on my bobcat last night i was spreading gravel at home, when i lifted the lift arms up they just froze. high enough that i could crawl out of the unit. the function lights on the right elbow of the operator are flashing a code of 3 on the lift arm and also flashing steady on the seat sensor.
in my small operators manual in the cab it tells me the 3 code is the lift arm valve not grounded or lift arm valve is shorted to ground.
my big question, where is the lift arm valve located? is it on the foot pedals or what?
the only thing that does not work is the lift arms and the bucket tilt up and down.
i used the lift arm overide to get the arms down with but thats it. checked fluid level.
any help is appreciated. :-\
I've never worked on one that new, but on the older ones the valves were underneath the seat (basically). The foot pedals were connected to rods that ran back to the valves. Hope that helps.
thanks, i believe thats where mine are too. im on my way to check it out.
i spoke with a man at the bobcat store, he was in service dept. i located the solenoids on the valve and they were plugged in. i switced them around on the wires and it didnt change anything.
i checked for debris under the seat on the sensor and that was clear.
the solenoids look like there was a bolt head on the top of them but it has rusted away maybe, also some writing on them but i cannot tell what?
is there a way to check a solennoid to see if its working or do you just have to exchange parts until it goes to working again.?
With the solenoid engaged I'd think you could do a continuity check through the solenoid itself? The rusted off bolt head sure makes me think you might have lost a ground? I know there's a lot of people here with a lot more electrical skills than me but that's where I'd start.
the bolt thta i am speaking of is acually on the two solenoids on the front and back of the top of the valve. they do not hold any wires, not really certain they are bolt heads, just certain they are rusted off.
after talking to the man again today, i have discovered that the sloenoid in question is in the center of the valve down low. he also says that it sounds like i have a wiring problem. we shall see.
just wanted to give an update on the problem, i took the coil off the solenoid and checked it out, when we powered it up it had alot of magnetism, so it was good, i put it back on the bobcat and it worked again.
sooo, maybe the handling of it made it work or the cleaning of the solenoid shaft before i put it back on. the shaft had a lot crud on it like white corrosion and such, i sandpapered it clean and squirted a little oil on it.
anyway the new part was a bics coil, and it cost 47 bucks, turned out i didnt need it......yet. hope this helps others.
update, last week i went to rip up my gardens with the bobcat and it locked out on me again.... so i cleaned the coil and shaft again, worked fine for about 1.5 minutes, locked up again. i was livid... sent off to the big city for the part. got it back yesterday and so far it seems to have fixed the bobcat.