Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load

   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #1  

Booth

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Messages
16
Location
New England
Tractor
Kubota L48
Help,

I have a B2150 with low hours that has always run faithfully. I performed a full service on it about a year ago including all new oils and filters.

I have not run it in about 6 weeks, I started it and let it idle for about 90 minutes while I was prepping the outside of my house for clearing the first snow of the winter. I went to start working and revved it up to about 2000 RPM and it would not go higher but I dismissed that as the throttle lever being too stiff to push farther (that is common on this machine). So I started to work and after about 1 minute it started to lose RPM under any load. Then after fiddling with the throttle lever I observed that it really would not go above 2000RPM whereas normally it will go to maybe 2900RPM. As I write this post I can hear it outside hunting around between 1000 and 1500 RPM. The only thing I can think of is that I did add some fuel oil that had been sitting for maybe 6 months. I was hunting around for some anti-gel/water absorbing additive but I seem to be out. I am headed out right now to buy some more fuel additive and see if that helps. But I would appreciate any advice I could get. I am pretty handy, but I am no diesel mechanic.

Thanks,

Jeff Booth
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #2  
My guess is some water has partially blocked the filter. I'd pull the fuel filter and drain some of the fuel into a glass jar to check for water. If you've got water, continue to drain the tank until all the water is out, wash the filter with fresh diesel and reinstall. or use a new one
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #3  
Don't waste your time trying to flush or clean a throw-away fuel filter element. Put a new one in. Tip; Change the fuel filter(s) between Halloween and Thanksgiving in any diesel application that has to run in cold weather. Saves a lot of headaches.
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Yes, It was the filter, clogged with gunk and some wax. First I tried pouring Diesel 911 into the tank and that helped a lot. But nonetheless it was not perfect, I pulled the element and tossed it and now it runs 100%. Thanks for the tips Rick & Darren /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jeff
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #5  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Don't waste your time trying to flush or clean a throw-away fuel filter element. Put a new one in. Tip; Change the fuel filter(s) between Halloween and Thanksgiving in any diesel application that has to run in cold weather. Saves a lot of headaches. )</font>

That is really good advice.

I would guess the problem is either water freezing in the fuel filter or gelling fuel, if it is summer fuel. No mention was made of temperature that the problem occurred in, but New England, this time of year, can't be too warm.
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #6  
One of the simplest maintenance procedures is to change the fuel filter every fall. I have been doing this since I purchased my JD4500 nearly 6 years ago and never have experienced any problems with it. It's easy and cheap maintenance.
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #7  
No max rpm, hunting, loss of power?

It's starving four fuel. Either got water .. or bad filter.. or both.. or a blocked prefilter in the tank.. or crud blocking the fuel valve..

Soundguy
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #8  
<font color="blue"> I pulled the element and tossed it and now it runs 100%. </font>
I hope you put a new filter back in its place. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #9  
You can always change a filter to be safe but you can add instrumentation to help determine if the filter is the cause of the problem and possibly save some time and money. If the filter is good, don't change it.

Shortened Long Link

Lots of boat owners have expensive diesel engines that have more instrumentation than temp and pressure, etc. to make life simpler. The same gage would work on a tractor.

MikePA: Please review your message before posting it. It's simple not to create a long link that widens the entire thread. Just insert a descriptive word or two between the {url=http://whatever}<font color="red">Enter words here</font>{/url} instead of the entire URL. Replace parentheses {} with square brackets in previous example. Alternatively, if you use the Instant Markup language URL link, the first prompt is for the URL. The second prompt is for a description. Do not simply paste in the URL again. Type a short description of the link.
 
   / Help Kubota Diesel Losing Power Under Load #10  
Conceptually not a bad idea. There are several assumptions in the auction text that probably don't apply to compact tractors. The most glaring is the recommendation to change the filter at 10"hg reading on the gauge. As most compacts have a gravity system with no transfer pump, they probably quit altogether well before that vacuum level is ever reached. Some diesel fuel filter elements are quite expensive. Compact tractor fuel filters generally are not. This gauge installation would cost several times what one fual filter costs, and only tell the operator what he probably already knows; the filter is plugged and my tractor is in a snowbank. I will continue to preform preventative maintainence where fuel filters are concerned.
 
 
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