Kubota M5660SUHD caught on fire (60hrs)!

[fbitz777]

9 month old tractor and I run it for maybe 10 minutes and notice that it has less power than usual
Anyhow I see smoke out in the hood area on top of engine. I open the hood and flames spread out all the way to fuse box and the dashboard (plastic)
I manage to douse off the fire and all the wiring is now bare and burnt to a crisp. The quote to repair is at least 30k which is close to what I paid (actually I still have 40 payments due)!


Question: What could have caused it (it was plastic/ wiring burning and super hot!)...not fuel related.
The dealer told me I need to turn to insurance co; i.e it is not covered by warranty!

Obviously I don't want to spend as much as a new tractor on this; besides the wiring and the dashboard cover everything looks like new! I am getting a 6060HD delivered in a few days as I can't wait to get a resolution to this....

 

[Ricn]

what? no warrantee on a 9mo old tractor?

 

[JJT]

Mice?

 

[Rustyiron]

It would sure seem like a warranty issue to me @ 9 months. I'd work my way up the ranks beyond the dealership.
Good luck with this.

 

[fbitz777]

Mice?

Not sure... I ran the tractor the day before for an hour with a high load (7' brush hog in tall grass) so I would assume anything on top of engine would have fried.
On next morning it took only 10 minutes to start fire.
Someone mentioned that the clean? function might have been going one which gets things much hotter but I did not see that on the dashboard.

 

[Citydude]

Call KTAC, if you have it insured through them.

 

[fbitz777]

Call KTAC, if you have it insured through them.

Unfortunately i did not insure (never had any claim in 30 years) but I should have since this was financed by Kubota

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I would assume a fire would be more of an insurance thing. I would for sure call them sooner rather than later. Let them know Kubota claims it's not warranty related. I bet they will get to the bottom of it.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Unfortunately i did not insure (never had any claim in 30 years) but I should have since this was financed by Kubota

Surely a finance company will not finance it without insurance! Is it just included in the finance charges and maybe you just didn't notice?

 

[K5lwq]

I highly doubt you could finance through Kubota and not have KTAC. You really should check on that.

 

[big bubba]

my understanding too, my purchase required insurance, went w/KTAC. how many hrs on it? go higher up than your dealership, sounds suspicious good luck,

 

[fbitz777]

Surely a finance company will not finance it without insurance! Is it just included in the finance charges and maybe you just didn't notice?

I had gotten a quote from my company and it was not a lot (maybe 300/year) but Kutota was not asking. I have tons of machinery (usually don't finance) and it would be quite expensive to insure each machine.

 

[fbitz777]

my understanding too, my purchase required insurance, went w/KTAC. how many hrs on it? go higher up than your dealership, sounds suspicious good luck,

60 hours.
Financing was great 48months zero interest.
The new one is 60 months zero interest.

 

[big bubba]

seems to me you have a case. what exactly was expressed @ the paper signing? that's the key

 

[2manyrocks]

photos?

 

[big bubba]

any idea of either electrical or manifold debris fire? or even def related (i know nothing about thankfully)

 

[dusty3030]

I have a hard time believing Kubota financed without insurance. It's in their terms and conditions.

Kubota Terms Standard Finance

Kubota Terms Special Offer Finance

 

[fbitz777]

photos?

will go to dealer tomorrow and take pictures....I was traumatized as I burned my arms and hand with all that plastic burning ...was not easy to put fire out even though it was not a big flame.

 

[2manyrocks]

I would look at the parts diagram to see what is in the area that could have caused this fire. Then make clear pictures of the area where the fire started.

Find all of your purchase paperwork when you bought the tractor. I'm thinking you either had to get Kubota insurance or provide them with proof of insurance coverage from another source before they'd close the sale.

Maybe a discussion with your general insurance agent would be worthwhile to see if you have some coverage that you aren't recalling?

 

[Peter 315]

I highly doubt you could finance through Kubota and not have KTAC. You really should check on that.

You can I bought a L47tlb and financed with kubota but I had State farm ins...