Hydraulic leak or burst hose: what failed, and who should fix it
Oil on the ground tells you something let go. It does not tell you what. Here is how we read a leak on a tractor, loader, excavator or forklift before a part gets ordered, and how to tell a shop that will do the same from one that will not.
Nearly every hydraulic call we take in Yolo County starts with one of five things: a hose that burst or is sweating, a cylinder weeping at the rod, a fitting dripping, a pump that went noisy and weak, or a function that drifts or stalls. Each one has a different cause and a different price, and the first two are the ones that stop a machine in the middle of almond harvest or a warehouse shift. Capay Hydraulics has a truck stocked to fix most of them at the machine, and this guide is what we look for before we quote.
My hydraulic hose burst. Why did it fail, and will the new one last?
A hose almost never fails from age alone. It fails from abrasion, heat, a bend tighter than its rating, or a crimp that was wrong on the day it was made. Look at where it let go. A blowout at the crimp collar with the hose pulled back out of the ferrule is a crimp failure or a hose that was too short and got yanked under full extension. A split along the body where it rubs the frame is abrasion, and the new hose needs a sleeve or a reroute or it fails in the same spot. A hose that is stiff, cracked and checked along its whole length has been cooked by engine heat or oil running too hot, and the hoses next to it are on the same clock. Hoses age in sets. When one two-wire boom hose on an excavator goes, we tell you the state of its neighbors instead of waiting for the next call.
Do not put a hand near a leak to find it. Working pressure on a farm tractor or loader runs 2,000 to 4,000 psi, and a pinhole spray at that pressure goes through skin and gloves. It looks like a splinter and it is a surgical emergency. Agriculture already sits among the most hazardous industries tracked by NIOSH, and hydraulic injection is one of the injuries that gets missed. Shut the machine down, drop the load to the ground, relieve the pressure and use a piece of cardboard to find the spray.
My cylinder is leaking oil. Do I need a reseal or a whole new cylinder?
A reseal, if the rod and bore are sound. Oil at the rod where it leaves the gland means the rod seal and wiper are worn, and that is a seal kit and a few hours. Run a fingernail along the rod with the cylinder extended. Smooth chrome with no pitting or score lines means reseal. A rod with a groove you can feel, rust pitting from sitting outside through a Yolo County winter, or a bend you can see when it extends means the rod gets rechromed or replaced first, or the new seals cut themselves on the damage in a month. A cylinder that holds oil but drifts or bypasses under load has a piston seal problem inside, and the drift guide covers how to prove it is the cylinder and not the valve. The full price math for reseal against rebuild against a new cylinder is on the reseal versus replacement page.
Which part failed: symptom, cause, fix and price
| What you see | Usual cause | Fix | Published range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hose blown at the crimp collar | Bad crimp or hose too short | New hose, correct length | $245 to $750 mobile |
| Hose split where it rubs the frame | Abrasion | New hose plus sleeve or reroute | $245 to $750 mobile |
| Whole hose stiff and cracked | Heat aging | Replace the set | $85 to $350 per hose in shop |
| Drip at fitting threads, hose dry | Loose or damaged fitting, wrong seal type | Retorque or new fitting | Field rate $145 to $185 an hour |
| Film of oil at the cylinder rod | Worn rod seal and wiper | Reseal | $350 to $900 small bore |
| Rod scored, pitted or bent | Dust past a failed wiper, rust, impact | Rebuild with rod work | $1,000 to $3,000 plus rod $400 to $1,500 |
| Pump whining, everything slow | Starved pump or worn pump | Test before condemning | Diagnostic $195 to $450, credited |
| Oil at the pump shaft | Shaft seal, often case pressure behind it | Seal or pump repair | $800 to $4,000 |
Every range above is the same one printed on the cost page, and the invoice matches it. Trip fees within the service area are $150 to $235 once per visit, and nights or weekends carry a stated premium before the truck leaves Woodland.
Red flags when hiring a hydraulic repair shop
- Reuses the old crimp fittings. A reusable field fitting has its place in an emergency. A shop that cuts the old ferrule off and crimps a new hose onto a used fitting as normal practice is building the next failure into the job.
- Cannot tell you the hose spec. Ask for the SAE rating, wire count and working pressure of the hose going on. One-wire hose on a four-spiral circuit will burst, and a shop that does not know which it is putting on does not know your machine.
- Condemns the pump without a gauge. A pump is the most expensive part in the circuit and the one most often replaced by guess. No flow and pressure test, no pump.
- Reseals over a scored rod. It looks fixed for three weeks. If the tech did not run a hand down the rod and tell you what they found, ask.
- No written range before the work. Every job on this trade can be given a range from a description and a photo. Time and materials with no ceiling is how a $600 reseal becomes $2,000.
- Sends the machine out for everything. Honing, rod polishing and seal work are shop basics. A repair shop that subcontracts all of it is a parts counter with a truck.
Who we are not the right shop for
If the machine is under factory warranty, call the dealer first, because a third party repair can void hydraulic coverage on a new tractor or excavator. We do not work on aircraft, automotive brake systems, elevators or anything under a permit inspection regime. A wholesale fleet that wants one hose swapped at the lowest possible number is better served by a parts counter with a crimper than by a mobile truck with a trip fee. And if a cylinder needs a rod rechromed or a barrel machined beyond honing, we coordinate the chrome shop and tell you so, we do not pretend to do it in house. California treats equipment hydraulic repair on private machinery as an unlicensed mechanical trade, but Cal/OSHA Title 8 section 3328 still requires that machinery be kept in safe operating condition on any worksite with employees, so a documented repair matters more than the license question does.
What we do is farm tractors, orchard equipment, loaders, excavators, forklifts, dock levelers and compactors from Woodland out to Dixon, Winters and West Sacramento, at the machine when it will not move and in the shop when it will. If it is down right now, the emergency page has the after-hours terms. If it is weeping and you have a week, send a photo through the form and we will tell you which line of the table you are on.
Leak and burst hose questions
A hydraulic hose blew on my tractor in the field. Can it be fixed today?
Usually yes. We crimp hoses at the machine from stock on the truck, so most single hose failures inside Yolo County are running again the same day. Mobile hose replacement runs $245 to $750 with the trip fee already in that number. Odd fittings for older European tractors can add a day for parts.
My cylinder is weeping oil at the rod. Is that an emergency?
No, but it is a clock. A rod seal that weeps a film will get worse, pull dust into the gland and score the rod. Caught as a weep it is a reseal at $350 to $900 on a small bore. Left until the rod is scored it becomes a rebuild with rod work at $1,000 to $3,000 or more.
Can I patch a hydraulic hose with tape or a clamp to finish the day?
No. Working pressure on most equipment is 2,000 to 4,000 psi and a wrapped pinhole can inject oil through skin. Shut the machine down, relieve the pressure and replace the hose. If you are mid harvest, call and we will bring the hose to the row.
How do I know if the leak is the hose or the fitting?
Wipe everything dry, run the function under load for a minute and look again. Oil at the crimp collar or the fitting threads is a fitting or a crimp. Oil sweating through the hose body or spraying from the bend is the hose. A wet hose end with a dry body is often a loose fitting that a wrench fixes, not a new hose.
Tell us what is leaking
Machine, where the oil is, whether it still moves. We come back with what likely failed and the printed range for that fix, before anyone orders a part.