Switch the lift and tilt actuators. Then run the machine and see if the promble switches to lift. Easiest way to tell. If the problem doesn't change then you have to look elsewhere. The acturator is the most likely thing. Top one is the tilt, bottom is the lift.
My bobcat dealer is about 2 hours away... in the parts schematic on the bobcat website I only see one actuator. are you certain there should be two on this model? I've now read that the BICS controller, Actuators, and now handle switches are each most likely to fail. are their failure symptoms all the same?
There is an actuator at the control valve that moves the piston inside the control valve for lift/lower and tilt/curl. There are switches inside the handle that tell tell the actuator what it should be doing. If you replace the switch inside the handle there is a calibration process that must be used. IIRC switching the one from the lift side to to the tilt side can be done to test as someone indicated earlier. If the problem is in the handle switch the problem should follow that switch meaning it will now cause a problem on the lift side if the problem was initially on the tilt side. I hope all of that made sense.
I'm not well versed in when Bobcat made the changes in electronic controls but is your machine switchable ACS where you can run it in either hand or hand and foot or is it AHCS where it is only hand control? If it would be ACS switchable you could have a pedal stuck (not in neutral) that is causing the problem. I had that happen on a S250 once.
A machine of that era is hand control only.
If using tilt(right hand control) causes lock-out but the auto-leveling feature works when using lift(left hand control) could that mean my problem is not with the actuator? is the hand control then the main suspect?
I'd start at the handle switches. As Dan suggested, you can switch then from one side to the other to check to see if the problem follows the handle switch.
When you say auto leveling, that says bucket positioning to me. Bucket positioning is its own vavle block, the acturator has nothing to with that since the function is controled outside of the main vavling by a secondary system. 99% of AHC failures is acturator. Propper diagnosis is important since nobody wants to wrong on a $600 part.
How can I test the actuator(part #7104842) in this machine? 1998 863F with A.H.C.
Switch it with the lift and see if your problem changes to the lift circuit. There is nothing else I know of that can be done on the early system, service software doesn't connect to it.
Dan, I thought the dealer could plug in at the plug in the back by the battery on a 98 F series and test for switches not being in the neutral position and could also cycle actuators. Is that wrong? Or was that a G series improvement? Either way, I agree swapping switches and checking to see of the problem moves with it is the best way to go for his situation.
F series do not have a controller that Service Anaylizer (bobcat dealer service software) communicates with. BICS, aux controller and AHC controllers are stand alone units that show their coded threw blinking their respected LEDs. There is no scan tool to connect to an F series. The BOSS doesn't really count either as that system is so messed up the scan tool is useless.
Will I have to calibrate anything on this machine after swapping actuators or hand controls? if so, how? and do software updates apply to this vintage? Also, how does the post in the following address relate to my machine? http://www.skidsteerforum.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=54&frmView=ShowPost&PostID=20344
I do not recall a software update on F series AHC since you can't connect a laptop to the controller. I do believe the system will respond to a field calibration which is performed threw the machine controls, but one would have to review a service manual.
I have a service manual for a 97 873. I could check to see if the calibration procedure is in there and post it here if it would work on you machine. Maybe Dan would know if the procedure would be the same?? When I swapped switches on a S185 with ACS to determine the problem I was having with it, I didn't have to calibrate just for the test but it might be different on a stand alone AHCS system.
I would think the calibration proceeder would be basically the same, but would differ in some ways since the dash are different between F an G series. I can only think of a couple F series AHC I dealt with and I simply can't remember what or if I did a calibration on one. On a G series I never field calibrated since I had the laptop to run a acturator test/ calibrate. With AHC/ACS, calibration is only need for acturator replacement. Not need for sensors.
so it looks like the tilt actuator has failed. I switched the harnesses going from the hand controls and the lift continued to work while the tilt(now controlled using the LH control) caused the valve to lock immediately. both actuators have oil on them so I'm guessing that the leaking from one or both spools onto the actuators has caused the failure of one. Is bobcat the only good source for actuators? any way to recondition an actuator that has failed due to oil?
