NATDA Magazine Jan/Feb 2016 | Page 45

point which can cause the solenoid to quit working. Or it can even cause the connection point to weld together causing the motor to run all of the time. In either of these failure modes the solenoid needs to be replaced.You can jump the solenoid briefly if needed to get a dump bed to the down position so you can take it to be repaired. -2) Oil leaking from power unit Possible Reason… When the battery is fully charged (with a power up/power down pump) the unit is pumping an average of 2 gallons per minute out. So the reservoir is seeing approximately 2 gallons out and receiving approximately 2 gallons back from the hydraulic cylinder, “at the same time”. But when the battery is low the pump is pumping out less than 2 gallons but 2 gallons is still coming into the reservoir. When this happens the reservoir can overfill and the filler/breather cap (which has a filter/felt) can get saturated (filled with hydraulic oil). Then the reservoir can no longer breathe and becomes a pressure vessel. Then problems can occur like the reservoir o-ring pushing out the side causing a leak point or the reservoir will crack, also causing a leak point. If you have a reservoir overfill once you can temporally remove the filler/breather cap felt so the reservoir can continue to breath. This may help prevent the reservoir from becoming a pressure vessel. But once the battery is fully charged or replaced the felt or filler breather cap needs to be replaced. This helps keep airborne contamination from getting into the reservoir and into the hydraulic fluid. www.natda.org -2) The dump