Warranty issue dispute with Kubota - Advice anyone

[4570Man]

I have seen countless tractors from all different brands come in with a full overflow tank and an empty radiator! They are set up to keep coolant from hitting the ground in an overheat situation. It's really a overflow catch not a real coolant reservoir. If you don't open the actual radiator cap a person has zero idea what's really going on.

I’ve never seen a tractor without a radiator cap but I have vehicles that don’t. I don’t know how many models it applies to but the earlier 2000s GM vehicle don’t have a radiator cap. The over flow tank is the only place you can see the coolant. I don’t know if tractors do but most vehicles have a low coolant sensor.

 

[Takman]

I’ve never seen a tractor without a radiator cap but I have vehicles that don’t. I don’t know how many models it applies to but the earlier 2000s GM vehicle don’t have a radiator cap. The over flow tank is the only place you can see the coolant. I don’t know if tractors do but most vehicles have a low coolant sensor.

In that system it is an actual coolant reservoir. If you can fill the coolant system through it it's a reservoir, if you can't it's just a catch can/overflow tank.

Most tractors it is a overflow tank. If it takes 10+ psi to crack open the spring in the cap, you would have to have over 10psi on the overflow tank to push/suck any back into the radiator before spring in the cap closes back up.....

I have never seen one pull back in, whether on an old tractor, an old Honda old Ford's etc. That thing is just there for environmental reasons to keep antifreeze off the ground.

 

[ptsg]

In that system it is an actual coolant reservoir. If you can fill the coolant system through it it's a reservoir, if you can't it's just a catch can/overflow tank.

Most tractors it is a overflow tank. If it takes 10+ psi to crack open the spring in the cap, you would have to have over 10psi on the overflow tank to push/suck any back into the radiator before spring in the cap closes back up.....

I have never seen one pull back in, whether on an old tractor, an old Honda old Ford's etc. That thing is just there for environmental reasons to keep antifreeze off the ground.

You may want to take a closer look at that.

When the engine is hot, the coolant expands and the cap will let the coolant go into the overflow tank. When things cool down, it will pull coolant from the overflow tank back into the radiator.

If you check the coolant level on the overflow tank when cold and hot, you'll see that the level will be higher when the engine is hot. If you check again, after things get cool again, the level will be lower.

 

[MHarryE]

All of mine will draw fluid back - as intended. The only current Kubota having had a problem is my little GR2120. Temperature light nearly impossible to see when lit and therefore overlooked by the dealer in pre-delivery that it never worked. Discovered when my wife told me she couldn’t finish mowing because it was running bad. Checked, windy day, grass covered radiator screen, overheated. Was ready to chastise wife for ignoring light but checked and discovered it doesn’t work.

 

[crazyal]

I’ve never seen a tractor without a radiator cap but I have vehicles that don’t. I don’t know how many models it applies to but the earlier 2000s GM vehicle don’t have a radiator cap. The over flow tank is the only place you can see the coolant. I don’t know if tractors do but most vehicles have a low coolant sensor.

My International truck has a system like that. The coolant tank is part of the cooling system. It get's hot and is under pressure like a radiator.

 

[RickB]

Also New Holland TLBs E series and newer.

 

[Takman]

Different people have different experiences. My experience tells me not to trust the drawback system, feel free to do as you wish and end up like the OP

 

[4570Man]

My International truck has a system like that. The coolant tank is part of the cooling system. It get's hot and is under pressure like a radiator.

Yes I think the tank on my vehicle is 15psi rated. I guess most of the expansion tanks just have a flip cap and aren’t pressure rated.

 

[4570Man]

I side with AV. Looks like a design fault to me.

I would want to see the "tube" that failed, how it failed, and how difficult it would have been for the manufacturer to protect it. Tractors will ride over sticks...design accordingly. No one else has ever reported such a tube failure that I am aware of ?WHY?

This is not a "cheap" LS like I have, but a top of the line (with a price to match) tractor. It is TOTALLY unreasonable to need to check the level of the coolant every time you use the tractor by opening the rad cap. I look a the level in the overflow tank.

There’s literally hundreds of things under a tractor to damage. Despite what some people think they aren’t forestry equipment. Sure Kubota could have designed the system to be more fail proof but that’s just going to add more sensors to go bad and more cost. Buyers don’t like either.

 

[zoltanthegypsy]

BX burp tanks aren't pressurized, nor are they in any of my other vehicles - and I suspect not in the tractor in question. That 15PSI radiator cap opens with pressure and lets coolant expand into the burp tank. That 15PSI only applies to the _exhale_. On the _inhale_ it opens easily and slurps coolant back into the tank. It does that with every warm-up/cool-down cycle.

It's not primarily an environmental thing. It's to allow the radiator to purge all the air from the system. That helps to keep cooling efficient and may help protect against corrosion. It also lets one check and add coolant as necessary _without_ opening the radiator cap.