First Skidsteer - S175 - Couple of Questions

[SVO4Turbo]

Greetings all. Sorry about the newbie post here, but you gotta start somewhere I guess. After a few years of wanting to, I finally bought a skidsteer. S175 with 17xx hours. I took it into the local bobcat dealer and had them go through it completely since I didn't know the history. They changed all fluids, belts, greased everything, and did a few misc things and overall gave it a clean bill of health. I used it for about 5 hours yesterday moving gravel (putting in a driveway). A couple observations... 1. Fuel gauge still hasn't moved off full. When i brought it home, I topped it off with Diesel. Don't know the fuel capacity on these, but I would have thought 5 hours of use would have used enough to move the needle. 2. It has a oil leak somewhere. Not enough to freak out about, but the right side of the engine (where the oil filter and diesel fuel fill cap is) was wet after 5 hours of use and there was some that had dripped down on the fuel tank below. This might have amounted to an ounce or two, but it was there. Its tough to tell where its' coming from exactly as that fan blows it all over the right side of the engine, but it's definately on the right hand side and perhaps from that pulley at the top? Anyway, I was looking for opinions on the fuel consumption to see if it's really a gauge issue, and whether or not you feel like that amount of oil is anything to worry about. I'd like to get some use before I start soaking money into repairs! Thanks all. Now back to trying to figure out how to drive this thing without rocking it back and forth like a damn fool!

 

[Tazza]

Don't be too worried about the fuel gauge, it may not use as much fuel as you may think. If it was really full, the fill pipe would have been full as well so it needs to use that up before the level in the tank would change. The tank is pretty big too.
To find the leak, you may need to give it a really good clean and see if you can find it.

 

[dr.bobcat]

Your S175 fuel tank capacity is 23.0 gals., fuel consumption 2.6 gal in high, 2.2 medium and 1.8 in low, gals per hour, those are factory data. To improve your driving skills, try in low rpms and be gentle with the controls, and a lot of practice. Sorry for my bad english. Regards, from Mexico.

 

[Tazza]

Your S175 fuel tank capacity is 23.0 gals., fuel consumption 2.6 gal in high, 2.2 medium and 1.8 in low, gals per hour, those are factory data. To improve your driving skills, try in low rpms and be gentle with the controls, and a lot of practice. Sorry for my bad english. Regards, from Mexico.

From those figures, it seems you should have about half a tank left, so the needle should have moved some.
Worst case, the sender can be replaced, but deal with that if it does turn out be be not working properly.

 

[SVO4Turbo]

From those figures, it seems you should have about half a tank left, so the needle should have moved some.
Worst case, the sender can be replaced, but deal with that if it does turn out be be not working properly.

OK, thanks for the information all. I'll use it for a few more hours and see what happens. Is it hard on them if you run them out of diesel? I've seen some posts about replacing the sender unit. Doesn't look too bad. Could it possibly be the gauge? Hours and Temp seem to be working fine. Just seems odd that sender would be making it read full. Most posts I've seen on bad sender seem to read empty....

 

[Tazza]

OK, thanks for the information all. I'll use it for a few more hours and see what happens. Is it hard on them if you run them out of diesel? I've seen some posts about replacing the sender unit. Doesn't look too bad. Could it possibly be the gauge? Hours and Temp seem to be working fine. Just seems odd that sender would be making it read full. Most posts I've seen on bad sender seem to read empty....

I don't believe running it out of fuel would cause any damage. They are pretty easy to re-prime too. Open the bleed screw on the pump and squeeze tha hand primer till you can't hear any more air. Close the bleed screw and you should be good to go.
I'd suspect the sender more than the gauge. I guess it is possible something is stuck in teh sender causing it to read a full tank. Access is not great to remove the sender, but it can be done if you do change it.

 

[Jim Miller]

I don't believe running it out of fuel would cause any damage. They are pretty easy to re-prime too. Open the bleed screw on the pump and squeeze tha hand primer till you can't hear any more air. Close the bleed screw and you should be good to go.
I'd suspect the sender more than the gauge. I guess it is possible something is stuck in teh sender causing it to read a full tank. Access is not great to remove the sender, but it can be done if you do change it.

SVOTurbo - I'm a new owner of a 2012 S160 and after filling tank and running at low speed for 4 to 5 hrs my guage is barely off the full mark. I re-filled it from a 5 gallon can and I guess it took about 3 gallons. I've put about 10hrs on it and still run at low speed. Still feel like a fool operating and ocassionally seem to do everything backwards. Got 200+ hours on a backhoe - but - the Bobcat is fun - but - not easy.