Advise

[tundraman01]

A few of you mentioned KTAC. I bought a new Kubota last year. The dealer never mentioned insurance, maybe because I paid cash. Anyway, I just looked up KTAC. It appears to be similar to the insurance we buy for our on-road vehicles, fire, theft, collision. It specifically excludes mechanical breakdown. If I'm reading it right; it wouldn't help in this case; or are their additional riders for mechanical issues that I'm not seeing?

 

[I Piddle]

Brand new. B2601. 65 hours

That is insane. Contact another dealer and never use that dealer again. To me it seems logical that a dealer would love to do warranty work.

 

[DutchInNZ]

Hello. I resently purchased a 26hp kubota tractor. Month and a half ago. Decided to brush hog About an hour or so into the project. White smoke blew from the hood. Overheated. Took to dealership and they stayed engine was blown and needed replaced.

An overheated engine just needs a head gasket replacement and a flattening of the head. If they tell you the engine needs to be replaced they are talking square nonsense.

 

[DutchInNZ]

So from what I understand is the engine was/is still working ? how did they determine it was blown ? how far was it from where you where working to the house ? because over heating dose not cause eminent engine damage but operating it with low coolant level will, do you have a visual temperture gauge ? if yes did you keep a eye on it while going home? was it in red the whole time while you where going back? I would like to suspect that the engine is not blown, I would consider getting a second opinion.

White smoke always is a sure indication of a blown head gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder.

 

[Sid Post]

Brand new. B2601. 65 hours

B2601 owner. Watch the water temperature like a hawk in tall overgrown areas. The radiator gets plugged easily and it will overheat in no time.

Did you warp the head due to overheat?

 

[Rockbadchild]

White smoke always is a sure indication of a blown head gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder.

It depends where the white smoke is coming from, from the exhaust you are right, Op wrote ''White smoke blew from the hood'' so from that I say it's ether a blown head gasket or radiator bypass but I would like to think the radiator would bypass before blowing a head gasket, I still can't believe that tractor wouldn't restrict the RPM, flash and beep all its bells and whistle before blowing the engine up.

 

[Sid Post]

Rad screen wasn’t too bad with debri. They said due to the extreme Drought more smaller ~debri flying around could have bypassed the protection screen and straight into Rad. Again was only 1 to 1 1/2 hours into the job

I can't do 1hr of "bush hogging" in my pasture without cleaning the screen. Sounds like you potentially let the water temperature get away from you.

The B2601 tractors do fine a 3 acre lawn and will brush hog some really ugly stuff. If you are brush hogging and NOT WATCHING the gauges, bad things will happen quickly. In my case, I go from good water temperature to overtemp in ~5 minutes.

Every two "loops" around my small pasture requires me to clean the screen to keep the water temperature reasonable. Ambient temperatures of ~90F also make the overheating more likely with just one loop in the pasture.

 

[Sid Post]

White smoke always is a sure indication of a blown head gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder.

My initial thought too but, white smoke can be a sign of over fueling the engine.

Sounds like he let the radiator get plugged up and overheated the motor before he noticed it based on the incomplete picture we have at the moment.

 

[Sid Post]

There is more to this story………….

Yes, there is. What like what gear the tractor was in when bush hogging and how much radiator fluid was lost?

 

[DutchInNZ]

It depends where the white smoke is coming from, from the exhaust you are right, Op wrote ''White smoke blew from the hood'' so from that I say it's ether a blown head gasket or radiator bypass but I would like to think the radiator would bypass before blowing a head gasket, I still can't believe that tractor wouldn't restrict the RPM, flash and beep all its bells and whistle before blowing the engine up.

Yes, I wonder about that, too. Nowadays everything with an engine has warning lights and bells for everything except for overheating. Overheating is a major engine damage and a serious reason for the electronic tractor or car management to shut the engine down in time, but nothing but a silent small indicator shows that it is already too late.