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Replace cat 310

washzone

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We had ours done probably about 2 or 3 years ago at Vilco Supply in McMinnville, TN very happy no problems talked with Joe I think he is owner vilcosupply.com phone #931-473-5040 I think it was around $150.00
 

Ric

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We've probably had a dozen or so done by Joe at Vilco supply over the years. No problems.
 

Kevin James

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We’ve never had a CAT pump head wash out. What are your guy’s theories as to why the pump heads wash out at some washes and they don’t wash out at other car washes. Why is that?
 

MEP001

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How the pump is plumbed can affect it a lot. It seems most heads that I've pulled off to send for replacement have the plumbing in and out on the same side and the regulator on the other side with the bypass going in below. So not only is the water constantly coming in from two directions and swirling through the manifold but every time the trigger is pulled/released the water is suddenly changing direction with a brief cavitation.
 

I.B. Washincars

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My theory is that at washes where the attendants do most of the cleanup (like mine), is that by the time they tell you a pump is pulsating, it's too late.
 
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Mine is almost 20 years old and one of the hp sleaves is pitted pretty good
thanks ill send to vilco
mine are not plumbed in as mep001 suggest but good theory just verrrrrrrrrrrry old
and ya if you can catch when starts pulsing usually replace a seasl or ring and should be good but 2o years on a cat 310 i think im doing ok
thanks again
 

mjwalsh

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Replacing seals are kind of spendy too. There is one of our pumps that seems to temporarily develop pulsing. Usually we can track it to a low supply tank or a leak in the soap or wax tubing. On this one ... we even replaced inlet seals more than once & it still about once a month mysteriously starts pulsing.

Does a car wash operator sometimes need a magnifying glass to see possible problematic tiny pits on the sleeves' interior? Like I said seal kits can get expensive too ... not just relining or buying a whole new Cat 310 pump.
 

MEP001

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My theory is that at washes where the attendants do most of the cleanup (like mine), is that by the time they tell you a pump is pulsating, it's too late.
I've seen the same issue with both attendants and operators. "Yeah, it's been pulsating for a couple of months now." Too late to fix with a seal kit.
 

MEP001

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Does a car wash operator sometimes need a magnifying glass to see possible problematic tiny pits on the sleeves' interior? Like I said seal kits can get expensive too ... not just relining or buying a whole new Cat 310 pump.
There's a sticky thread in this sub-forum on the subject.
 

MEP001

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How the pump is plumbed can affect it a lot. It seems most heads that I've pulled off to send for replacement have the plumbing in and out on the same side and the regulator on the other side with the bypass going in below. So not only is the water constantly coming in from two directions and swirling through the manifold but every time the trigger is pulled/released the water is suddenly changing direction with a brief cavitation.
I went back to the sticky thread on manifold washout and grabbed this picture:



This is damage caused by cavitation. It happened with all six original manifolds in just a few years, always in the center plunger area. It hasn't happened again since I plumbed the pumps where the water always flows through the same direction.
 

Greg Pack

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I know this is a 310 thread but I just sent two 5cp heads in to Cat. They were chewing up check valve o rings. I couldn't detect any pitting in the area though. These pumps are 17 years old. I called Cat to see about looking at them due to the warranty on the 5cp heads. The guy at Cat pretty much said, "yeah, send them in and we'll send you two heads with one day turnaround" without even an evaluation. That's one of the reasons I'm sticking with Cat. I see no reason to look at another brand.
 

I.B. Washincars

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Greg, I had an experience pretty much the opposite of yours. I had a washed out 5CP head. They told me if it was a "W" head it would be warrantied. I told them it was, since it had "W-1" cast right into the head. They said, no that's not a "W" head and won't be warrantied. I asked WTH was a "W" head if mine wasn't. I basically got talk in circles, and told that it must have "W" stamped in the front and not cast into the head. Long story short, they wouldn't budge. To add insult to injury, they SOLD me a warranty replacement "R" stamped head, which does not carry that lifetime warranty. That was almost 20 years ago...I haven't forgotten.

To date, I have 30 HP pumps. Of those, there are only two Cats that were on used equipment that I bought in 2016.
 

MEP001

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I.B., it sounds like you talked to someone (or multiple people) who didn't know what they were talking about. On a warrantyable head, the "W" is cast raised in the head, and a warranty-replaced has an "R" stamped next to it. They should not have sold you a manifold with an "R" stamped into it - I've ordered a number of them and they've never had that. It almost sounds like someone's getting warranty exchanges, saying they were denied, then selling the warranty replacement.
 
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