Water in pumps of Mark VII autos

[Tom Frietsche]

Phred,
You assumed that I was writing of the newer, specially designed pumps. I was not. I appreciate this Forum and contribute to it in my spare time to try to help because I like this industry and the people I've met in it, not to defend my employer or publish company policy. If you would like Mark VII contact information please email me and I can put you in touch with our Marketing and Communications people. From a personal viewpoint, completely independant of Mark VII, I would rather have a CAT pump in my wash (if I was well-to-do enough to be able to own one) than any other. But that's just my opinion.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[Keep-it Kleen]

Hmmm, Cat's are designed to rotate in one direction, unlike many other pumps. Have you done anything else except change the oil? Like pull the head and look for scorching or seal falure? Any grit in the tanks above? A good technician could/would isolate the issues, and make the repairs.

 

[phred113]

Tom:
The issue Mac brought up is in new equipment. I do not know how many versions of the Cat pump have been produced to survive in the equipment, but it is true that they are specially designed for your machine's unusually wet environment. My question, still, relates to Mark VII warranty of water in oil.

I appreciate your redirection of my question to inside Mark VII, and off the Forum, but it does not answer it here. If you cannot answer regarding crankcases full of water for Mark VII, that's fine. Again, I was hoping for sort of a clarifying answer to end the discussion. This is getting silly. I am beginning to wonder if you are running for office.

 

[phred113]

Where did Mac's and Randy's posts on this topic go? I referred someone who just asked me about this and they said the information was not here.
If this post was edited (censored), then please post that.
Thanks.

 

[pitzerwm]

There were posts that had errors in them and since I can only delete them, I then also needed to delete the post that referred to the removed posts. The posters were notified.

 

[phred113]

Why not put those corrections in the post in case others were lead astray? We might be concerned the removal was a CYA move, (cover your advertiser). If someone is a supplier and they answer a question with 'e-mail me for more information', this has been forbidden for the reason that everyone here would like to know the answer. Isn't the same true here with these edits/corrections?

 

[pitzerwm]

PH, anyone that has been around very long, knows that no one owns this a$$, so to alleave your concerns, there were some problems with the posts and I don't have the time or the desire to explain everything that I do or need to do on the Forum. If you really give a hoot, email the main poster or the manuf. for an explaination. Not allowing "email me" is used to deter self promotion from people that sell stuff. Anyone else is usually ok.

 

[mac]

Phred, when I find out what they will do with this particular situation, I'll post it here. In this case we were doing twice monthly maintenance on the machine right after the Cat was installed. We noticed water in the oil within two weeks, notified the owner, who notified the distributor. We changed the oil numerous times until the pump got so loud, it almost hurt to be near it. It would be nice if Mark 7 could just say exactly what this five year warranty covers. Common sense says they should be able to. With the number of Cat pumps they buy each year, that alone should give them the clout to do so. I also hope that I haven't given the impression that I hold some animus towards Tom F. or Mark 7. This ain't personal. He's probably a nice guy who would be fun to have a couple of beers with. This is business and involves what I call substantial money. Meanwhile the owner sits with a down auto in the height of our busy season.

 

[Randy]

Mac, Are you saying that this guy?s Automatic is still down after 21 days!!! I?d have to say this is TOTALLY unacceptable!!! Something isn?t right here. Doesn?t anyone have a Cat pump that this poor guy can use in the interim while they do there little BS warranty thing. What kind of Cat pump is he using? I'll check and see if I can find him one. How much revenue do you think he?s lost by not having his Automatic up and running? This has never happened to one of my customers or anyone that I know of and it never will.

 

[pitzerwm]

Note from editor: Some of Mac's info may be technically right, but MY information is that the owner and Mark 7 and the distr. are in communication and the owner isn't upset or demanding anything. When I know different, You will know.

 

[phred113]

I get it, now. Bill believes Mark VII (advertiser) is satisfying the customer through their distributor and Mac is just causing trouble. It may be that Mac is the only one actually servicing the customer and Mark VII is trying to mislead (BS) Bill. Time will tell which way it is. I just hope we will know how it turns out because there are a lot of these machines everywhere and water in the crankcase has always been a problem.
Mac, if you are really servicing this guy's machine, please tell us.

 

[pitzerwm]

PH, the reason the forum is the premiere site for the industry, is that very few if anyone pulls the wool over my eyes. Mac and I are in constant communications as well as others so be assured everyone is making sure that the customer is being taken care of.

 

[mac]

Well the issue is finally resolved, sort of. Let me state the facts as I know them. This is slightly complicated because it seems my customer, the guy that owns this particular machine, has not been totally upfront with me on this. (I know it's hard to believe people don't always tell the truth or entire story.) Here are the things that are not in dispute:
1. The Arimitsu pumps were replaced by a Mark 7 factory authorized distributor.
2. Shortly after the installation, within two weeks, water was found in the oil.
3. I notified the owner and strongly suggested he tell the distributor.
4. Nothing was done to correct this, other than for my company to keep changing the oil.
5. The pumps were eventually sent back to: the distributor, Mark 7, and to Cat.
6. There was no provision or attemt for any of the above to arrange any type of loaner or replacement pump.
7. After a few weeks it became clear to the owner that it was cheaper to replace the pumps than wait for some reply. We replaced the pumps with Arimitsus.
8. Cat does have a five year warranty on the pump.
9. No one seems to be able to state what that warranty is.
10. If you want warranty on one of these pumps, the way you get it is to shut your machine down and send in the pump for maybe warranty work/credit/replacement.
11. In this case all warranty claims were denied. The pumps were installed by factory trained people, and maintained to factory procedures, with Cat oil.

So there you have it all. You be the judge. As a little footnote to this, our webmaster has done a good job of allowing only the facts as they are known. It seems in this case, it was not always possible to sort out what transpired, with the exception of the facts stated above. If I am in error of ANY of these, please have someone point out which parts are false. Lord knows, I am not perfect. My dog however thinks I am, so that counts for something.