BX1850D tractor bogs and studders

[travisH3]

Hey fellas

my neighbor brought me her Kubota BX1850D kubota tractor. Has 54" belly mower and FEL. 3 cyl diesel with just under 300 hours. She lets it sit outside all winter and all summer so for how little hours are on it, it looks 3 times as old as it should hahaha. Well she brought it to me for some pre-season maintenance. planned to do all the fluids and filters in it, sharpen the blades and grease everything and get it back to her. Well I got everything greased and sharpened the blades and thought id see how it cut. After about 15 minutes of running I noticed the temp gauge was up close to the red but not in the red area and the mower started bogging going up hill. then all of the sudden it really started studdering so i shut off the blades and returned it to idle. still rough idling and when you give it throttle it would bog. so i barely made it up to the house with it bogging down. wasnt smoking just running terrible. I seen the radiator had a lot of grass packed down there so i cleaned it all out really well and blew the radiator out really well and got it unclogged and clean. took it back to the hill driving up and down up and down for prolly 10 min and the temp gauge stayed about in the middle. decided to try cutting again and a couple minutes in started studdering and running rough again. air filter is clean, fuel filters werent dated or anything so im not sure how old they are. I plan to get the filters and change them tomorrow. To me this seems to be a fuel problem. It got very cold for us this winter and the tractor sat with summer diesel in it im sure so it probably gelled up if i had to guess. Do you guys think this is fuel filter problem, or is the fuel bad. also I wonder maybe there is dirt or debris in the tank causing me to only have problems up hill and then it gets clogged and studders like this. I dont know just trying to get some ideas before i go tearing into it tomorrow. thanks for you alls help. Sorry i dont know alot about this machine but just trying to help a neighbor out.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I think it has 2 fuel filters. Changing them should fix it. ... What happens is that the 1st filter in line gradually clogs with micro debris and water. The tractor continues to run normal, but at some point the pressure differential needed the suck [or push] the fuel thru will cause the pleats in the filter element to collapse. This drasticaly reduces flow area and almost stops flow. It will usually show up during hi flow demand - hi load - and reduce the tractor to barely able to idle. Stop it for awhile and the pleats open back up. It runs good for a short time then repeat.

 

[travisH3]

I think it has 2 fuel filters. Changing them should fix it.

I seen that when i was looking up the parts diagram of the fuel system. You think the filters are the problem?

 

[SPYDERLK]

Yes. Fits the normal failure pattern I see on my BX1500. Adding some diesel fuel treatment should help to remove any water from the old fuel. Its undoubtedly still good, but probably has some water. It will be on the bottom, Actually most of its probably in the clogged filter.

 

[travisH3]

Yes. Fits the normal failure pattern I see on my BX1500.

Thats good to hear then. Im grabbing all the filters and fluid tomorrow and will post back with the results. although we got rain the next 3 days so not sure when i will be able to test it lol. thanks for the quick reply and hopefully i wont be needing to pull the tank. should I drain the rest of the old diesel out? or just run it? it has about a 1/4 tank

 

[SPYDERLK]

Thats good to hear then. Im grabbing all the filters and fluid tomorrow and will post back with the results. although we got rain the next 3 days so not sure when i will be able to test it lol. thanks for the quick reply and hopefully i wont be needing to pull the tank. should I drain the rest of the old diesel out? or just run it? it has about a 1/4 tank

If you wish you can drain the tank fairly easily thru the hose feeding the filter. If you dont want to, be prepared with a stopper so you dont lose much while changing the filter. No fuel petcock I think.

 

[rbarker]

Yes. Fits the normal failure pattern I see on my BX1500. Adding some diesel fuel treatment should help to remove any water from the old fuel. Its undoubtedly still good, but probably has some water. It will be on the bottom, Actually most of its probably in the clogged filter.

I agree with Spyderlk, this comes up fairly regularly here in reference to the BX series and the majority of cases are resolved with fuel filter replacement. Make sure you change both filters. Some folks do drain the tank as well and it probably couldn't hurt since there isn't that much in it. You could always reuse it if it looks clean.

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[travisH3]

I agree with Spyderlk, this comes up fairly regularly here in reference to the BX series and the majority of cases are resolved with fuel filter replacement. Make sure you change both filters. Some folks do drain the tank as well and it probably couldn't hurt since there isn't that much in it. You could always reuse it if it looks clean.

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I did some searching before posting and this seemed pretty common with the kubota diesel engines. Heading to get parts now! thanks fellas!

 

[amigauser]

As to the almost RED temperature, make sure the radiator and screen before it is cleaned of debris. Compressed air works great for cleaning the radiator.

 

[AStanton]

Remember that the road to **** was paved with good intensions and that no good deed goes unpunished.

 

[travisH3]

Oh boy what a day! Did oil change, hydraulic fluid and filter, new air filter and went to change fuel filters. Pulled the line off the rear most filter expecting for fuel to come flying out but it only trickled so I thought what the heck I will put a little air back into the tank for giggles. All the sudden I had fuel flow. Ran good for 15 seconds then went to a trickle. Gave it air again and did the same the but went a little longer before going to a trickle. I figured this can only mean one thing, there was something in the tank. So I start shredding bolts and before ya know it I got the whole rear end torn apart. Got the tank out and when I pulled it out I heard some thing bouncing! which is good news because I was hoping I wasn't doing all this work for nothing. It looks to be the vent cap off a gas can that must have broke off when they popped it open when filling up and landed right in the tank. Put everything back together and filled with fresh diesel she ran great the whole time. I went and used the front end loader to grade out my other neighbors gravel driveway that took a beating from all the snow we got this winter. After cleaning out the radiator, she never cleaned the screen and the radiator was still packed. Pulled the battery out and blew everything out, the temp gauge never moved past 1/2 way even after running at full throttle for 45 min. It's running great with some much needed maintenance. I haven't taken it back yet. I still have to put the deck back on and grease the u joints. I'm sure she will be excited to have it back running so good. Hopefully she will let me pick it up more often so this thing can be taken care of a little better. Here's some pics for you guys to see what I went through in case someone runs into the same issue down the road.

 

[travisH3]

Remember that the road to **** was paved with good intensions and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Lol not real sure exactly what this means but at 21 years old my parents have raised me right and I'd help anyone. Been taken advantage of a few times but ya live and ya learn. I love wrenching and working on things. It's only nuts and bolts. Had down time today anyways due to the rain.
Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[PrairieSoul]

travisH3 you of course understand why you saw the tractor this year. But, everyone should treat others as they would expect to be treated. Hopefully decades from now someone will treat you the same. By the way, I blame my parents for the same affliction.

 

[travisH3]

travisH3 you of course understand why you saw the tractor this year. But, everyone should treat others as they would expect to be treated. Hopefully decades from now someone will treat you the same. By the way, I blame my parents for the same affliction.

I've met the kids I went to school with and there weren't many like me. My generation is pretty.... Sad to say the least. So decades down the road I can't imagine what kids will be like. All I can say is I hope to do just as good with my future children as my parents did us. We need more people working on tractors rather than hanging out on the streets lol.

 

[Barnone]

I had a similar problem with my BX2660 yesterday , never happended before since new several years ago, replaced the fuel filters and air cleaner today and the problem came back after mowing for about twenty minutes. I can hear the fuel pump running and the fuel is fresh from a volume supplier.

 

[travisH3]

I had a similar problem with my BX2660 yesterday , never happended before since new several years ago, replaced the fuel filters and air cleaner today and the problem came back after mowing for about twenty minutes. I can hear the fuel pump running and the fuel is fresh from a volume supplier.

Easiest way to tell if you got something blocking the fuel line in the tank is if you remove the fuel line off the rear most filter the fuel should flow fast. If it's trickling or a small stream there is a block.

 

[Deano]

Thanks for the update and pictures! :thumbsup:

 

[Barnone]

Easiest way to tell if you got something blocking the fuel line in the tank is if you remove the fuel line off the rear most filter the fuel should flow fast. If it's trickling or a small stream there is a block.

travisH3,
When I changed the rear filter the fuel flow was strong but I will check it again. Hope I don't have to take the tank out. Thanks for the reply.

 

[travisH3]

View attachment 372998
travisH3,
When I changed the rear filter the fuel flow was strong but I will check it again. Hope I don't have to take the tank out. Thanks for the reply.

Mine was strong for 15-20 seconds then Went to a trickle. Is your tractor always shuddering or just when your leaning a certain way. Mine was fine until I was leaning a certain way the cap would get near the pickup line and block it off to a trickle. Dropped the tractor off today and sad to have it leave lol. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to buy me one. Love the 4x4 and the front end loader was fun to play around with. We have a bobcat t190 and a kubota kx mini excavator but they go job site to job site so they never really come home.

 

[Barnone]

Just mowing on flat FL land so no leaning. Seems that I can run for 15 minutes or so after letting the tractor sit before the shuttering starts. I'm going to try to finish draining the tank at the fuel filter and then try the Mityvac to see if I can suck out any obstructions.

The fuel pump does not seem as loud as it use to be.