LK3054 OIL LITE STAYS ON TO 1400 RPMS

[CalTrac]

5-17-08, Good tip. I'll call Rick first thing monday. Tractor is 2004 out of warantee, so sad. We didn't use it much as we just bought the property and did brushing and disking mainly. But did change the oil a few times, I got a engine pan gasket coming in and when that arrives off with pan , Rick can help me there, and then I'll know about bearings and oil pump. thanks again

[JoelD]

Good luck, Rick will steer you in the right direction. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[Patches]

Cal-Trac; I have a 3054xs bought in April of '05,so I suspect it is an '04 unit(?) and I have no such vent on my TD1400-B1 engine. The only vent I can find is the "tappet cover to intake" vent, the equivalent of an automotive "pcv' system

[CalTrac]

5-18-08, Re: Oil breather tubing. Tell me more. If you have a PVC then I need to do the same, anything to keep the dust out. Can you please advise me on the part no. and when do you replace it. On my engine I have just a piece of 1/2" tubing that is attached to the bent pipe that is coming out of the rocker cover. A friend has a Dodge Ram and he showed me how his engine oil breather is set up with a small paper filter, hose clamped, onto the end of his breather tube. I intend to do the same. If you will look at your Owner's Manual on pg. 23 you will see in the middle photo and to the left of the White "coolant reservoir tank" is the rocker cover; notice the square box that sits on top just below the black radiator hose, with the bent pipe coming out of it. If you look carefully you can make out the tubing that is attached to the bent pipe. In this photo it is black color. Next look at the photo above it showing the "Oil level gauge" and to the left of it; that is the very same tubing end. My manual photo shows what appears to be a flat attachment to the tube end. If I suspect correctly that is dust filter of some sort. Rick Wallace will advise me on this. BTW as mentioned, according to the link >>>engineparts.com<<< Clevite 77 bearing manual, 45% of bearing failures are caused by dirt in the oil. In my case either the selling dealer or factory failed to install, or it fell off while operating, as I have never seen anything there and I look often as it is located right next to the oil dip stick and have to push it aside to insert the dip stick. end caltrac

[JoelD]

This is an interesting post, I'm gonna look at mine this weekend.

[Patches]

Cal-Trac; Either your tractor isn't an '04 LK3054xs or mine isn't. Your pics are no where near representative of my unit. The top of the "rocker box" on mine is smooth from one end to the other,except for the oil fill plug,which is on the very front top of the cover, and a small raised cover about 3/4 of the way back which is secured by 4 phillip head screws;a type of baffle,I suspect. It is at this location the "PCV" hose comes out from the side of the "rocker box"; a 3/4 inch OD rubber hose about 3 inches long,and goes directly to the air intake manifold. There is no other engine venting I can locate
PS My oil fill plug is located right where your vent tube originates

[CalTrac]

5-19-08, Update: Photos attached showing the results of cutting open the oil filter. Possible reason my oil light came on is the bearing "Babbitt" mat'l has damaged the oil pump or plugged the oil gallery's, causing even more bearings to fail due to lack of oil. I won't really know what bearings have failed until I pull the pan. It's obvious from the amount of material ( heaping 1/4 tsp found) that this failure has been going for some time, not just the last two hour session when the light came on at shut down. That is what was so mysterious, why the low oil pressure light then and not hours before. And now I am faced with the thought of the whole inside of the engine has these little bits and pieces floating around just waiting to plug or jam something, if they haven't already. I'll wager if I pulled the brand new filter and cut it open I would find the same thing. How many filters or oil changes until its clean??? I checked with a Kioti dealer who told me that a replacement engine installed is $5,000.00. Sure makes my bargain priced tractor be right up there with the high priced colors. I'm thinking that when the low O.P. light comes on then in every case we could say it is a bearing failure because the oil clearances are too great to provide pressure feed back to the pump and thus the light. Why don't we just id the light to say "bearing failure" instead of low oil pressure, and then we won't have to wait and wonder. Of course I'm just being silly. I did speak to Rick Wallace's' Mech. "Mike" who said that the plastic tubing coming out of the rocker box cover is normal and that it ends where my photos show with no filter etc. on the end, or redirected anywhere else. I can understand the pollution reduction value of redirecting the breather tubing into the air cleaner; autos are set up that way for that reason, thus the requirement of a PVC valve for the smog circuit. Maybe some states require that of tractors, sure would be nice to have as now dust cannot get into the engine with that set-up, you are lucky your's is that way. As far as the year, you got me wondering now. My tractor is painted 3054 "XS", so I know it's not the "earlier" 3054 with the compression release or the exhaust sticking up through the hood. Mike also said that inside of the cover is a screen to prevent dust from entering, I say no! the screen provides a cooling factor for the fume laden air from leaving the crankcase full of oil. the oil drips off of the screen inside the valve cover. Mike said he will check with Kioti to see if this open breather tube set-up is correct or not. I have found several other's who have had bearing failures with the same first indication (the oil light coming on) and no other symptoms, noise etc., I think I counted four or six? so far, I ran across them in my search of TBN and other forums, to find out why my oil light was on. Verrry interesting, wouldn't you say. BTW I used a sharp chisel and hammer to cut off the thread end of the filter to open it up...end caltrac

[Patches]

CalTrac; That really sucks! I'm surprised at the size of the material you found in the filter medium;normally, stuff that size (the biggest anyway) would be caught by the screen on the oil pump,that is if we have a screen Automotive oil pumps have an intake screen to keep material that size from entering the oil galleys and causing the type damage you describe Of course, the smaller material would probably cause the same havoc floating around in the oiling system I would hope Kioti Corp. would help you out, with just 175 hrs. on the engine, dispite it being out of warranty Good luck

[JoelD]

First, thanks for continuing the post.

Second, is there any chance that he material you've found is oil pump internals? I am hoping, that if there's been no rap, your connecting rod bearings maybe ok? I hope that's what you find when you pull the pan.

Good luck!!

Anyone have any thoughts on to prevent similar damage for us other LK owners?

Joel

[JoelD]

I have what I understand to be a 2004, my breather for the valve cover is connected directly to the intake manifold, therefore, breathing filtered air.