Newbie question - Bobcat E42 Compact (mini) Excavator, M1706 error

[BradWorks]

My father in law passed away suddenly last fall and I’m helping deal with the small farm property that he had. One machine that he had was a Bobcat E42 Compact (mini) Excavator (serial number B2VW12485). Last fall it was operating correctly (we tested it), and we didn’t run it at all in the last 9 months, other than to turn it on for a few minutes every month or so to make sure the fluids didn’t just sit there. (Not sure if this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea.) Also, we kept it on a battery maintainer. Yesterday when I started it up it gave an error code M1706, which I’ve looked up as Hydraulic Lock Valve Short To Ground. It does start up fine, but nothing on it moves at all. Attached is a screenshot of the control panel, if that helps. I’ve searched around and tried to figure out what that means, but I’m not sure. Basically I don’t know what the Hydraulic Lock Valve is, and how/where it would be shorted. I don’t have a manual for the E42, but was able to find a PDF manual for a similar bobcat excavator online, but I can’t find anything in there related to this. I’m fairly mechanically inclined (and willing to learn), but I’ve never done any work on an excavator before. Any guidance you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


Note, it’s also showing error code E000097-31 (Water in fuel detected). I’m assuming this is unrelated and something different I need to deal with - drain the water from the fuel filter, pump out the old fuel from the tank (which has been in there for almost 12 months) and put some fresh diesel in there.

 

[grsthegreat]

This is what i find online


M1706 is "hydraulic lock solenoid short to ground", which is the BICS lock solenoid mounted on the main control valve. It's a simply 12V magnetic coil valve and you most likely either have a short to ground in the wire that feeds power to the BICS solenoid valve, should be light green wire #4410, or the coil on the BICS valve is shorted out.

You can test the magnetic coil on the BICS solenoid valve using a multimeter set on ohms. Disconnect the harness connection to the coil, should have two wires going to the coil. Connect your meter leads to the two wires, a normal coil with read nominal 9.8 ohm. Then connect one test lead to one of the coil wires, touch the other test lead to the metal case of the coil, do this test on both coil wires. If either show continuity then the coil is shorted out internally.

If the coil tests good then you have a short somewhere in wire 4410 between the main controller and the BICS valve coil. If that's all good then you have a problem with the main controller, but I'd start at the BICS coil. Let me know what you find.

 

[Xfaxman]

Note, it’s also showing error code E000097-31 (Water in fuel detected). I’m assuming this is unrelated and something different I need to deal with - drain the water from the fuel filter,

Yes.

pump out the old fuel from the tank (which has been in there for almost 12 months) and put some fresh diesel in there.

No, the diesel should be fine. You could add a diesel fuel additive:

Best Diesel Fuel Additives

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www.motortrend.com

Diesel Fuel Additive - Power Service

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powerservice.com

 

[BradWorks]

Thanks for your reply.

M1706 is "hydraulic lock solenoid short to ground", which is the BICS lock solenoid mounted on the main control valve.

Thanks, I had found that as well, although I'm not sure what the main control valve is, and I don't know where the BICS lock solenoid would be. Do you know if the "main control valve" is the same thing as the Hydraulic Control Valve shown here:

Hydraulic Control Valve (9 Section Assembly) (W/O Angle Blade) - Excavators Bobcat E42 (B2VW11001 & Above) | 777parts.com

For the BICS lock solenoid, do you know if I should be looking for something that looks like this:

Solenoid Valve Coil For Bobcat® | Replaces OEM # 6309311

I'm also trying to determine if this E42 excavator has a BICS controller. I've found other references to a BICS controller for a bobcat skid steer, like this:

https://f01.justanswer.com/Fieldtec...-9568-5e02dddc1e4e_Bobcat_BICS_Controller.png

Do you know if the E42 excavator has something similar that I could investigate?

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[BradWorks]

No, the diesel should be fine. You could add a diesel fuel additive:

Thanks for the guidance. I'll look into those diesel fuel additives.

 

[Xfaxman]

I don’t have a manual for the E42, but was able to find a PDF manual for a similar bobcat excavator online, but I can’t find anything in there related to this. I’m fairly mechanically inclined (and willing to learn), but I’ve never done any work on an excavator before. Any guidance you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Try Bobcat: https://www.bobcat.com/na/en

https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/parts-service/parts

 

[grsthegreat]

the BICS is the hydraulic control valve. find the valve and look for an electrical solenoid attached to it. then follow the wires. you will need to contact bobcat to get exact part number asociated with model and possible vin number. but it should look something like this

 

[BradWorks]

Thanks for your help - I'm not going to be up to their farm until Sunday, but when I'm up there I'll try and find the hydraulic control valve and then will look for an electrical solenoid attached to it.

I'm hoping that there's some explanation for the error code other than the solenoid going bad. As I said in my original post, everything was working with the excavator when I parked it a few months ago, and now all of a sudden I'm getting this error. It only has about 200 hours on it and has always been stored in a climate controlled garage. Maybe a mouse or something eating wires.

 

[BradWorks]

OK, I inspected the Bobcat on Sunday and on the bottom of what I believe is the Hydraulic Control Valve (also referred to as the main control valve), I found two solenoids. See photos. Note all the posts I found elsewhere about this error all referred to there being one solenoid, so I’m not sure if these two are what I should be investigating. I don’t see any markings or labels on them, other than “DEUTSCH DT04-2P” on the plugs, but that appears to just be the model of the plastic plug, not the solenoid. I pulled off the two solenoids and tested each with my multi meter. They both read about 7.2 ohm. This is different from the 9.8 ohm that I’ve read elsewhere. I also checked if they were shorted by checking for continuity, and they both seemed OK. Is there a chance that both of these went bad at the exact same time, and that their resistance is now 7.2 instead of 9.8 ohm? Or am I looking at the wrong part?

Also, we removed the battery terminals and cleaned everything completely, just to rule that out. We also examined all the wires that we could find and didn't see any indication of damage (rubbing, crimping, mice, etc.)

 

[Seven Gables]

If that bobcat pilot lock out system operates like my Volvo excavator only one of those solenoid valves is you’re pilot lockout valve. If both of them tested 7.2 ohms it shows they both have continuity and you found by your test that they weren’t internally shorted then I would think they are fine. As far as which one is your pilot lockout solenoid i believe it will be the one that has its pilot oil coming from the accumulator (the round softball size gizmo i saw in one of your pictures). When you drop your safety lockout arm in the cab it sends power to that solenoid which opens and allows the pilot oil to go to your joysticks. With the machine running I would drop the safety lockout arm and test the pigtail going to the lockout solenoid for power. If you’ve got no power to this pigtail and you can’t find a bad or grounded wire quite possibly it’s your safety lockout switch under the lockout lever in the cab.