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Hitachi EX150-5 excavator bogging down

Knuckleduster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2023
Messages
46
Location
Cosgrove uk
Started a new thread off after a lot of greaf trying to identifying the machine . It was supposed to be a Zaxis 160LC but after help from Diesel Dave found ID plate on ECU which said EX150-5. Now have correct manual and am stumped.
When machine is warmed up it will bog down and stall the engine. Been through the fuel system inc fitting new primer pump and had to mod the pipes because primer and outlet in wrong position. New supply hose from tank,new fuel filter,water seperator cleaned out. Tank drained and clag cleaned out.
Pump sensors checked for 5v and good earth and as far as I can see all have an output varying with what load put on it. Haven`t taken out speed sensor on pump to see if the end is clagged up with swarf, which would affect the output signal similar to abs sensors playing silly Bs in cars.Found 2 odd relays in hydraulic compartment strapped to the stepper motor whci look like an unoficial mod feeding the solenoid? valves electrics situated in the far left corner of the compartment. One relay just a ball of rust so fitted 2 new ones today and refitted them back into the abs box cable tied to the stepper motor.
A new throttle cable was fitted a while ago so engine learning redone today incase its lost it. Found gasket from turbo pipe to manifold no good ,so replaced. Checked turbo over today, didn`t find leaks but as machine hot didn`t pull hoses off and take a good look at turbo. Turbo on this machine has no control, no actuator etc, so just runs flat out depending on exhaust output. Was going to try machine without turbo outlet pipe connected to see any difference but as usual blasted rain started chucking down, so abandoned effort and swore at machine, walked off in disgust. Any thought any one. seriously thinking about driving this machine into canal and sinking it forever--its got me so hacked off. Need it to use a air operated piling hammer to install steel pilings to stop the leaks. Got a small JCB that I could use but it hasn`t got the reach of this badly behaved crawler.
All modes affected, boom out,boom in,curl bucket,track forward or bacwards,swing left,swing right.
Only thing that seems to work is the auto idle,e mode drops engine revs,hp mode increases revs but all fall down when machine commanded to do anything other than sitting there and running its engine.
 

Knuckleduster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2023
Messages
46
Location
Cosgrove uk
Haven`t been about for a while --long covid hit again and floored me so have had to rest up and get strength back.
Machine now has had a session on Dr Dx and given a clean bill of health--so back to basics--ran machine for 3 hours at half engine speed and it behaved itself--tracked it up the field out of the mud, dug a hole in farmers field and filled it in --scraped the area using the wide bucket to flatten out the work area. But as soon as I increased the engine speed the machine would play up. Went back to basics, opened up the tank drain and after poking the hole had a load of crap come our and the diesel looked like secondhand brake fluid and not clean diesel.Decision made to rip the fuel system down again, We found a leaf rolled up nicely in one of the banjo unions, hence machine would work at half speed and not in HP mode or any increase of engine revs. Tank now drained and almost out of machine--going to blast it with a pressure washer to get rid of anything in the bottom of the tank and inspect it with a boroscope. We had allready darained the tank out previously and flushed it out with clean diesel but this time we found a hard crud on the bottom of the tank that seemed to be letting go at times when the machine was sucking fuel. Got some paint that I used on my boat tank and if needed will paint the bottom of the tank internally to coat the steel and stop the possibility of the tank getting crap attaching itself to the steel again. Did this on my 33yr old narrowboat with its inbuilt diesel tanks and have had no further problems--going back to machine on Tuesday next so hopefully will have a solution
Gerry
 

Knuckleduster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2023
Messages
46
Location
Cosgrove uk
Well I`m glad to say the cursed excavator is fixed. Stripped everything out from the tank to injection pump. Tank was pressure washed many times and left to dry for a week then flushed out with clean diesel. Every pipe ,banjo ,filter was examined in fine detail,cleaned and refitted. Had a boroscope down the tank and found something really stupid. The depression where the tank drain is, contains the fuel feed and its barely above the height of the base of the tank. Whether the pipe had broken off in a past life, I don`t know. I would have thought that the top of the feed pipe in tank would have been an inch or so above the base of the tank. During the tank clean out, I put a hand full of washed gravel in the tank and with the aid of a few strong individual , gave it a good shake and stir to get the crap off the bottom--mainly red diesel remnents and rust.the tank was heavy but the crud that came out was unbelieval.
Anyway after fixing the fuel sensor and wiring, try as we could, we couldn`t get the engine to stall while working it hard.3 different operators and all failed to stall engine. RESULT AT LAST.
The lads put it to work today and no stalling but they managed to jump one of the tracks off the idler. Was not amused when they rang me, before I arrived at site they had got track back on as they were a little frightened at how much I would have cussed them. Told them to pressure wash the machine tracks as it had been sitting in mud for a month or so and to adjust the track tension after running the machine back and forward about 30ft. One of the tracks was notibly slack, but my words were ignored and they dropped a track off the idler. All on site got the same message by text "When I tell you to do something--DO IT"
I couldn`t be there as my car was in garage for its annual 12 month MOT inspection. In UK all cars over 3 years old have to go into an authorised garage for a check--brakes,suspension,steering,lights and exhaust emmissin test etc.
Perhaps they will listen next time.
Had permission to write a rude word obove the word HITACHI on the boom-Think of the old word beginning with BAS ?
Best wishes
Gerry
Ps going to play with the little JCB next followed by a John Deere ride on tractor mower I`ve bought for the society
 
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