B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee

   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #1  

Northland

Platinum Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
958
Location
Northern Ontario, Canada
Tractor
Kubota B7800
I have been having starting and stalling problems the past three days with my three week old B7800 (6 hours on it). The weather was very cold here (-10 F) for weeks and then warned up to 32 F and has been like that for days. I keep the B7800 in the garage with the block heater plugged in. On Saturday morning (20F) I was down to 1/4 of a tank of fuel so I topped it up with 3 week old fuel (no diesel treatment) I bought from a station the day I brought home the B7800. The B7800 ran fine for about 15 minutes then it started loosing RPM's until it finally died on me in the middle of one of my trails 1500 yards from my garage. I figured it had something to do with the new fuel I put into it. I let it sit overnight and started reading TBN posts about water/condensation in the tank/lines.

The next morning (20 F) I added some gas line anti-freeze to the tank and while the engine started and ran OK it was blowing out white smoke. I did get the tractor out to the front of the house. I went to town and bought some powerservice. That night I cleaned out the filter bowl and filter (couldn't figure out how to get the filter out of the actual bowl) with kerosene, added powerservice, topped up the tank (about a quart at most) with new diesel fuel and (as per the manual) bled the fuel line by starting it and running it for only 3o seconds prior to turning it off. I left the B7800 outside as I didn't want to be running it so much in the garage.

I went out tonight (32 F), started it, and let it warm up for 10 minutes but it ran very shaky and I could not get the RPM's up above 800 or so. I thought I would back it up into the garage and try again in the morning but the engine shut down and didn't want to start again.

Any suggestions as to how I can get past this problem would be much appreciated. Bringing it back to the dealer is a major pain as I bought it in Michigan but live in Canada.

I ordered a Mr.Funnel today and will insure I use powerservice from now on. That and I placed my 5 gallon diesel fuel container onto 2x4's to raise it off my cement garage floor.

Marko
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #2  
If it about 32° then I would be looking for water in the fuel system.
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee
  • Thread Starter
#3  
kubotafan said:
It sounds to me as if it is home sick in Canada! Wants to get back to the USA. Why did you buy in USA and was importing a lot of paperwork and taxes? It looks to me as if a fair bit could be saved buying in the USA. Be glad to know of experience of others and if this is true.

It started again this morning but ran rough for 10 minutes before dieing again. I figure I have to take the filter off, clean it again and drain out all the watery fuel right from the tank- I'll do that tonight - any other thoughts?

I had a bad dealing with the Kubota dealer here in my area of Northern Ontario. I saved CDA $5000 or so by buying 30 miles south in Michigan. The US guys know about customer service, sales and marketing. I had to go pick-up the tractor as they can't deliver outside their area. They had state sales tax exemption forms so I didn't have to pay any sales tax on the tractor. When I crossed into Canada I had to pay provincial and federal sales taxes on the total sale price adjusted to Canada $ value based on that day's US$ exchange rate. Very simple and pain-free.
 
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   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #4  
I had a problem similar to yours only not in cold weather. My problem was clogged openings in the fuel tank cap. I would tighten it down tight and air could not get in the tank. This might not be your problem, but try running it with the fuel cap off and see if it helps. :)
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee
  • Thread Starter
#5  
rpeter said:
I had a problem similar to yours only not in cold weather. My problem was clogged openings in the fuel tank cap. I would tighten it down tight and air could not get in the tank. This might not be your problem, but try running it with the fuel cap off and see if it helps. :)

Thanks for the advice. I actually drained the fuel tank 7 days ago and cleaned the fuel filter again - it runs like a top again! I am going to careful where I buy my fuel from now on, use Mr Funnel and add Powerservice to every tank
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #6  
North:
Easiest to add powerservice to the 5 gal container when you buy it. Just add a couple of shotglasses full to the 5 gal right when you get it home, then you know you're all set. You should have no problem starting thruout the winter, even if kept outside. Never had to plug mine in at all, in Northern Vermont; similar to Ontario, except for the far North. Up there you probably need to keep 'em running all the time in the winter.
simonmeridew
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #7  
Since you have gone to the trouble of draining the fuel tank, do yourself a favor and get a new fuel filter. They don't cost much and even after cleaning an old one you can have junk in it.
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee
  • Thread Starter
#8  
chrisjbell said:
Since you have gone to the trouble of draining the fuel tank, do yourself a favor and get a new fuel filter. They don't cost much and even after cleaning an old one you can have junk in it.

I did buy a new filter and put it in but that was before I drained the tank. It didn't do any good so I had to drain the tank and clean the filter with kerosene. Now it's all good.
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee
  • Thread Starter
#9  
simonmeridew said:
North:
Easiest to add powerservice to the 5 gal container when you buy it. Just add a couple of shotglasses full to the 5 gal right when you get it home, then you know you're all set. You should have no problem starting thruout the winter, even if kept outside. Never had to plug mine in at all, in Northern Vermont; similar to Ontario, except for the far North. Up there you probably need to keep 'em running all the time in the winter.
simonmeridew

Thanks for the suggestions. I ordered a Mr. Funnel that takes the water out of the diesel before you put it in the tank. It seems that you can't add the powerservice to the fuel prior to filterng it as the funnle will not be effective. So, I will have to add the powerservice to the tank after filtering.

I have my B7800 in the garage with my truck and my wife's car. This winter I haven't had to use the block-heater since it had been so mild. The manual suggests the block-heater is good once it gets down to -15 celsius but based on my experience with my cars and trucks the trannie and heater are much faster to warm up when the block heater has been on. I use a timer for the car/truck so they are good to go in the morning. Trouble with the tractor is you never know when you ae going to need it and to have the block-heater on 24/7 is a waste of hydro.
 
   / B7800 problem with starting and stalling- advice pleasee #10  
It sounds as if you may have bled the fuel line more than once during the process. My quess would be that was where you solved the majority of your problem. Good luck. Hope it keeps running strong.
 
 
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