An EX8000 excavator, operating at a mine in Western Australia, has been experiencing repeated failures of its hydraulic main pumps. This has led to interruptions in the mine’s operations and affected overall productivity.
Further complicating matters, the engineering team has been dealing with ongoing false alarms from the contamination alarm system. This system, which is supposed to detect impurities in the hydraulic fluid, has been frequently signalling false positives. This has resulted in unnecessary operational pauses and has questioned the system’s effectiveness.
This case study aims to delve into these issues, with the goal of enhancing the excavator’s performance.

In November 2021, a few weeks after the installation of Mag-Shield^®, the excavator experienced failures in pumps numbered 15 and 16. However, unlike previous instances, no subsequent hydraulic failures were reported. This was attributed to the Mag-Shield® ability to prevent the recirculation of residual contamination.
The implementation of Mag-Shield^® also led to a notable decrease in the number of contamination alarms. Moreover, these alarms became localized to the areas where the contamination was generated, thereby facilitating more efficient issue identification and resolution.
Encouraged by these positive outcomes, the customer has decided to integrate Mag-Shield^® into their entire fleet of excavators. The results observed with the EX8000 excavator are consistent with those experienced with other excavator models and makes that have been equipped with Mag-Shield^®.