It would be interesting to send some of that fuel to a place like Blackstone Labs and see what they find wrong with the fuel.
Kubota L3710 runs for 20 minutes then won't run at speed or at all.
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JWR
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NO WAY gas in his fuel was causing the problem. Heck, VW owners manuals in 1979 advised using 10% gasoline in with diesel fuel to avoid gel in low temperatures (!) So did GM for a short time and then it was revoked as a recommendation for other reasons. But small amounts of gas in his diesel fuel were clearly NOT the problem. Now in post mortem it seems pretty obvious the filter was the problem. Whether the crud in it came from a prior batch of fuel or who knows, but it was crud in the filter.
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I still think it had to be bad fuel. I had bypassed that filter with one of those universal inline filters directly to the lifter pump. There was maybe 1 - 2 gallons of fuel in the tank this spring and I had bought 5 gallons last summer (July to August) and had not used it. I added it to the tank before starting to use the tractor and just refused to believe it would be bad. used to drive heavy diesel trucks and have never encountered bad diesel before. I have had bad gas before and probably would be the first place I would have went if it were a gas engine.
I have isolated the bad fuel that I drained from the tank and will use it to burn some brush piles that need some tending to.
Kubota tech said the new tractors with all the electronics are lots of problems. He recommended to hang onto the older ones as long as you can.
Jeff Lary...... your wisdom "when hearing hoofbeats" rings true.
I have isolated the bad fuel that I drained from the tank and will use it to burn some brush piles that need some tending to.
Kubota tech said the new tractors with all the electronics are lots of problems. He recommended to hang onto the older ones as long as you can.
Jeff Lary...... your wisdom "when hearing hoofbeats" rings true.
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That is great news. Much better than having to buy a bunch of parts or dealer labor. That fix seems obvious now. But you are right, simple is sometime missed and now it is time to smile - saved a lot of money. Good Job.
I have an update to this thread if anybody is still following or interested. I left about 5 gallons of fuel in my tractor over winter and I bushhogged again this spring. The tractor ran fine up until I ran low on fuel and put 5 gallons in from a can that I had in my shop that I purchased last year. Well, after about 20 minutes of running full bore, the same thing started happening again. I immediately drained the tank and went and got 5 gallons of fresh fuel. Fired her back up and finished the job which took several hours to finish. She ran like a top on the fresh fuel.
The only thing that I can figure is that the fuel stored in the yellow 5 gallon plastic can is degrading over the winter and when the fuel overflow from the injectors is recycling back into the tank gets the fuel in the tank hot, it causes the motor to sputter and die.
At least I know how to fix it in a hurry now. My problem now is I have a bunch of fuel that I'm afraid to try to use. I guess I'll take it to the recycler and not store any more over winter.
Thanks everybody for listening and caring. Several other people had commented about similar issues that remain unfixed. I hope this helps somebody else and saves them some grief.
The only thing that I can figure is that the fuel stored in the yellow 5 gallon plastic can is degrading over the winter and when the fuel overflow from the injectors is recycling back into the tank gets the fuel in the tank hot, it causes the motor to sputter and die.
At least I know how to fix it in a hurry now. My problem now is I have a bunch of fuel that I'm afraid to try to use. I guess I'll take it to the recycler and not store any more over winter.
Thanks everybody for listening and caring. Several other people had commented about similar issues that remain unfixed. I hope this helps somebody else and saves them some grief.
I bought my fuel at a BP gas station before and it was regular diesel fuel with DEF additive. I never had any issues with it before. I am going to start buying from the local Southern States co-op from here on out. Wonder why does the Kubota fuel system send hot fuel back to the tank like that? I felt the tank and filter the last time it happened and they ere both pretty hot. It would be ok in winter I would guess but I only use it to move snow and we haven't had much snow the past few winters.
Wondering what would happen if I blocked the return line from the injectors?
Wondering what would happen if I blocked the return line from the injectors?
5030
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Think you have your wires crossed. DEF is seperate from diesel always.
JWR
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Garman I am not sure what all you have going on but some of the tale maketh no sense. First, I do not buy that diesel fuel "goes bad" per se. It may have crud of all sorts that got into it but the fuel itself did not "go bad." As 5030 said, DEF is a separate fluid you must use in newer diesels that have a separate tank for it. The blue one. NEVER mixed with the fuel external to the tractor. Buying a fresh can of fuel and pouring that in solving your problem must have been a very shortened version of that story. Unless you also changed filters or something before adding the new fuel I just don't buy it. AND "what would happen if I blocked the return line from the injectors?" You would create a major problem you cannot fix. Good grief. Your Dad needs to take your keys away.
