Hello Group,
I have a Kubota B1550 HST that I bought supposedly needing a head gasket. Well long story short it was the head itself that was cracked and not just a gasket. Here are the parts I have replaced thus far.
New parts:
Air Vent Plug (bleed screw)
All 3 new fuel lines
New fuel tree (the part that attaches between all the fuel lines)
new fuel cutoff solenoid.
New starter
All new fuel lines
Oil and filter changed 3 times to get all the crap out
I have solved the head problem as now I am not leaking a drop of anti-freeze but it won't start easy and when it does it does not throttle up and down or minimally does so. I did set the valve lash and also disassembled/cleaned the injectors and injection pump side as well. The valve lash I set at I believe .007" as should be within the range per manufacturers specs but the valve lash was opened up with at least a 3 times larger gap before I adjusted them. In short I have to double check this now as it did start up at least before with a larger gap but still did not throttle up/down good.
I also took up the speed control plate figuring that something may have let go there but no luck. The spring assembly was all attached and in place. I suspected the injection pump or governor. I detached the fuel lines and the pump seems to pump as per normal.
What I noticed re-assembling the injectors is that there is a washer (that the fuel tree sits on) that spins around with 2 holes (obviously for fuel). Initially while cleaning I noticed is that if you turn these that at one point you can see daylight. I figured that was my problem and set them all so that I could see daylight out of one of the holes and then re-assembled. Still no luck. Short of having a pressure tester or buying all new injectors (which I was going to do next) I read that you need to set the pressure for injectors. I assume that is what these washers do but I do not have a tester to set properly. Is there anything I can try like to set at so many degrees from daylight?
I also noticed (spraying 50% ether at the lines/connections) that I did get some pinging near the injectors so there is obviously an air leak there. Looking at the female side of the top of the injectors where the fuel line sits may not be completely true. This was also a reason to try to replace the injectors.
I just want to add that initially I replaced just the head gasket before I knew that the actual head was cracked and this thing did run pretty good and throttled up/down with the throttle control as per normal. The only other possible thing is that before I understood exactly how to re-assemble the parts where the fuel lines go into the injection pump that I probably put too much pressure on one of the fitting assemblies where the lower part of the fuel lines attach to the pump trying to dog it down (before I put the fuel lines on). The parts themselves seem okay but I may have possibly damaged something inside the injection pump itself. I don't think so though because I did test with everything re-assembled and the lines appeared to pump even (123 etc). I never removed the injection pump or shim, just the parts that come out the top between the pump and lines.
I was going to take it in to a tractor shop. Of the 2 (not close to me), one is backed up 2-3 weeks and the other over a month. Also, no flat rate on guestimating the problem. I am just not a big fan of an open ended bill to ring up as many hours as they want on something that is most likely really simple. At this point I am probably just better off replacing the injectors and the injection pump itself. I would probably get out of that cheaper than an eval! It's just frustrating after this much work, efforts, testing and waiting for parts that I have already installed over the last month.
It could also be a timing issue but this was running good (minus anti-freeze in the oil/exhaust etc.) before I found the head was cracked.
I am lost on how to get this running again and feel like I have tried everything. Any suggestions/help greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Art
I have a Kubota B1550 HST that I bought supposedly needing a head gasket. Well long story short it was the head itself that was cracked and not just a gasket. Here are the parts I have replaced thus far.
New parts:
Air Vent Plug (bleed screw)
All 3 new fuel lines
New fuel tree (the part that attaches between all the fuel lines)
new fuel cutoff solenoid.
New starter
All new fuel lines
Oil and filter changed 3 times to get all the crap out
I have solved the head problem as now I am not leaking a drop of anti-freeze but it won't start easy and when it does it does not throttle up and down or minimally does so. I did set the valve lash and also disassembled/cleaned the injectors and injection pump side as well. The valve lash I set at I believe .007" as should be within the range per manufacturers specs but the valve lash was opened up with at least a 3 times larger gap before I adjusted them. In short I have to double check this now as it did start up at least before with a larger gap but still did not throttle up/down good.
I also took up the speed control plate figuring that something may have let go there but no luck. The spring assembly was all attached and in place. I suspected the injection pump or governor. I detached the fuel lines and the pump seems to pump as per normal.
What I noticed re-assembling the injectors is that there is a washer (that the fuel tree sits on) that spins around with 2 holes (obviously for fuel). Initially while cleaning I noticed is that if you turn these that at one point you can see daylight. I figured that was my problem and set them all so that I could see daylight out of one of the holes and then re-assembled. Still no luck. Short of having a pressure tester or buying all new injectors (which I was going to do next) I read that you need to set the pressure for injectors. I assume that is what these washers do but I do not have a tester to set properly. Is there anything I can try like to set at so many degrees from daylight?
I also noticed (spraying 50% ether at the lines/connections) that I did get some pinging near the injectors so there is obviously an air leak there. Looking at the female side of the top of the injectors where the fuel line sits may not be completely true. This was also a reason to try to replace the injectors.
I just want to add that initially I replaced just the head gasket before I knew that the actual head was cracked and this thing did run pretty good and throttled up/down with the throttle control as per normal. The only other possible thing is that before I understood exactly how to re-assemble the parts where the fuel lines go into the injection pump that I probably put too much pressure on one of the fitting assemblies where the lower part of the fuel lines attach to the pump trying to dog it down (before I put the fuel lines on). The parts themselves seem okay but I may have possibly damaged something inside the injection pump itself. I don't think so though because I did test with everything re-assembled and the lines appeared to pump even (123 etc). I never removed the injection pump or shim, just the parts that come out the top between the pump and lines.
I was going to take it in to a tractor shop. Of the 2 (not close to me), one is backed up 2-3 weeks and the other over a month. Also, no flat rate on guestimating the problem. I am just not a big fan of an open ended bill to ring up as many hours as they want on something that is most likely really simple. At this point I am probably just better off replacing the injectors and the injection pump itself. I would probably get out of that cheaper than an eval! It's just frustrating after this much work, efforts, testing and waiting for parts that I have already installed over the last month.
It could also be a timing issue but this was running good (minus anti-freeze in the oil/exhaust etc.) before I found the head was cracked.
I am lost on how to get this running again and feel like I have tried everything. Any suggestions/help greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Art
