new tractor not working

[FrogLick]

This is a great forum and you'll get good advice. In addition to talking to the dealership manager/owner and keeping a detailed service record (what, when, who), I'd also get on the Kubota website and email them just so they are in the loop and aware of any emerging product issues and/or dealership service problems. It appears to me that Kubota does listen to customer feedback and I suspect nothing gets a dealer's attention like a call from Kubota.

 

[DiezNutz]

...Just for grins I went out and checked around my new tractor with the laser thermometer and the only place that was under 202 was near the injector pump and the water pump. Most of it was around 210 -220...

Good post. Just curious, at the time you took the readings with the laser, what did your gauge say? In my experience it would've been lower.
See, when I first read that "they checked it with the infrared light", I thought that was kindof a load of crap. What are they comparing it against? Two problems with this:
(a) you can't actually read the temperature of the coolant running inside the system. The surrounding metal of the longblock is always going to be at a higher temp anyway.
(b) and if you could, coolant temperature is a gradient throughout the system, depends on where you measure it. If they weren't accurately capturing the same temperature where the sensor in the head sees, then it was kinda pointless anyway.

Carolyn never actually said what the tractor did when it "overheated". There would be no mistaking if it actually overheated. If the only thing was the gauge said it overheated, then you might just be right about that gauge - or even the sensor. 202 is definitely not overheating (unless it's Celsius ). Had they done some of the basic tests like I mentioned before - heck even just driven it around - they would've figured that out instead of just throwing parts at it. I don't (a) replace a T-stat until I test and determine the old one is bad, or (b) put a new T-stat in w/out testing it first. By all indications they're clueless.

 

[mrron_tx]

Carolyn: I have a b3030HSDC..and I live in East Texas and it gets hotter that the gates of heck here....Ihave never noticed my temp gauge very far from the cold...I have asked a lot of others around with Kubotas....no over heating!! I think You got a lemon. If they don't get it right....pursue the lemon law where You live

 

[WTA]

Mine was showing just below the middle of the gauge after it had warmed up all the way. Same spot as always. I think the manual said it had a 185 deg thermostat. I wasn't working it too hard. Just blading off the driveway about a half mile or so. This tractor doesn't care if it's pulling a 12 foot wide disc or putting across the yard. It always runs the gauge in the same place once the thermostat opens.

Oh, one last thing I thought of, Those small 3 bangers tend to run on the warm side unless you get a little RPM on them. I rebuilt several of the 3 cylinder diesels that were always lugging hard at low RPM's. Most of them beat the tar out of the bearings but several also pretty severely scorched the cylinders and pistons.
My grandfathers old Kubota burped some antifreeze once because he was running a 4 foot bushhog behind it through some blackberry briars but he was only running the engine at about 1200 RPM or so. You need some more RPM to make that coolant move enough to remove that kind of heat. I forget what model his was but it was one of the small 4 wheel drives with a 3 cylinder. Now another family member owns it and last I heard the engine was locked up from not being run and parked outside with all the rain going down the pipe. I'll be overhauling it soon I guess.

I only mention this RPM thing because many homeowners without much farm tractor experience tend to drive them like a car when they get one. It's a tractor so run it at the RPM best suited to the work it's doing. If it's PTO work run it up to the 540 mark on the tach. It won't hurt it. If you are using the drawbar or an implement on the hitch then get enough where the engine isn't hammering or smoking and can keep itself cool. That 540 mark on the tack is usually about ideal. I often go lower on mine but I have a good feel for what the engine is feeling.

 

[DiezNutz]

I hear ya... my gauge NEVER deviates off about 1/4-way from cold once the engine is warm, no matter what I'm doing or what the temp is outside. This consistency seems to be fairly common.

 

[carolyn meloni]

I really want to thank everyone for all of the advice. You helped me in many ways.
My kubota is home now. One of the owners came by tonight with it. We mowed about 90 minutes. It seems to be working fine. So perhaps the new thermostat and radiator did the trick. It did not overheat and engine was quiet and no black smoke.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that all will contiue to work just fine.
The owner told me he just wants things to be right. He said call if there are any problems.
THanks
Carolyn

 

[texasjohn]

Glad it's working now.... if the prior problem did not reoccur in YOUR opinion after 90 minutes...and, you did not identify any additonal problems. I think it's fixed, whatever it was... and, you clearly have gotten the ear of your dealer since an owner personally showed up and spent a lot of time observing it doing your kind of work... now, if you have another problem, you know exactly who to start with in reporting it. It sounds like you are now getting the kind of service and attention that you deserve and expect.

Typically, problems with Kubota's are very few.

 

[DiezNutz]

I really want to thank everyone for all of the advice. You helped me in many ways.
My kubota is home now. One of the owners came by tonight with it. We mowed about 90 minutes. It seems to be working fine. So perhaps the new thermostat and radiator did the trick. It did not overheat and engine was quiet and no black smoke.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that all will contiue to work just fine.
The owner told me he just wants things to be right. He said call if there are any problems. THanks Carolyn

That's great, you really can't ask for much more than that... the owner at least has the right mentality and seems like a good guy. Hope this is all's well that ends well for you. Best of luck from here on out.

 

[crazyal]

Carolyn. If it was my tractor I would try to get about 10 hours on it and then either myself or have someone (other than the dealer) change the engine oil. Save the oil, you can have a sample sent to an oil analisis lab. They will tell you things like if there is any antifreeze in the oil or if there is an unusual amount of wear to the bearings.

Although 202 doesn't sound hot enough to do damage I'm assuming they did it at the shop under controlled conditions, you could have done worse without knowing it. Plus depending on where they measured the temp it could have been higher. Even if they did measure on the correct place to measure paint could mask the real tempurature.

If the report is bad you can use it to get them to either do a full rebuild/ replace of the engine or a replacement of the tractor. After all unless you plan on selling the tractor before the warenttee runs out I would like to know no damage was done.

 

[rdsaustintx]

Grass doesn't grow in places where it is "too hot to mow".