DK 45 Losing Power under load

[wxtrendsguy]

OK we are back to square one! Same ol ****. All filters and fluids have been changed. We hauled a lot of stuff around on the FEL over the weekend with no issues, heavy stuff 3/4 ton over several hundred yards with no issues. I tested the sprayer on several rows before that and no issue. Go out tonight and spray 20 rows to kill off spotted lanternfly in the vineyard and just as I am complete and drive back up the hill for the last time,,,,ugh here comes the massive loss of power and struggle. The onset of the problem seems to only have one thing in common going uphill with the PTO engaged. Sometimes its the first time up the hill and other times like tonight I can go up and down 20 times with no issues...
I am afraid that bringing it to a dealer is a waste of time as they will have great difficulty recreating the issue at the shop. Pretty much getting to whits end!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Change the fuel filter again.

 

[Robin Veerman]

I don’t think it’s quite that simple, but I do believe it’s a fuel delivery issue. I think that the fuel tank should be drained/flushed and the lines blown out with compressed air.
Is there any evidence of diesel bug? Any good treatment used will kill the bacteria, but the dead bugs will turn to goop and plug lines/filters unless the complete fuel system is purged…

 

[MinnesotaEric]

OK we are back to square one! Same ol ****. All filters and fluids have been changed. We hauled a lot of stuff around on the FEL over the weekend with no issues, heavy stuff 3/4 ton over several hundred yards with no issues. I tested the sprayer on several rows before that and no issue. Go out tonight and spray 20 rows to kill off spotted lanternfly in the vineyard and just as I am complete and drive back up the hill for the last time,,,,ugh here comes the massive loss of power and struggle. The onset of the problem seems to only have one thing in common going uphill with the PTO engaged. Sometimes its the first time up the hill and other times like tonight I can go up and down 20 times with no issues...
I am afraid that bringing it to a dealer is a waste of time as they will have great difficulty recreating the issue at the shop. Pretty much getting to whits end!

You may have microbes growing in your fuel. Change out the fuel filter again and report the result.

 

[wxtrendsguy]

You may have microbes growing in your fuel. Change out the fuel filter again and report the result.

The fuel filter looks brand new. I also notice that the cup the filter sits in is completely full, not sure if that means anything but its getting fuel to that point I believe...

 

[SPYDERLK]

The fuel filter looks brand new. I also notice that the cup the filter sits in is completely full, not sure if that means anything but its getting fuel to that point I believe...

Can you see the filter while operating? Or can you arrange to? - - The filter could be wet and slowly collapsing as fuel is drawn through faster in high load conditions ... then recover shape in a few minutes of no flow. Repeat.

 

[LouNY]

I'm not sure but if the CK uses a feed pump to supply fuel to the injection pump it could be going bad, tee a pressure gauge into the fuel line after the lift/boost pump before the injection pump to monitor the low pressure fuel feed.

 

[thclimer]

Sure sounds like a fuel issue to me as well.

Was your fuel tank getting a little low as you ended your spraying? If so, you could have lost some head pressure which is created by a fuller tank? or as Lou has suggested if your tractor has a feed pump, maybe its beginning to fail, or its a combination of these issues.

Hope you can figure it out.

 

[wxtrendsguy]

Sure sounds like a fuel issue to me as well.

Was your fuel tank getting a little low as you ended your spraying? If so, you could have lost some head pressure which is created by a fuller tank? or as Lou has suggested if your tractor has a feed pump, maybe its beginning to fail, or its a combination of these issues.

Hope you can figure it out.

Tank was at least half full. As far as I can tell there is a little fuel pump but when I changed out the filter and bled the air you could easily see fuel pumped through the tube and then when I connected it back to the filter valve i could see the fuel housing around the filter fill with fuel.

 

[wxtrendsguy]

So for those still following along this has turned into a freaking mess. Power loss has been getting progressively worse to almost to the point of anything above idle under any sort of load and the tractor begins to stall. Finally bit the bullet and sent to the dealer to diagnose. Now $1300 later testing has shown that both the fuel injectors and low pressure fuel pump have failed. Apparently whats really jacked up about this is they don't know if the high pressure pump is bad as well and cannot tell until they replace the low pressure side. Based on past posts on this forum going back 20 years this is a known issue to some degree or another with Kioti. I wonder if a Kioti just cannot handle the workload on a working farm and really should be relagated to hobby farms...