Cat 246D no electrical power, no lights in cab, nothing

[FarmerKyle]

Hello folks. My skid steer has lost all power. Turning the key in the ignition does not power the display, lights, nothing. Just no power at all.

I had my battery tested and it was bad so I got a new battery but still no power after connecting it up.

After searching the internet, it looks like the next steps are to probe with my multimeter and try to find where the voltage is getting lost. Also to check fuses and possibly some relay switch? I am unsure where to locate the fuses but I can probably find that easily but I cannot find the location of the relay switch that I should be checking. Any advice?

Any suggestions about other approaches or how exactly to go about probing with the multimeter? I'm not sure where exactly I should start for troubleshooting this. I'm hoping it's something simple! Hey, a guy can hope lol.

Serial number: BYF05369. I greatly appreciate any help.

 

[ThreeCW]

I recently had a similar problem, had power to light up the display, but everything died when I turn the key. Checked battery, relays and fuses ... all checked out.

Turned out I had a bad connection on one or both of the battery cables. I tested with some new 2 AWG cables that I made up from cable I had and everything worked again. I ended up replacing both the positive and ground cables with new 2/0 AWG cables, which is the factor specification for my 242B.

If it is not one of your battery cables, also check that all your ground straps have good connection points and strap integrity.

 

[Nige]

Serial number: BYF05369. I greatly appreciate any help.

Check your message inbox for an electrical schematic that will help you chase power.
By the sounds of it there is a major cable issue somewhere.

 

[Mr. Wrench]

I agree with ThreeCW and Nige. I would take the battery cables loose and clean all connections at both ends not just the battery ends. make sure they are bright and clean. I have had connections look ok but can not carry any amp flow. Sometimes the corrosion is not very visable.

 

[FarmerKyle]

Happy new year all! I finally have time and good weather to look at this again. I purchased this voltage probe which turned out to be a very valuable tool for checking for voltage drops. It makes this so much easier!

Ok, so as you can see from my pictures, I probed several spots in the engine compartment and no voltage drops were recorded. (The picture is weird on some, but it's always reading 12.5 or 12.6 volts.) Thanks to Nige, I have an amazing schematic for where all I need to test, but I'm not sure where I should prioritize?

Also, is there a way to lift my cab without being able to power on the machine and lift the arms? If not, does anyone have a recommendation for how to get inside and probe more connections for voltage drops? Thanks!!

 

[FarmerKyle]

I could only attach 4 photos, here are the rest I took:

 

[92U 3406]

Happy new year all! I finally have time and good weather to look at this again. I purchased this voltage probe which turned out to be a very valuable tool for checking for voltage drops. It makes this so much easier!

Ok, so as you can see from my pictures, I probed several spots in the engine compartment and no voltage drops were recorded. (The picture is weird on some, but it's always reading 12.5 or 12.6 volts.) Thanks to Nige, I have an amazing schematic for where all I need to test, but I'm not sure where I should prioritize?

Also, is there a way to lift my cab without being able to power on the machine and lift the arms? If not, does anyone have a recommendation for how to get inside and probe more connections for voltage drops? Thanks!!

Just unbolt the cab and tilt it. I have yet to come across a newer Cat skid steer that you could not tilt the cab with the loader arms on the ground.

 

[smifwal]

I don't see a link to the probe sir! You can't say you bought something that was extremely useful and not post a link,

 

[Arny L]

Where is your ground side hooked to? It needs to be at the other end of the wire or cable your checking. With the load applied.

 

[Simon C]

Happy new year all! I finally have time and good weather to look at this again. I purchased this voltage probe which turned out to be a very valuable tool for checking for voltage drops. It makes this so much easier!

Ok, so as you can see from my pictures, I probed several spots in the engine compartment and no voltage drops were recorded. (The picture is weird on some, but it's always reading 12.5 or 12.6 volts.) Thanks to Nige, I have an amazing schematic for where all I need to test, but I'm not sure where I should prioritize?

Also, is there a way to lift my cab without being able to power on the machine and lift the arms? If not, does anyone have a recommendation for how to get inside and probe more connections for voltage drops? Thanks!!

Just looked at those cables, and they look like junk to me. The ground you are testing with your test light is horrible, rusty and not good. All grounds and cables need to be cleaned up.
Picture of test light on cable coming out of master switch is not good.
Good copper is bright and shiny like a new copper pipe. Once it changes colour it will not transfer power as well or not at all.
Simon C

 

[Simon C]

I could only attach 4 photos, here are the rest I took:

Just looked at these last 3 pictures. Thanks for sharing. All I can say and I have a huge supply of cable at my house and $2000 worth of ends of all kinds for doing customers cables is that yours are really bad.
Don't want you to waste your time trying to troubleshoot, as you cannot troubleshoot accurately that bad of connections because they will not conduct the power when under load. That is all I can say. Buy 2/0 welding cable and heavy crimpers along with heat shrink and start fixing.
Simon C

 

[Steve Frazier]

I didn't see this post until now, I had this happen with my 248 once. The whole cab was dead when I went to start one day. I started tracing too and found a main breaker that was hidden behind the air filter housing on the firewall. There's a big red reset button on it and it had tripped for some reason. Not sure if you've seen this on your schematics or not, it's a different machine. Once reset the problem never recurred.

 

[Nige]

From what I can see you have a major terminal-cleaning job in front of you. Most of those connections shown in your photos are in disgusting condition.

 

[laidback01]

yep, time for a good baking soda cleanup. on your copper wires, you can use a mix of vinegar and salt. wet the cable end with vinegar and massage some salt. when you are done with that corrosion removal, dip the copper into water/baking soda mix to neutralize and stop the reaction. You'll get dull but clean copper you can now crimp and seal or solder if you can do that one the small lines.

 

[HarleyHappy]

Before investing in that nice fancy power probe, you should have bought or made some new cables, crimps and lugs, along with some new bolts, maybe a few star washers and and some Dielectric Grease or No-Ox.
Might have to buy one of those probes, though for myself.
Edit- Reminder to order some more star washers for myself as I’m running low on 5/16”, 3/8”.

 

[BC Placer gold]

New crimped welding cables have solved a lot of (starting) problems for us on several machines over the years. Sometimes the cables look perfect and there is bad internal corrosion at low spots within the sheathing. Just had this exact thing occur last year on our John Deere 50D...