Repair Common Kioti Mechanical Injection Pump Failure

[Alien]

I didn't take the top apart, only the cam rollers and checked the rack gears.
I put the pump back in for the 4th time and the levers were fine tis time. I have no idea what was causing them to bind up. Couldn't see anything with a mirror. Anyway it is now pumping fuel when I wind it over but had to pause again due to health.
It is such a simple pump really.

 

[thepumpguysc]

Ha ha ha…
A simple pump.??
U don’t know what u did to break it.. and u don’t know what u did to fix it..
Yer funny..

 

[chopper#5]

New: Apologies folks. I changed ddns providers and failed to update my links until just now. Sorry 'bout that. Scott

I just got some good news from Joel at Conestoga Diesel. In short, Joel reports success repairing a Kioti Doowan injection pump (IP) with broken gear teeth using the standard Zexel parts he has in stock.

By way of background, a number of Kioti owners with 2005-2008 model tractors reported injection pump failures and the cause was usually broken teeth on the gears that control the amount of injected fuel. I got interested because my tractor was identical to the one sherrym was trying to fix which had this problem. Several other owners reported similar failures. For tractors out of warranty, the only fix (according to Kioti) was to replace the entire injection pump, which cost about $1K-$2K just for the parts. On the plus side, an owner with good mechanical skills could do the job himself (herself). Also, some owners were able to buy the same injection pump from Bobcat for slightly less money. Bobcat has since stopped selling re-branded white Kioti tractors and I don't know what the parts situation is with Bobcat now. Some dealers on this list reported getting IPs repaired locally while other members reported that local Diesel shops would not touch their Kioti/Doown IP.

I started tracking Kioti IP failures reported on this website and made the information available to anyone who is interested NEW LINK:
https://kioti.ddns.net/Kioti_IP_Data

I had some prior experience with Diesel engines in cars and boats I have owned and I became aware of Conestoga Diesel through the Mercedes Benz Diesel community. By all reports, Conestoga has an excellent reputation. I contacted Joel Shenk, the shop manager at Conestoga, to see if they can fix the Doowan IPs in our tractors. At that time, Joel said they fix a lot of agricultural IPs, and could probably fix the Doowan IPs but he couldn't say for sure because he couldn't recall ever fixing that specific brand. Now he has. Here's what he said:

"Hi Scott,
I wanted to follow up on this conversation after receiving a Doowan injection pump from a Kioti this week. It had the teeth missing from one of the gears as you've reported seeing. We were able to repair the pump using Zexel parts which were in stock and an exact match. I can now say with confidence that we can indeed repair this problem for you and the other Kioti owners on tractorbynet. Were we to run into a situation where we needed some other hard parts such as plunger and barrel assemblies or delivery valves I would hope to be able to overcome that as well, but haven't made that determination conclusively at this point.

Thanks,
Joel Shenk
Shop Manager
Moose Diesel, formerly Conestoga Diesel Injection
1321 Byerland Church Road
[Willow Street, PA 17584-9776]
717-806-5561"
[Moose Diesel]


So, for the next Kioti owner with a bad injection pump, I'd urge them to give Conestoga try before shelling out big$$$ for a new IP from Kioti.

Hope this helps a Pack member.

Scott

I have an 06 ck 25 ip has been rebuilt 3 times and replaced once by the dealer. Probably less than 200hrs ago. I believe it's failed again. Was running when I parked it now it will not start. Oh yea I've replaced the head gasket 3 times. It has about 1k hours on it. It's been a costly pain.

 

[Alan46]

More busy-body help: I like to use a non-hardening gasket dressing (like Hylomar) to facilitate future maintenance, providing there not much pressure across the gasket.

How much did it cost for the fix?

Glad you got it fixed!

 

[ritcheyvs]

I have an 06 ck 25 ip has been rebuilt 3 times and replaced once by the dealer. Probably less than 200hrs ago. I believe it's failed again. Was running when I parked it now it will not start. Oh yea I've replaced the head gasket 3 times. It has about 1k hours on it. It's been a costly pain.

That history is very discouraging: way too many failures for those hours. That makes me wonder if the wrong things were "fixed" or were fixed poorly. In my military days we realized that the main cause for maintenance actions was prior maintenance actions. I would consider trying a different mechanic.
The main cause (IMO) of IP failures in the 2006-2009 DK models was the violent action of the re-designed fuel shutoff solenoid. But I don't think that applies to your machine; I think your CK used a manual shutoff cable instead of a solenoid (I could be wrong about that). If so, your repeated IP problems indicate something other than the IP is causing them.
Did you learn any details about the "failed" parts that were replaced? In those DK models the failure was broken teeth on the IP control sleeve gears. Did you see any broken parts?
For your no-start problem you can check some basic things. Are the glow plugs working (or at least getting power)? Is fuel getting to the IP? Is the IP rack free to move? Does the battery/starter crank with vigor? Something as simple as an air leak into the fuel line will prevent starting.
I have not heard of chronic head gasket problems on these machines; was it overheated and was the head checked for flatness (and planed if necessary) when it was removed? Torqueing procedures (and replacement when called for) for head bolts is critical.

 

[ritcheyvs]

How much did it cost for the fix?

Glad you got it fixed!

If you are asking me, I replaced all four IP control sleeves DIY (only one was broken) for about $100 plus a new intake manifold gasket.

 

[ritcheyvs]

I didn't take the top apart, only the cam rollers and checked the rack gears.
I put the pump back in for the 4th time and the levers were fine tis time. I have no idea what was causing them to bind up. Couldn't see anything with a mirror. Anyway it is now pumping fuel when I wind it over but had to pause again due to health.
It is such a simple pump really.

Comment: The IP is simple in terms of the number of parts. But there are critical tolerances and parts matching. The plungers and cylinders are machined as matched sets. Swapping plungers between cylinders may not matter or may be fatal. Also, the vertical dimension from the roller tappet to the spiral cut in the plunger establishes injection timing so swapping lower parts between cylinders can screw up injection timing. Overall injection timing is set by the thickness of the shim/gasket between the block and the IP. The IP design is to elegantly simple that it hides critical complexity.

 

[Steve_Miller]

Mine jammed in the off position this time. Took it apart again and got lucky again by rotating the gear on the one that broke. Last happened in Dec2018 (only one gear), not sure what the hours were but I don't think it really matters anyhow. its just a design flaw. I bought the fuel shutoff cable in 2019 and installed that hoping that would cure the problem but to no avail. Now looking into removing the fuel solenoid somehow and just using the fuel cutoff cable i installed. Anyone on here now exactly what would happen it you removed the solenoid? From careful studying, I think it should function properly if removed. The solenoid energizes (retracts the pin) and the rack opens (pushed by the spring assembly at the opposite end of the rack). Since i put the fuel shut off cable on I think this has helped somewhat although I can feel the rack slam sometimes when shutting of the key. My procedure is to (when tractor is running) pull the shutoff cable fully out (which kills the tractor) then switch off the key (which releases the solenoid) and hopefully eliminates the rack from being slammed full bore in the opposite direction. My Ck30H is a 2007 and I'm not sure what they did on the following models to eliminate this rack slamming issue. Will follow up on this once i figure out how to cover the hole where the solenoid goes or if i can remove the solenoid pin and just put it back in the hole and unplug it.

 

[thepumpguysc]

Some solenoid plungers will come out.. then u can use it as a plug..
Or remove it and install a cap plug of the appropriate size..
I would stay away from sticking things in the hole..other than a cap plug.

 

[knibloe]

When mine failed and I had the pump rebuilt last year, I took a hacksaw and cut the plunger off of the solenoid. Then I put it back in and left it unplugged. I shut the tractor off with a string attached to the manual shut off. Only problem with the whole set up is that I have forgotten to turn the key off a couple of times.