kubota 800 hour engine valve adj maintenance=worth it?

[EE_Bota]

well, got the b7800 back today. the dealer got the valves adjusted and fully tested the glow plugs. the glow plugs were working fine. only thing is the amps were a little less at plug. dealer said that could run a new cable to give better current, but not really worth it at this time.

on to the valves. just for everybody's record, my kubota engine did need adjusting at 895 hours. they weren't terrible, but here are the numbers.

#1= ex .010 in .0085
#2= ex .0105 in .010
#3= ex .009 in .007
#4= ex .0105 in .0085

specs for v-1505 e2 d16 diesel engine are .0057 to .0073

all valves are now .007

engine seems smoother, but might be my imagination. i also haven't run it much, only to and from the trailer to the shed, where it will now get its 900 hour pm. (oil, hydraulic, etc.)

as far as it starting hard in the cold, have to wait for a cold day. dealer said everything seems fine and will just chalk up future small hard cold starts to normal wear and tear=895 hours. can glow plug it longer if feel the need. 15 to 25 secs.

dealer said it was worth it to due the valve adj, atleast for me. tractor actually came back cleaner then when i took it, and i washed everything just before i took it and i am fussy too, so dealer did a great job, and i will be taking the tractor back around the 15001600 hour mark to do the valve adj again and the 1500 hour fuel injection nozzle injection pressure check. do them both at the same time to save a trip.

i will try to update ,if i remember, starting on a cold day if the valve adj did anything to fix that cold start problem.

Good job...It should give you peace of mind that you have received a pretty good bill of health for your tractor. If you don't have a service manual for your tractor, consider treating yourself to one. You seem like the kind of fellow who would like one, since you are curious, like to learn, and you like your equipment clean and right.

 

[megaboz]

The one thought I had about the issue was the battery. How old is it and could it be weak? That would explain a lot. I'm not sure on tractors, but in my car when the battery has just enough juice to start it runs like crap until the alternator starts producing juice.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[EE_Bota]

I did my own in the BX2200, and I always do my own. It is a very rare thing that I have adjusted the valves, and it helped anything obviously but clatter noise... On a Honda Trail 90 and an OSSA trials bike, the bike would not start and run until I adjusted the valves, so that was the obvious problem.

I now have a third episode where a valve adjustment was an obvious help. Yesterday, on a tractor I recently purchased that smokes too much (to my taste, and per my experience with other diesels) I did a cylinder head bolt re-torque and a valve adjustment.

The specs are 14 thous on the intake, and 16 thou on the exhaust. Everyone has commented on how great the tractor starts, and on how good it sounds. I have accepted those comments without commenting back "but it is the smokiest darn tractor I have been on is quite some time."

The thermostat was running at 40 C, so I fixed that and now it runs at 82C. But that only helped the smoking marginally.

But what I found was the exhaust valves were 1 thous too tight, and the intake were 14-16 thous. too loose. Upon straightening that out, it is no smokier than my BX2200, and no smokier than any other diesel I have ever "met."

Upon finding that looseness, I considered what that would do to air flow, and hoped it would help, as I was going to have to undertake re-timing the injector pump otherwise. No need, it looks great, and sounds great too.

One would think excessive valve gap like that would have been audible. I couldn't hear it about that firing of the cylinders. Also, everyone said it sounded just great, and I have to agree, it did sound really good.

I know that having valves adjusted way too loose is not the norm, and you may not encounter that in your dealings. But you can't know unless you check, and if you check, you could be surprised like I was. :thumbsup:

This tractor is a Farmpro 2430 (Jinma 304) from China, and has 40 hours, and has never seen the day it's valves were adjusted right until I did so yesterday, and never ran at the correct operating temperature until the day before that. The ag tires are brand spanking new, and cut everything they touch, and the tips of the digger and the loader are not worn one iota, so it is pretty obvious that it is a very young tractor, and was mis-adjusted from the factory.