Starting Your Kubota in Cold Weather

[JRobyn]

In TN, we rarely get cold enough conditions to have cold start problems with an engine that starts as easy as my Kubota does. So no block heater.

My battery is the OEM; I guess it's now 8-10 years old, and has been turning it over slower and slower, especially as it has cooled off. To the point that I was pretty sure it was NOT going to start without a jump. I just assumed I'd need to replace it over the winter. Pulled it out and did a load test. It's originally a 650 CCA battery, and it would still do well over 600! It read about 12.4vdc! I put a little 2a overnight charge on it and it now holds 12.6.

Looks like I need to go hunting for some dirty connections. When I DO replace this battery, I hope I can find a carbon copy of this OEM one!

 

[4570Man]

Mine starts at 15F with no assistance, but doesn’t care much for it. If it was much colder I’d need a block heater. My truck doesn’t care much for cold starts. I plug it in when it gets below 35 degrees. It doesn’t get cold enough here to deal with battery heaters.

 

[tcreeley]

I finally started plugging my tractor in a few weeks ago. Cold starting in the 20's and plugin starting in the single digits- I'd say my tractor is ready to work faster in the single digits. Plugging in is just easier on the tractor. What I have to wait for now is the hydraulic oil to warm up a bit before I really get going, especially the below 0 temps. I can hear it in my FEL! Waiting for it to warm up a bit before I change my filter (every year).

 

[bdhsfz6]

In TN, we rarely get cold enough conditions to have cold start problems with an engine that starts as easy as my Kubota does. So no block heater.

My battery is the OEM; I guess it's now 8-10 years old, and has been turning it over slower and slower, especially as it has cooled off. To the point that I was pretty sure it was NOT going to start without a jump. I just assumed I'd need to replace it over the winter. Pulled it out and did a load test. It's originally a 650 CCA battery, and it would still do well over 600! It read about 12.4vdc! I put a little 2a overnight charge on it and it now holds 12.6.

Looks like I need to go hunting for some dirty connections. When I DO replace this battery, I hope I can find a carbon copy of this OEM one!

I wish you good luck in finding a battery that will perform as well as an OEM. I'm lucky to get 6 years out of a Kubota OEM replacement. I have had some luck extending battery life however by using a good quality charger / re conditioner with a desulfate cycle. I've just about doubled the life of my deep cycle marine batteries using this model:

Amazon.com: BatteryMINDer 12 Volt 2/4/8 Amp Wet/Gel/AGM Battery Charger: Industrial & Scientific

Not cheap but it's just about paid for itself so far.

 

[AStanton]

I keep my Kubota in an unheated garage. If the outside temperature is 20 F or lower,'
I use my magnetic block heater. The beauty of a magnetic block heater is that is
easier to use and isn't permanent. You can use it on any tractor.

 

[repete]

All of my equipment, including the dump truck, has the little battery maintainers. They terminate up by the operators seat and I have drop cords from the shed roof. Although it only rarely gets below 15F here it does make for a fast crank and good good start.

 

[check]

Just plugged in the block heater on my '09 Kubota BX25. It is now -20 Celsius. It has never failed to start right away. Original EOM battery. So far, so good!

 

[Dave M7040]

Re: Too cold to start
The block heater is part of the problem unless you have the latest model tractor.

The glow plug timer looks at the coolant temp and determines if the GP's are needed. Block warm, little to no GP time.

When the engine starts inhaling -20 to -40 cold air it wont fire.

There is a trick to bypass the GP timer. On my M7040, it is to put the shuttle lever in forward and turn the key to start. Count to about 10. Shuttle back to neutral and start the engine. The glow plugs have been on while the shuttle is in forward and the key in start.

Engine fires immediately.

The latest engines with all the emission stuff, have a programming change when the dealer installs a block heater. The computer is told to look at another sensor not influenced by block temp to determine how long to turn on the GP's.

Owner's who install a block heater on their own don't know of the programming change and continue to have starting problems.

All models have their GP manual operation tricks. When you drive by a dealer's lot on a very cold snowy day they get all there tractors stsrted. The bypass trick is how they do it.


Dave M7040

 

[MHarryE]

Back 40 years ago it was not uncommon for us to have several -50 days yearly. Now everyone was complaining when it was -42 the Wednesday after Christmas. Whimps. But all my Kubotas (except my GR2120) got block heaters installed by the dealer as part of standard equipment.

 

[mikester]

Re: Too cold to start
The block heater is part of the problem unless you have the latest model tractor.

The glow plug timer looks at the coolant temp and determines if the GP's are needed. Block warm, little to no GP time.

When the engine starts inhaling -20 to -40 cold air it wont fire.

There is a trick to bypass the GP timer. On my M7040, it is to put the shuttle lever in forward and turn the key to start. Count to about 10. Shuttle back to neutral and start the engine. The glow plugs have been on while the shuttle is in forward and the key in start.

Engine fires immediately.

The latest engines with all the emission stuff, have a programming change when the dealer installs a block heater. The computer is told to look at another sensor not influenced by block temp to determine how long to turn on the GP's.

Owner's who install a block heater on their own don't know of the programming change and continue to have starting problems.

All models have their GP manual operation tricks. When you drive by a dealer's lot on a very cold snowy day they get all there tractors stsrted. The bypass trick is how they do it.


Dave M7040

Awesome tip thanks!