BX Air Intake Disolved Platic/Rubber?

bxonthelake · Oct 3, 2013

My BX1500 quit running and finally I found it wasn't getting air into the air filter housing. There was some sort of gooey rubber thing that had completely disintegrated and clogged off the inlet pipe. Can anyone tell me what this thing was for and has it happened to anyone else. I removed it and it is running normally now.
JD

coveredbridge · Oct 3, 2013

Sounds like maybe the evacuator valve. See the following link

Kubota BX Service

Don't know that I would run the tractor without it.

bxonthelake · Oct 3, 2013

Thank you, that sounds like it. I've never seen such a melted mess. It is some kind of rubber check valve. I can't even tell which way it was pointing on the pipe. Maybe mine is a defect in material, but it turned into a gooey mess. I've had this tractor since new and this is a factory part. If you touch it it sticks to you like chewing gum. Just a blob now. The way I understand it it is a coarse filter for the actual air filter. I don't operate in trashy environments, so if that's all it does, I'll leave it off. Unless someone can prove it harmful. Am I the only one with this melted part?
JD

rdsaustintx · Oct 3, 2013

Nah, my turned to chewing gum too. Trivial to replace, $5 part.

BeezFun · Oct 4, 2013

I've never understood the logic of that evacuator valve. If I had so much dust in my air filter casing that it would come out of that valve, I'd certainly open the housing and clean the inside and the air filter. It's made out of some kind of rubber that can't stand up to the engine heat, mine disintegrates fairly quick.

radioman · Oct 4, 2013

Mine is still fairly intact. Maybe they changed the rubber formula? How many hours is on yours when it turned gooey?

milkman · Oct 4, 2013

I've replaced two of them, one on the BX and one on the ZD. One of them turned to jelly and the other, some rodent chewed it up. I had a hard time finding reasonable replacements as the dealer wanted about $14 for one, found some online, but they were a little too big so put them on with wire a wire tie to tighten it . If someone will post the right size and where to get them, I will order some spares. Where do you find them for $6, I'd jump on some of those.

tjkubota93 · Oct 4, 2013

The messicks link didn't work for me, but it sounds like the peice you are talking about might be the one that lets water out the bottom of the airbox.

Slw48 · May 16, 2015

Without a doubt the evacuvator valve. Poor choice of materials by kubota. The valve is designed to blow out large particles as the air spins around the filter. Definently replace this piece. You will suck in all kinds of junk and trash your invaluable filter. Learned from burning through filters without it.