L3130 Starter Burned Up!

[dancer]

Today I got off my 2005 L3130, leaving it idling, to go pick up a shovel to dump a little sand from the FEL bucket into a hole. Smelled smoke, looked back at the tractor 15 feet away and it looked like it was on fire -- smoke billowing! Ran back to the tractor and turned off ignition. Lifted the hood and dropped the side panel on the left which appeared to be the proximate source of the smoke. It turned out to be the rubber protectors and insulation in close proximity to the starter. The starter, though having not been used to start the tractor for a couple of hours, had shorted internally or something and was cooking itself and everything around it. I don't even understand why turning off the ignition switch made the immediate problem go away. The starter casing was nearly red-hot and I finally ran cold water from a nearby hose over it for many minutes to cool it. I called my Kubota dealer, got the Service Department and asked what had happened to my tractor starter with only 345 hours on it. He guessed the internal short, but said that I did not want to bring the starter to him but to go to a local battery/starter/alternator repair service for help. He said a new starter would be priced in the $600-700 range!!!

Anyone else had a problem with the starter on their L-series Kubota lately?

 

[texbaylea]

Also check the switch. If it had hung in the start position the starter was running that whole time to give the results you have.

Vernon

 

[dancer]

Thanks, Vernon!

It was the switch sticking that caused the starter to stay engaged and turn at engine speed for a long time. A new starter (not from Kubota) cost $214, and a push-button installed in the Bendix circuit to replace the starter function of the switch cost an extra $6.00.

Now my role in life is to make sure Kubota gets at least, and hopefully more than $220 in grief, lost sales, and so on. My letters are already going out to the world!

 

[texbaylea]

Dancer

The starter will have had an overrunning clutch on the drive so that it disengages when engine speed is greater. It was however running under its own power which means a bunch of amps through it. Starters have a very small duty cycle so a failure such as you had almost always burns up the starter

Vernon

 

[texbaylea]

Dancer

Your tractor looks to be the same age as mine, even about the same hours. I guess that yours is about as far out of warranty as mine is. I don't understand what you expected Kubota to do?

Vernon