B3200 smoke-out on cold start

[jim_wilson]

I bought a B3200 earlier this year - after having a BX23 for about 7 years. One thing I've noticed with the B3200 is that the thing smokes like crazy on startup when it's cold. I don't recall having this problem with the BX. Both tractors are kept in an unheated fully enclosed garage. Neither of them have (had) block heaters. I had started the BX in REALLY cold weather - down below 0 F , and got some smoking out of it - but it would start and fire on all cylinders pretty much right away - the B3200 coughs and sputters and finally kicks in after 45 seconds or so - and smokes like crazy during that time - to the point where it fills up the garage with a nice diesel haze.

When I bought the tractor I asked about a block heater - and the dealer said I didn't need one. Based on the experience with the BX I figured he was probably right - but now I'm thinking I need to put one in before everything in the garage gets coated with a layer of diesel soot.

Any other suggestions as what might help this issue? I've never felt like the B3200 has started as easily as the BX did. Is all of this a side effect of the retuning of the B3200 engine that I've read about here a number of times? Is this related in any way to the B3200 vibration issues I've read about here a number of times? Any tuning I can do to the engine to try to improve the starting and/or vibration?

If the thing is going to do a smoke out every time I try to start it - it might have to start living outside - which is something I really don't want to do.

 

[k0ua]

I wonder if your glow plugs are working properly..I am not familiar with the B3200, but does it have a glow plug timer and associated circuitry, ? or does it have manual glow plugs, where you are the timer? and if so are you "glowing" long enough before starting.?

James K0UA

 

[jim_wilson]

I wonder if your glow plugs are working properly..I am not familiar with the B3200, but does it have a glow plug timer and associated circuitry, ? or does it have manual glow plugs, where you are the timer? and if so are you "glowing" long enough before starting.?

James K0UA

I was wondering that too - but I was keeping the glow plugs on for about a minute. I don't think they heat up any more past that.

 

[k0ua]

You could do some measurements. Measure voltage on the glow plug rail while they are energized and see what the voltage is. There will be some voltage drop, but I would be concerned about anything less than 10 volts on the rail. Another thing you can do, is remove the glow plug rail and put on ohm meter on each glow plug to the engine block, My Kioti manual says its glow plugs are .43 ohms each.. Of course that would be cold. I would assume the Kubota plugs would be something similar. Of course if one or more of the plugs were open then that would explain it. These tests would not be that hard to do, worth a shot.

James K0UA

 

[leonz]

About your B3200 the timing has been advanced slightly to reduce the exhaust emmisionsto make the EPA happy.

They did not want to bother with installing a catalytic muffler to avoid the problem entirely and forever by leaving the factory engine settings alone.

EDIT- your BX23 engine was sold before the EPA requirements were changed and you will notice quite difference when both machines are idling i.e., you will be able to set a cup of coffee on the BX and not on the B3200 hood when it is warm and at low idle.


I use a kerosene fired salamader/space heater to warm up all my vehicles, tractors, firewood processor almost the year round and it makes world of difference.

The purchase of a space heater will cost you less than a block heater installation-my first space heater lasted me 14 years before I had to replace it, they last along time.

The other issue is having your dealer come by and reset the fuel pump settings on the indirect injection engine BACK TO THE ORIGINAL FACTORY SPEC to stop the smoke issues this machine to solve the smoke issue AND THE ROUGH RUNNING IDLE issues forever.

 

[leonz]

The older Kubotas- the ones imported directly from Nippon/Japan had a nichrome wire heat indicator for the Nippondenzo glow plugs. The Kubota tractors assembled here which use the imported Kubota engines and transmissions MADE IN JAPAN have US supplied relays in them if I remember correctly.

The nichrome heat indicators are a better way to guage the heat created by a glow plug in my opinion.

 

[SPMMD]

The smoke on a very cold startup and initial ruff ideal smoothing out over 10-15 seconds is normal for a B3200 under very cold startup, this is minimally improved if you fire the glow plugs and extra couple of seconds before starting. Last year some new owners posted videos with lengthy discussions. Take home message: big smoke on startup completely clearing is normal on B3200, when very cold

 

[jim_wilson]

About your B3200 the timing has been advanced slightly to reduce the exhaust emmisions
to make the EPA happy. They did not want to bother with installing a catalytic muffler to avoid the problem entirely and forever by leaving the factory engine settings alone.

EDIT- your BX23 engine was sold before the EPA requirements were changed and you will notice quite difference when both machines are idling-I.E. you will be able to set a cup of coffee on the BX and not on the B3200 hood when it is warm and at low idle.


I use a kerorene fired salamader/space heater to warm up all my vehicles, tractors, firewood processor almost the year round and it makes world of difference.

The purchase of a space heater will cost you less than a block heater installation-my first space heater lasted me 14 years before I had to replace it, they last along time.

The other issue is having your dealer come by and reset the fuel pump settings on the indirect injection engine BACK TO THE ORIGINAL FACTORY SPEC to stop the smoke issues this machine to solve the smoke issue AND THE ROUGH RUNNING IDLE issues forever.

A space heater is just a solution that will not work for my garage. The space is too large and it is (currently) uninsulated. A block heater is much better solution if that will help the smoking. What I'd really like to do is get the smoking and crappy cold start down to a minimum if I can. If that means setting the engine back to before-the-EPA-decided-to-screw-with-it specs, then that is an option I will likely pursue.

I did notice quite a bit of difference between the B3200 and the BX23 - the BX just seemed smoother overall. The B3200 when running at PTO speed seems a lot rougher too.

I'll do the glow plug check as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime - I'll be looking at what's out there for block heaters as the first step in finding a solution. My main problem is that the smoke is BAD - it literally almost fills the garage - and were talking about a 28x44 open floor plan barn really. It's just ridiculous.

 

[jim_wilson]

The smoke on a very cold startup and initial ruff ideal smoothing out over 10-15 seconds is normal for a B3200 under very cold startup, this is minimally improved if you fire the glow plugs and extra couple of seconds before starting. Last year some new owners posted videos with lengthy discussions. Take home message: big smoke on startup completely clearing is normal on B3200, when very cold

View attachment 302483

So do owners of older Kubota 4 cylinder tractors have this problem? If so then maybe it's just inherent in the 4 cylinders. But I've got to believe that there is something else at play here since there is such a drastic difference between my old BX and the B3200.

I've started the BX in sub-zero weather - with no block heater (it never had one) - and I didn't have this much of an issue.

It was about 30 out this morning when I went to start the thing - and same issue: massive smoke out.

 

[jim_wilson]

Looks like fixing the injection pump timing can have a big effect on the problem:

New Kubota B3200 Cold Start.wmv - YouTube