Kubota L235

[koryaube]

My Uncle has a L235 that has problems. He told me that I can have the tractor...but oil is getting into the radiator. I live in southern Louisiana so I doubt that the freeze plugs have come out. I was told that someone borrowed the tractor and ran it without coolant in the radiator. My question is should I pay to repair this tractor? I am guessing that it may be a cracked head. Does anyone know what the price of this repair may be?

 

[Yankee Clipper]

Kory,

See if you have a local dealer or tractor mechanic who can tell you for an hour or two of labor what is going on.


The L235 is a good tractor but it is getting old (early to mid 80s) and may not be worth the cost of rebuilding the engine.

At least then you can make an informed decision instead of thinking it willbe cehap and turns into a money pit.

Good luck!

 

[Eagle Dude]

I had a 235 that I cracked a head on. Repair guy said if he could find a new head he could fix, but the cost, if found, was more than I had paid for the tractor. I now own a Yanmar, but always loved that Kubota.

 

[koryaube]

Thanks for the post Yankee Clipper and Eagle Dude...I went by the Kubota dealer this morning requesting a WSM. After talking to one of the employees at the dealer he told me it was a cracked block. "Water in the oil...Cracked Head, Oil in the water...Cracked Block" He was very set on this...It could be nothing else. I know I may just be hoping for the best but could it just be the head gasket?

 

[MikesTractor]

There is a chance it could be a head gasket. There is a slim chance of it being a cracked block, unless it has frozen. I have seen a couple of cracked blocks on Kubotas before, but they had been frozen. Other than that, I have never seen a cracked block on one of these tractors.

I'm thinking that the head is probably cracked, but the only way to know for sure is to pull the head and check everything out. The last one of these engines that I replaced a head on was an L275 (very similar). I found a rebuilt head through a salvage yard for $700 and the gaskets were about $130. This was 2 years ago.

All it will cost to look at it is a couple of hours to take it apart. Once you get it apart, you can decide which way to go with it. If it was mine, I'd want to know for sure before giving up on it.

Keep us posted.

Mike

 

[koryaube]

MikesTractor

Thanks for the reply...the little tractor is not frozen (it almost started last night). You are correct about giving up on the tractor. I will get the tractor to my shop next week and pull the head off. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated by yourself or any other members of this forum. I will post some pictures of the l235 and the progress.

Thanks again...I was about to pass on the project.

 

[David-Davies]

I'm wondering about your oil in the water. I've seen water in the oil, from a cracked head or block. But I've never seen oil in the coolent. The coolent is pressureized, how would the oil get in? I can't see a block cracking through an oil passage. Blocks usualy crack fron overheating, and or cooling down to fast, [putting cold water in a stoped engine that has boiled over].

 

[dfkrug]

I'm wondering about your oil in the water. I've seen water in the oil, from a cracked head or block. But I've never seen oil in the coolent. The coolent is pressureized, how would the oil get in? I can't see a block cracking through an oil passage. Blocks usualy crack fron overheating, and or cooling down to fast, [putting cold water in a stoped engine that has boiled over].

Oil is pressurized to about 60psi, while water is pressurized to about 15psi.
A head gasket or cracked head or cracked block can connect the oil with
the water. I have seen oily coolant, and cloudy oil. Both are possible.
Hopefully this problem is only a bad head gasket. If one can not be bought
new, they can be custom cut out of copper sheet.

I just saw an L235 at a winery last week....still being used to pull wagons
around. I would have guessed 1970s vintage....that is when most of the
Lxxx's were made. By the early/mid 80s, the Ls were moving to Lxxxx's.

 

[tomnky]

Kory: I sent You a pm with what might be Your answer

 

[rrgraves]

if it has an oil cooler that is what is cracked if it was a head it would be blowing the water out and if it were a cracked block it would have water in the oil. if it wear cracked in the cylender it would blow the water out.

 

[MikesTractor]

Oil is pressurized to about 60psi, while water is pressurized to about 15psi.
A head gasket or cracked head or cracked block can connect the oil with
the water. I have seen oily coolant, and cloudy oil. Both are possible.
Hopefully this problem is only a bad head gasket. If one can not be bought
new, they can be custom cut out of copper sheet.

Amen! This is real easy. Like dfkrug said. If your radiator pressure is 12 to 15 psi, and your oil pressure is 50 to 60 psi, and there is a blown gasket/crack/leak between the two, the highest pressure will win. That means that there will be oil in the radiator.

If there is a blown gasket/crack/leak between the water and a "return oil passage", then the water will be in the oil pan.

At this point in the game, I would remove the head, check the gasket, and have the head pressure tested. This is the minimum I would before scrapping the project.

Mike

 

[koryaube]

Thanks again everyone for the replies...I just today got around to inspecting the tractor.
The radiator had no water in it and had a lot of oil residue.
I does turn over even with a weak battery. I may have made a wrong decision to fill the radiator with water and try to start the tractor.
Water starter to shoot out of the exhaust manifold with every revolution...apparently one or more of the cylinders were filling with water. I then drained all of the water from the radiator and spun the engine to get as much of the water out as possible.

This happened very quickly after I added the water.

Still no water in the oil.

 

[koryaube]

Yes...
Thank You tomnky

 

[tomnky]

Glad to be a help to You.

 

[Pinola]

Hello i'm new here but sorrt to jump on this post I to have a l235 with oil in rad was using it the other day when the water hose started to let water out under high pressure so i stoped the tractor checkthe the water it was a little low toped it up and found the oil packed the tractor and checked it out today rad full of oil and no oil in engine however the tractor starts ok (not using it) but it starts do you think it could just be head gasket?