tiny and the starter is buried right against the firewall. Over an hour to undo 2 mounting bolts and a couple of wires. Pull it out and 30s after getting it out I saw a dry solder joint on the matching spade connector that you were missing a connection to. A few minutes later it was all soldered up and ready to spend another hour putting it back in. Only in hindsight could I see that if I'd spotted the dry solder joint from under the car I could have fixed the starter in under 5 minutes. Not enough light and not enough access to get a meter in there to help me out. With your excavator you couldn't even jumper a screwdriver across the terminals to get it started. It wouldn't be very convenient to remove the seat each time you wanted to do it.

[@TheRuralProject]

Hi Alan, thanks for watching and the comment. Frustrating but also satisfying eh when you find and fix an issue as you describe, lets just say that I'm learning a lot too, i wish i didn't have to, but i am 🤣 Hindsight is a great thing and hindsight engineers are the smartest people in the world, i've worked with a few.🙄

[@Alan_Hans__]

@@TheRuralProject . IMHO automotive engineers should be required to work on repairing cars before they are ever given to go ahead to start on car/excavator/etc design. My wifes car has an inspection "hole" under the back seat for the fuel tank. It's the exact size of the fuel pump/sender unit but shifted about 50mm to the left. My wifes car now has a 1/2" hole directly above the leftmost mounting bolt for the sender/pump. Couldn't get to it easily and a 1/2" hole bunged up with a rubber bung makes it so much easier to access. It would of course be so much easier if the inspection cover lined up. I could have been cutting wood instead of modding a Proton.

[@TheRuralProject]

@@Alan_Hans__ ha ha, so many better things to do than bang knuckles working on cars. I watch diesel creek and he is the master of getting old machines to work, I wish I had his knowledge. I’d rather watch him than do it myself, but I pick up a few good tips about fault finding.