G'day Mates!, I work on a small farm out in Australia and we have a Bobcat 743B we use almost on a daily Basis. I've noticed lately she's been getting harder to get started in the Morning, I do the required 60 second Glow Plug heat up time, don't crank her for more than 5-10 seconds max. Well, this morning, she did something she hasn't done before. After the 60 second heat up phase, I turned the key and she started Cranking, after about 5 econds with no smoke or anything, I stopped, gave it about 2 minutes to rest, hit the glow plugs again for a Minute, and cranked again. She drained the Battery this time, she tried and seemed to run out of Breath within a few seconds. The weird thing was, even after I shut the key, she still turned a few more times. I hooked up some Jumper leads to another farm truck, a regular 12 volt battery...and it started smoking.. I ran a check of all the main wires coming from the Battery and I can't find any obvious burns or bad connections....I haven't worked on a bobcat before, and we need this thing up and running as soon as possible.....anyone have an Idea where to start even looking for the cause to this?... The battery I pulled out was low on electrolyte, and won't take a charge anymore...I put a new one in, and I get no power anywhere it seems....
Sick Bobcat 743B!! Need Help folks!
- Thread starter Dp_stoner
- Start date
Just to make sure Ye'al know, I haven't worked on a BOBCAT Before, but I know my way around Diesels somewhat.....But I'm a American transplant out to Australia, and everything here has different names, and It's a rural area so there's not a parts place 20 minutes away, need to get it right the first time. I got the tools to get the job done....just need to get an idea of what the job is.....
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i think it's your starter. my 643 starter was sticking on/smoking then it just stopped working. there was a bad connection on the starter that was arching and i think it burned out the starter. disconnect the battery and pull all the wires offf the starter i bet one of them is bad. like i said it ended up burning out my starter. but then i found a brand new modern starter on craigslist for 100 bucks the same day. i got lucky haha.
Thanks Mate, I was looking Into the Starter since it's the first thing that connects into the Battery. I'm still baffled how I wouldn't be getting power anywhere else though if it was just that. But i'll take a look in the Morning!
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All of the power is distributed from th stud on the starter. It could be a battery cable too. I think it drained my battery too.
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The others are correct with it being the starter motor I am sure.
60secs glow plug time is way too long from my experience, 20secs is heaps on my 743.
I'm from .au too, feel free to flick me an e-mail.
I agree that 60 seconds is a long time. I think you should check or replace the glow plugs, they are about $10 each if you get them off a diesel shop, not the dealer.
It may be hard to start because of the failing starter too, if it's not spinning fast enough it just will not catch easily. You need to speed to get the heat from compression.
These starters have caused fires before. The part inside the solenoid falls off, shorting out causing the main battery cable to burn.
You may want to pull the starter and give it a tidy up, it may just need that to get going again. Try jumping from the +ve terminal to the small one for the starter switch. See if the engine spins over. If it does, you are getting good power. Check the grounds too, after cranking, feel for hot spots at the terminals. Heat means you have resistance that will give you lower power to the starter.
Alright Folks!. After digging through everything in the engine compartment, and testing all the obvious stuff, I found a dead starter relay. I also smoked the Battery, she was half drained of electrolyte and won't hold a charge now....So, New Relay....new Battery...and it's running like a champ!...Starter was fine....thanks guys!
