Kubota catastrophic engine failures

[ptsg]

You’d laugh if you saw the fuel system on my bigger kubotas
A small, cheap typical water/fuel separator and a smallish fuel filter.
No sensors or indicators.

The “indicator” is the tractor starts losing power or sputtering-usually when you need it most. I have simply resigned myself to 3-4 fuel filters per year.

Oh I believe it. Doing that way, it's very easy from them to throw the "bad fuel" card at the owners and let them eat the expense of the repairs.

On the other hand, the fuel quality and cleanliness in general seems to leave a lot to be desired. I've been on US forums and watching videos of truckers, farms, etc in the US for quite some time, and I'm always surprised how often you guys have to change fuel filters and how many fuel related issues you have there.

The older Kubota B7000 I had, had the same fuel filter for the 18+ years I had it and it was still in great shape with very little trash on it. I did blew it off at least twice in those years I've owned it though.

 

[TimberFarm]

Oh I believe it. Doing that way, it's very easy from them to throw the "bad fuel" card at the owners and let them eat the expense of the repairs.

On the other hand, the fuel quality and cleanliness in general seems to leave a lot to be desired. I've been on US forums and watching videos of truckers, farms, etc in the US for quite some time, and I'm always surprised how often you guys have to change fuel filters and how many fuel related issues you have there.

The older Kubota B7000 I had, had the same fuel filter for the 18+ years I had it and it was still in great shape with very little trash on it. I did blew it off at least twice in those years I've owned it though.

That is why with diesel, I find a high volume station. Usually not the cheapest price, but the fuel isn't sitting in the tanks.
Also the clean and modern station. There is a station near me where there is water puddled up in a gravel parking lot where the tanks are. No thanks.

 

[5030]

Surface water has nothing to do with buried fuel tanks at all. The only 'entrance' to the tank is a small 'manhole' in the ground under which is a cam lock cap with a rubber seal so nothing can get in except the fuel truck hose and that also locks to the top of the pipe that the camlock cap came off of. The other exit is the draw tube for the fuel pump, That is it and modern diesel (and gasoline) underground storage tanks are one piece molded fiberglass with reinforcing rings. No outside water can ever get it.

Now, they do sweat inside just like an above ground farm tank does but unlike a farm tank, underground storage tanks all have electronic monitors on them that monitor for not only leaks but water in the bottom of the storage tank and that is per EPA regs. I do know a bit about them as the Freightliner dealership I retired from had 2 10,000 gallon in ground tanks and when the monitor said there was excess water in the bottom, I was the one who went out and 'sticked' the tanks. The drop stick was coated on the last 3 feet with a special coating that changed color when / if it detected water and if it did, we pumped the bottom until we got undiluted fuel. That was extremely rare. The one time we did, the shop manager called our bulk supplier and had them add a dispersant to insure that there was no water left in the tank sump. Your chances of getting bad fuel today from any filling station is very rare.

You have a much better chance of getting phase shifted ethanol gas from a non volume station than diesel,

My fuel filter changes are more from my own doing when filling the tractors and getting some stray dirt of plant material inside than bad fuel. I might change my fuel filters once a year at most and I've never had that red ring in the sediment bowl show any water, ever. Not all that worried about plant material getting in since I installed filler neck filler strainers. If anything is in the strainer, I can easily pull it out and clean it, I try to keep the saddle tanks on both tractors full when not being used as a partially filled tractor fuel tank will also sweat and condense water, especially during seasonal temp changes like summer to fall and fall to winter here. I always add Power Service summer blend and white bottle in the winter, always have.

 

[Hay Dude]

That is why with diesel, I find a high volume station. Usually not the cheapest price, but the fuel isn't sitting in the tanks.
Also the clean and modern station. There is a station near me where there is water puddled up in a gravel parking lot where the tanks are. No thanks.

You are absolutely correct. Find stations that move a lot of fuel as any experienced trucker would also tell you. I replaced injectors once in my life. It was after I got fuel from a tank that had fuel that was sitting a while. I had no knowledge that the tank had old fuel in it until it was too late.

Another suggestion is when you fill your tank, do it with the engine off and let the dirt and foam you agitate on the bottom of your tank settle back down.

 

[Hay Dude]

Oh I believe it. Doing that way, it's very easy from them to throw the "bad fuel" card at the owners and let them eat the expense of the repairs.

On the other hand, the fuel quality and cleanliness in general seems to leave a lot to be desired. I've been on US forums and watching videos of truckers, farms, etc in the US for quite some time, and I'm always surprised how often you guys have to change fuel filters and how many fuel related issues you have there.

The older Kubota B7000 I had, had the same fuel filter for the 18+ years I had it and it was still in great shape with very little trash on it. I did blew it off at least twice in those years I've owned it though.

I picked up a used Kubota ZD331 diesel about 7 years ago. I started having fuel issues. Took both tanks off and they had a lot of trash in bottoms of tanks and quite a bit of water. It was as if the previous owner left the caps off in the rain or with falling leaves lol
Both tanks were cleaned, power washed & left to dry a day then reinstalled.

 

[ptsg]

I picked up a used Kubota ZD331 diesel about 7 years ago. I started having fuel issues. Took both tanks off and they had a lot of trash in bottoms of tanks and quite a bit of water. It was as if the previous owner left the caps off in the rain or with falling leaves lol
Both tanks were cleaned, power washed & left to dry a day then reinstalled.

Oh that's indeed a fun one. I guess Kubota thought it was a good idea to get rid of the strainer on the fill neck?

My only fuel storage is only a 8 Gal container that serves both my tractor and homemade backhoe. Being a somewhat low storage volume, I don't get fuel sitting too long and any trash on the fuel typically sits on the bottom since it has a ball valve about an inch or so from the bottom. Even if it did, the strainer on the tractor would've caught it. The smaller stuff gets caught by the filter.

On this tractor with the the fuel tank by the steps, makes it very easy to fuel. Just put it on the floor and open the ball valve. Of course that doing this way only works for comically small operations like mine. It's not pratical at all for some actual farming with lots of equipment.

 

[TimberFarm]

Surface water has nothing to do with buried fuel tanks at all. The only 'entrance' to the tank is a small 'manhole' in the ground under which is a cam lock cap with a rubber seal so nothing can get in except the fuel truck hose and that also locks to the top of the pipe that the camlock cap came off of. The other exit is the draw tube for the fuel pump, That is it and modern diesel (and gasoline) underground storage tanks are one piece molded fiberglass with reinforcing rings. No outside water can ever get it.

Now, they do sweat inside just like an above ground farm tank does but unlike a farm tank, underground storage tanks all have electronic monitors on them that monitor for not only leaks but water in the bottom of the storage tank and that is per EPA regs. I do know a bit about them as the Freightliner dealership I retired from had 2 10,000 gallon in ground tanks and when the monitor said there was excess water in the bottom, I was the one who went out and 'sticked' the tanks. The drop stick was coated on the last 3 feet with a special coating that changed color when / if it detected water and if it did, we pumped the bottom until we got undiluted fuel. That was extremely rare. The one time we did, the shop manager called our bulk supplier and had them add a dispersant to insure that there was no water left in the tank sump. Your chances of getting bad fuel today from any filling station is very rare.

You have a much better chance of getting phase shifted ethanol gas from a non volume station than diesel,

My fuel filter changes are more from my own doing when filling the tractors and getting some stray dirt of plant material inside than bad fuel. I might change my fuel filters once a year at most and I've never had that red ring in the sediment bowl show any water, ever. Not all that worried about plant material getting in since I installed filler neck filler strainers. If anything is in the strainer, I can easily pull it out and clean it, I try to keep the saddle tanks on both tractors full when not being used as a partially filled tractor fuel tank will also sweat and condense water, especially during seasonal temp changes like summer to fall and fall to winter here. I always add Power Service summer blend and white bottle in the winter, always have.

I see plenty of old mom and pop stations that do not have modern tank set ups. Modern paved lot with fillers set in raised mounded concrete. No way water gets near them.

 

[5030]

I don't least not around here. The EPA came down on the old steel buried tanks long ago and made the owners pull them and remediate the polluted soil. Federal EPA regs state they must be leakproof (fiberglass) tanks and they must have a built in monitoring system for leaks and contained water.

 

[5030]

I guess Kubota thought it was a good idea to get rid of the strainer on the fill neck?

They did, for what reason I have no idea but, you can purchase them from the dealer for under 10 bucks. In fact I did a thread a while back (on here in the Kubota section and I listed the Kubota part number. It's a 'universal' fit and comes with different sized retaining rings for different sized filler necks. In both of my tractors presently. They will catch stuff like grass and leaves quite easily.

 

[TimberFarm]

I don't least not around here. The EPA came down on the old steel buried tanks long ago and made the owners pull them and remediate the polluted soil. Federal EPA regs state they must be leakproof (fiberglass) tanks and they must have a built in monitoring system for leaks and contained water.

Yeah the modern tanks are good. I am surprised when I see those old setups. When I lived in NJ they gave exemptions to dealers that pumped less than a certain amount.
I am in NC now and the mom and pop ones are all over the place. I'll drive 10-15 miles out of my way to get from a high volume station.