Sabatoge!

>>15179781
If it was a fitting that he could easily get to and loosen then you should be able to find it pretty easily shouldn't you?

>>15179793
It was pouring rain today, and I don't know shit about this. It's up at the dealer now, but I don't want to throw away money getting the leak found...

>>15179805
Is it leaking hydraulic fluid, engine oil, coolant, or what? It's not gonna cost you very much just to get the shop to find it for you.

>>15179878
hydraulic fluid. and it wasn't the last two times I moved it, and it's only sat on the trailer and been spun around once in a demo since then.

>>15179781
Go get it checked out if its a simple fix then fix it, if not sell it

Depends on how much hes lowballing you.
He couldve gone up there and had the fluid drip over everything and make it look like the fitting is bad.

>>15179964
ah bring a can of oil. It did look DAMN clear.

All you have to do: top off all fluids, hose it down thoroughly, let it dry all the way, run it, look for leaks
That simple

OP you have gotta find the leak before thinking about selling it, I'd say there is a strong chance that this guy screwed with it.

>>15180076
You should clean everything up, add some fluid anf drive it around a bit.
See if operating the arm gently puts too much pressure on a line and see if it leaks. Or get the hose replaced, hoses dont cost shit.

Maybe even put some kind of "paint" on the hoses in spots you cant see directly and then come back and see if anyone has tampered with it

>>15179781
>So my question is this- how likely is it this guy sabotaged it, loosened a fitting so it would leak and he could get a hell of a deal?

There's no guarantee of a correct answer here. The best assumption is that you have a fluke leak and thus if the leak is not from a serious location, it is easily fixable and should not affect the price after you fix it.

Someone I knew long ago worked at Radio Shack. He would sabotage items so that they would end up discarded by the store at fire sale price (pennies on the dollar). He made sure it was an easy fix and after buying it cheap, he would undo his sabotage. He ripped off the store for quite a bit and it was blamed on the customers toying with things.

>>15179781
>mexican dude
That's the problem right there. They smile and are polite, but they hide that backstab nature. Their country has plenty of problems with kidnapping as it is; it's so frequent that it might as well be a cottage industry. The idea of sabotage is well known there, so it could have been used on your machine to force you to sell.

>>15179781
All of a sudden, it starts leaking. Then you get a lowball cash offer for it out of the blue. The timing is too good. Now watch it get even more leaks in the next few days! Or maybe a bad part is swapped in to make it run poorly (the good air filter could be swapped for a plugged up one). Any such easy parts swaps could be done to make your bobcat into a SicklyCat.

>>15180928
Pretty much this. I would reject the offer, fix the machine up, assuming something has been ducked with, and store the excavator in a secured location while waiting for a non sketchy buyer to show up.

Stories From Mexico:

>>15180928
>>15180952
A clean air filter can still look clean. All it takes is a little prior preparedness. Spray a thinned out solution of elmers glue on the wire mesh side of the filter. That side cannot be inspected by prying fingers. Wipe the glue off the metal mesh. If not sprayed too heavily, the glue will not be easily detectable since the mesh can't be removed without destroying the filter. Most of the holes are thus plugged up. The side without the mesh is the trailing side and thus has very little of the glue spray so it still feels mostly soft and normal.

Thus, the filter continues to look fairly new but in actuality is fairly plugged up. The bobcat starts up fine and is okay when slow. But do any acceleration and it is sickly. Anon inspects the filter and it looks clean, so it can't be the air filter that is plugged up. The engine must be bad says the prospective buyer.

That's what you get for leaving expensive equipment in the open.

>>15181079
>That's what you get for leaving expensive equipment in the open.
It could be random vandalism or inevitable wear and tear leakage but until OP inspects his property or learns how to inspect it, the problem is unknown. It's reasonable to leave stuff out at a jobsite. I've often seen "bobcat" type units left out overnight and heavy tools (augers, tampers) but that was long ago in another century. If they don't cart it off, they put up a fence and security camera due to vandalism or parts stripping by druggies desperate to find any pieces of metal they can sell for recycling.

That's why houses or large places being built such as apartment homes, even in our good area, have a guard stay there overnight. Druggies are always looking for construction areas to go strip the copper wire and plumbing out. It doesn't matter if you live in a good area as the criminals commute to you.

The problem is when druggies fail at a spot, the previously inspected and approved plumbing may now have damaged or bent pipes and will leak in the future after the place is fully built and furnished. Supports that were previously inspected may now be missing some bolts removed so that the metal support beam can be removed to be sold for scrap. But the weight of the structure that settled on it is now just enough to not allow it to be kicked out of the load bearing wall structure so they leave it and move on. Of course, that beam no longer has bolts on either end. Druggies thus convert a structure into a time bomb with their hidden damage. And they don't care because they need to make money fast.