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Draining Excavator Engine Oil: 250-hour Service PART 1

250 Hour Service: Draining Excavator Engine Oil

Changing the engine oil in your excavator ensures that it will operate at the optimal level. In addition, you want to remove the oil that may have large amounts of dirt or contaminants that could be impacting the machine. The following steps will cover changing the oil in a CAT 314E excavator. These steps may also cover some Hitachi and Volvo models.

Heavy Duty Mechanic 250 Hour Service: Engine Oil

Step 1: Remove Belly Pan

Remove belly pan under this machine. Some machines allow you to reach up and remove the engine oil drain while others require the removal of the pan plate. There are 4 bolts that hold the belly pan on. Some machines have more bolts, such as 6. For this model, the belly pan has bolt holes that are slotted on one side. So you don’t have to take the two bolts completely out. You only have to loosen the other two bolts enough to slide out the belly plate. These slots are also found on some John Deere, Hitachi, and Volvo models.

HD mechanic pulling the belly pan out of an excavator

Step 2: Have Empty Buckets Ready

You’ll need an empty bucket to catch the oil. It may take more than one bucket to catch all the draining oil, depending on the size, make and model of the excavator. So make sure to have enough empty buckets.

Heavy duty mechanic underneath a large excavator, draining the oil.

Step 3: Crack Open the Valve

It has a ball valve with a small hose attached to it. Some machines just have a drain plug on the bottom. Be careful when removing a drain plug as the oil will come gushing out immediately. You want to have something ready to catch it. Place an empty bucket under the hose and open the valve. If the valve is more of a needle valve, you’ll need to crack it and loosen the valve by turning it several times.

Pointing out the ball valve that needs to be cracked open in order to drain oil

Step 4: Loosen the Valve

As you loosen the valve, the oil will begin to drain. You can control the flow rate based on how much you loosen the valve. The more you unscrew it, the more oil will come out.

Step 5: Place in Belly Pan

Once all the oil is drained, close the valve, and remove the full buckets. Place the belly pan back on and tighten the bolts.

Replacing the belly pan in a steaal-track excavator

You’ve just drained the oil from a CAT 314E excavator. Learn additional maintenance tips by visiting FortisHD.