Kubota L245 (Oil sprayed from side of engine.)

Don613 · Aug 5, 2004

I was mowing with my L245 the other day and all was going well. I shut it down for a little while to grab some lunch. When I restarted it, a large stream of oil came shooting out of the side of the engine. I immediately shut it down to investigate. The oil came from a small hole, about the size of a pencil, which was located directly behind the oil filter on the side of the engine. The hole appears to be part of the tractor's design. (Like maybe something had been mounted there or perhaps a plug or something). Any ideas about what could have happened or what I need to do to fix it?

slowrev · Aug 5, 2004

Are there threads in the hole ? If so the first thing to do is find out what was origionally in the hole. If it was just a plug then replace it. If it was a sending unit or something, then replace that.

Don613 · Aug 5, 2004

I didn't see any threads in the hole and I'm not sure what used to be there. If it's a plug, what would cause it to pop out like that? Could there be a relief valve or something plugged up?

studuster · Aug 5, 2004

I've got a L275 DT. I'll look at it at noon and see what mine has near the filter area and get back to you.

tractorman · Aug 5, 2004

You are actually lucky that you noticed the oil gushing out of the engine. A customer of mine wasn't quite as lucky about a year ago. He kept on driving until the engine seized up. What you'll find is that during the manufacturing process on the engine block, it is neccessary to cross drill holes in the engine block to provide for internal oil passages. Kubota's solution at the time was to plug these holes with small aluminum plugs. In time, these plugs loosen up due to vibration and pop out. You should be able to get a new plug from your Kubota dealer and install it yourself. Just make sure that you remove any trace of oil from the hole w/ brake cleaner and put loctite on the new one before you install it. Good Luck, Tractorman

Don613 · Aug 7, 2004

I searched the Internet for a week trying to find an answer to my question. I was about ready to give up when I was fortunate enough to find this web site. I posted the question and had my answer in one day. That's impressive. Thanks for all the help! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

studuster · Aug 9, 2004

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. On my L275DT there is a small plug just to the left of the filter in the main engine block housing. It looks like about a 7mm allen wrench is needed for installation/removal.

Chris99320 · Aug 9, 2004

I had the same problem with my L185. In my case the plug is actually made of rubber. Kind of looks like a baby bottle nipple that gets pushed into the hole. The local kubota dealer had replacements for $1 or $2each, but I ruined a couple trying to put them in....it was last winter and very cold and the rubber was not very compliant. I finally made up my own plug using a very short piece of rubber hose and a small screw run thru the hole in the tube....basically a compression plug.