There is certainly of damage due to pictures submitted to me by service manager. The plastic radiator mount is seen below.
The crack occurs through thin metal mesh on hood that protects exhaust pipe. Age of damage is hard to determine due to tractor having only 67 hours on it.
The owners manual only explicitly states to check reservoir level. No mention of radiator cap or any other means to gauge level
Mechanic for 24 years and counting, so I've seen more than a few cracked rads. That cracked-off piece is one of the supports that holds the radiator in it's rubber mounting grommets. Looking at those pictures, I'm quite sure that was cracked either taking the radiator out, or afterwards with a tool. It couldn't have cracked in place like that, the angle looks too severe. But for argument sake, let's say it did. That means the radiator would have had to have taken a substantial amount of force somewhere else to have pushed it hard enough against the mounting grommets to crack it. There would be significant visible damage to another part of the radiator. And for something to have pushed against the rad that hard, you'd have damage to your hood and/or grille.
Second, you say you noted that the temp gauge was in normal range at some point during the faulty regen. That's good. For the temp gauge to be reading normally, that means there was coolant in the system, and enough for it to be functioning normally. That means that if that crack was responsible for low coolant and a damaged engine, then it had to have happened at temperature, which from my experience, leaves coolant stains in the porous plastic around the crack, as the hot, pressurized coolant is forced through it. I don't see any stains there. Also, there would have been coolant sprayed all around the engine bay, or the underside of the tractor, and over the front axle. Even if you didn't see steam, you would have seen residual coolant.
Third, the dealership is responsible for ensuring the vehicle is in safe operating condition while it is in their possession. We check fluids on vehicles that we're working on. Basic step that is drilled into the apprentice's heads early on. In fact, I virtually guarantee that the operators manual says to verify fluid levels daily before starting the vehicle. That includes when it's in the hands of the mechanic working on it. They admitted to finding and replacing a burnt harness, then running a manual regen, but they're claiming this was all done while there was no coolant in the system, and the engine had already been run to the point of rod bearing damage? Bullshit. They essentially just admitted to negligence causing damage, while the tractor was in their possession.
My suspicion is that the melted harness was your original regen problem, and something else went wrong at the dealership from incompetence and/or negligence, and they're trying to hang it on you. If the service manager has to explain to the general manager why they're eating the cost of a diesel engine, someone is going to be in **** or even fired. It's a lot easier for them to just stonewall you and say that you did it to yourself.
I believe if you search the forums you'll find one or two other Kioti harness-melting threads. Seems to be a common fault on a recent batch of these tractors. Also, get a hold of that radiator. That is your best piece of evidence they're pulling a fast one. I would just show up and ask for it, and don't be surprised if they try to claim they can't find it or it "got thrown out".
