New 2565 Major Problem!

[Nortac]

I have a fairly new 2565 that I bought at the first of the year and has 47 hours on it. I was out mowing today and somehow a stick hit the oil filter (There is a seriously major problem for the filter to be hit like this from a stick!!) I never noticed until I saw the oil pressure light on. I shut the engine down and got out to see if I could find any issues. I notice some oil on the bottom of the motor and figured something was wrong but I was in tall grass and couldn't really tell. I started the engine back up and moved it about 10 yards onto the road. The oil filter was bent backwards and a huge gap was between the filter and the mounting area. There was only a few drops of oil on the road at that point. I walked back trying to find out what happened. There were sticks here and there but nothing major. About 50 yards back I found a large pool of oil. It leaked out fast. No warning alarm, no automatic shutdown, no flashing lights. Just the oil pressure indicator light came on. I left and came back several hours later letting the tractor cool down. Upon inspection the oil filter was loose and not really attached but was so bent on the threads It would not come off. The housing the filter screwed into was loose too. Is it just me or was this a terrible place to put the oil filter without some type of protective cover??? I tried to see if the tractor would turn over and it would not. To say I'm upset is an understatement from a da*n brand new tractor to have an issue like this. I don't even know where to begin with it.

 

[sd455dan]

OH WOW- That is some serious bad luck and the engine is now seized?
Sounds like a rebuild or engine replacement is in the future unfortunately.
Do you have any kind of insurance on the tractor?

 

[Nortac]

I have insurance but seriously doubt it will cover that. Honestly, I'm really ticked off about the filter location. This should have never happened. I plant to try to contact the Mahindra rep here next week to have a frank conversation about it. Just a real let down.

 

[sd455dan]

can you post a pic of the filter location? did Mahindra mount it hanging way down or something?
I Can see the bent filter -,but can't really make out how far from the ground it is from the 1st pics.

 

[Nortac]

It has protection on the sides and rear but is open for debris to hit it. It is very exposed from below and forward which is where problems will come from.

 

[sd455dan]

i am sure other TBNers will chime in, Hopefully warranty or insurance can take care of this.

 

[sixdogs]

I would think most insurance would cover this. For the future you could install a remote filter kit but you really shouldn't have to. Factory should have it protected but sometimes things just happen.

 

[JerryK]

I knocked the glass diesel filter loose on the side of my old JD 2240 once when I was out in the back of my property, and it was about 4 feet above the ground. Diesel squirting everywhere, but she made it back to the barn.... S*** happens.... Hope things work out for you...

 

[Rustyiron]

I've never seen a farm tractor, big or small that was built (from the factory) with any design intended to protect it's "belly" from anything but soft crops growing in a flat field. Today's tractors a little worse "down there" with the addition of more wiring & hydraulic components. Sorry about your luck, but in my opinion, this one is on you.
I do not understand why they (all of them) do not offer an additional belly protection pkg. as an option, they know what we are doing with these machines, and I think they would proffit highly offering a $4-500 skid plate pkg, and prolly sell a ton of them.

 

[Finallygotone]

The very same thing happened to me on my 2565. I was out brush hogging a customers field mowing mostly grass and some Russian olive when one of the branches apparently jammed between the loader frame and oil filter knocking the filter can sideways and blasting the right front of the cab with oil. I immediately shut the tractor down and did not restart it.

Since the complete engine had recently been replaced by the dealer due to a Mahindra engine mis-build, I called the dealer out to the field to diagnose the problem. Fortunately for me, I only lost about 3 quarts of oil so once fixed I was able to continue and finish the job.

I asked the dealer about the location of the filter on this engine as well and was told that it was just bad luck and there was nothing I could do to prevent this in the future. I agree that Mahindra should actually think about how these tractors are being used over here and make some design changes. Oil filter location, loader hose hook up protection, actually supply a front grill guard that's going to protect the grill (I built one and welded it on myself), and provide a calibration for the engine that doesn't constantly set a MIL light because I let my gear drive tractor idle for more than two minutes or work it at less than full throttle. It is a gear drive not a hydrostatic drive after all.

I thought I bought a durable work tractor not a weekend suburban sports tractor.

 

[sixdogs]

Surely, manufacturers read these sites and comments, don't they? You would think they would have jumped on it early on to keep a lid on things before it came to the end that it did with a swap to Kubota. Everyone has things go wrong; it's what you do afterwards that counts.

 

[dickfoster]

I seriously doubt that could happen on mine. The engine oil filter is so well protected where it is, it's a PITA to change. About the only thing a stick could get to on mine is the first fuel filter and if that went, the tractor would just quit running and it would dump a ever how much fuel was in the tank on the ground. The hydraulic filter is buried in the BH subframe so it's pretty well protected too. Maybe instead of griping about my filters being so hard to service all the time I should start thanking Mahindra for putting them out of harm's way. The front drive shaft is even inside of a protective sleeve.

 

[Turbys_1700]

My Workmaster 50 is fairly well protected. The drive shaft is the lowest point on the belly and it is protected also with a cover. Still yet stuff can happen. Brush hogging small saplings offers the greatest opportunity for debris causing damage underneath. I make sure to go in the same direction but that is still not fool proof. Tractors that do nothing but brush hog are caged and shielded. I guess you could do it to a compact or utility tractor but it would take some time, engineering, and fab skills.

 

[dickfoster]

My Workmaster 50 is fairly well protected. The drive shaft is the lowest point on the belly and it is protected also with a cover. Still yet stuff can happen. Brush hogging small saplings offers the greatest opportunity for debris causing damage underneath. I make sure to go in the same direction but that is still not fool proof. Lots of protection on tractors that do nothing but brush hog.

If I were doing something like that, I'd install a belly pan/ skid plate for sure.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I seriously doubt that could happen on mine. The engine oil filter is so well protected where it is, it's a PITA to change. About the only thing a stick could get to on mine is the first fuel filter and if that went, the tractor would just quit running and it would dump a ever how much fuel was in the tank on the ground. The hydraulic filter is buried in the BH subframe so it's pretty well protected too. Maybe instead of griping about my filters being so hard to service all the time I should start thanking Mahindra for putting them out of harm's way. The front drive shaft is even inside of a protective sleeve.

and the front steering linkages are high and on the backside of the axle.

 

[dickfoster]

and the front steering linkages are high and on the backside of the axle.

Also true. Don't know about the others but the 1500 series machines look to be pretty well protected.

 

[tkevan]

Not to be too harsh, but you saw the oil leak, ignored the oil pressure light, and ran the tractor. I'd imagine the conversation with the Mahindra rep is going to be a short one once that's out there.

 

[JerryK]

I could see it as a insurance item if he had Mahindra insurance on the loan. But I don't see how it could be a warranty thing. There was nothing defective to fix before the oil filter was dislodged. You never know, though...

 

[dickfoster]

I could see it as a insurance item if he had Mahindra insurance on the loan. But I don't see how it could be a warranty thing. There was nothing defective to fix before the oil filter was dislodged. You never know, though...

If it were me, I don't think I'd even ask. After seeing the oil light and then the oil on the ground and if I still tried to start it, I'd be planning on rebuilding or buying a new engine out of my own pocket. Engines just don't run for long without lubricating oil. Never mind the filter being exposed, you just don't try to run any engine with no oil. When you see an oil light immediately shut the engine down and hope it's not already too late.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Most automobile manufacturers now have automatic shut down if the oil level is too low. This feature has been on cars for some time. Makes you wonder why tractor manufacturers don't do the same. Perhaps some do? Seems to me that the expense is not that great. I would assume that that the number of engines seizing due to low oil is probably less than 1/10 of 1 percent. Perhaps that's why? I know that I have never had a low oil pressure light go off and if it did I would shut her down on the spot. My low priced generator has that shut down feature. Expense can't be the driver here.