DK40SE HST No start - fuel problem? electrical?

[TJP89]

Ok long time no report. I've been changing jobs and a host of other things....
Had the beast towed to my nearest servicing Kioti dealer (expensive btw).
Report today was that fuel delivery was intermittent - so injection pump is a suspect part.... bad news number 1.
Worse news is that very low cylinder pressure was found. They tore off the head and no obvious issues (cracked casting / head gasket).
So tearing out bottom end they find the piston rings fused with burnt oil down into the grooves.
No apparent serious damage to cylinder walls (not sure if this has liners).
So his generous estimate to rebuild short block is over 4k.
Rather disappointing news.
He is going to call kioti and see what a new engine runs compared to his 125 an hour rebuild. I dont expect a good trade on that front.
At this point with 300 hours on a 2007 machine - i will lose a fortune.
I will not be buying kioti again. For a company that was founded as an engine builder - I'm not impressed at all.
Once this is done i will possibly have a rebuilt tractor for sale.
Sore spot is that i cant think what could possibly do this to a nearly new engine. Its never run hot never been low on coolant or oil.
I would be angry but I am too stunned to even get charged at this point.
Ill see if i can post the pics of the pistons from my phone.

I'm confused Why do they need to rebuild the engine? You said the cylinder walls were undamaged, just the pistons fused to their O-rings. The IP seems to be on the blink, or some part of the fuel delivery/regulation system. But the block itself seems intact and undamaged. Why can't they just replace the pistons (if that's even needed), work on the IP issue (there's a fix for that), and get you back together. I may have missed something here, or not understand something, but I don't see a need to replace the block or engine.

I agree this is disappointing, and not what you expected from Kioti, but don't give up yet. The thread you read, the OP was ready to sell the tractor at a huge loss, but ended up getting it repaired at relatively minimal cost to him.

On the other hand, this is the 2nd catastrophic engine failure we've dealt with in as many months with a relatively low hour Kioti. I hope the trend doesn't continue.

 

[Amvcane]

Wow, all of those rings are caked up pretty good or stuck. I can see why you have low compression. Also, I don't think it will make a huge difference, but on the #2 piston the compression ring end gaps are just about lined up. I would think they would be positioned 180* from each other.
Good luck