Kubota L3200 HST - Told not to drive in high range by dealer?

[timster2]

Sounds like the service manager was faced with a dilemma. He did not find anything he could "warranty" so Kubota was not going to pay him for the labor. His tech could not find a problem and he did have to make a labor charge or loose the hour or so the tech spent on the tractor. Solution, take what the customer explained was the complaint and turn it into a problem, with some dubious explanation, charge the customer for a gallon of oil and the labor. Customer was most likely to accept the diagnosis and cough it up to inexperience. It backfired because the customer was doing the oil checks and knows the level was correct.

In my experience, over forty years on heavy equipment, if the hydraulic oil gets hot enough there is no mistaking the smell long before it will reach a boiling point. Lost oil went somewhere it did not boil away. If you do have a leak, even of just a few ounces, you would have left some evidence of a the leak and its location when parked on a concrete surface.

 

[skyhook]

If it keeps loosing oil and you still can't find a leak,
bring it back, and when they "refill" it again, due to boiling
tell them to find the leak and "wave" the fluid cost since you paid for it already.

 

[NoNewParts]

pretty funny.
On a machine with a full warranty, if high range was a danger in any way to the machine....it wouldn't even be there.
Cruising down the highway in H-R at the proper rpm is probably the easiest work a tractor will ever do.
1/2 hour in the dirt pile even in low range at the right rpm puts way, way, more heat into the fluid.
Like the other poster said, you can smell it when it gets too hot...time for a break.

Doesn't really apply here because of your filter change ( I do believe you though)
but I never let my dealers get away with a 'fluid' charge on a new machine with a total warranty.
Fluid low? must not have been prepped properly. Fill it like it is supposed to be.
Must have leaked? Not supposed to leak. Internally or externally. fix the leak and put the fluid back in.(I already paid for it when I bought the tractor)
Boiled out? (impossible, if actually happened, new warranty tranny or pump time...oh and put that fluid I already paid for in..... )

 

[Hinomotoman]

I bought a new Dodge conversion van in 1997. After a thousand miles the left front tire was wearing at a significate rate. I took it in and the service manager told me I was making too many left turns.

Eugene

 

[krobertson]

So I got a call and email into Kubota. Waiting to see if they call or email back. I will call again shortly. @ Boggin...its an HST on giant fill of SUDT2 fluid is all they call for and a lot of it. What just flips my switch is I check the fluids...even on my freaking lawn mower. When I start my zero turn I check the oil. It was a smidge low this Sunday I added a bit. About time to change anyway. I do all my own work...love to turn wrenches. Again it went out of sight on the sight glass after the first 10 hrs or so. It was full at time of some digging an hour later when I stopped it to do some shovel work (which now I have a FEL is a joy because it is minimum) and just glanced at getting on tractor. It is right there at your waist level when you get on it...so not hard to see it being bright white rather than dull. So again I told that to the dealer. Why did it go low after 10 hrs. Maybe just the way they work I have seen others havethe same thing after a few good hours new. But a gallon is ridiculous.

Had a Nissan Altima loaded to the gills...my brides car...$30k for this car. It had factory 20" rims and tires. Well it wobbled at 80+. Never could get it to work. Nissan tech was supposedly sent out. I told them several times just pull a set of wheels of a stock Altima and lets take a ride see if it is fact drive train or wheels. They wouldn't but kicker is svc manager and I got into a heated battle. I told him to get in. We drove on interstate from exit to exit. He said while he was looking at me, "well you know this isn't a Cadillac right"...WTF? I asked him if he had a cell phone he said yes...at he bottom of the ramp I told him to get the "F" out of my car...he said are you serious and I told him yes...it isn't a Cadillac remember? Left him sitting there and traded the car a few weeks later.

Warranty work is always a crap shoot. I can give you countless stories of crap I have been told. Sad thing is how many people say "ok" and are good with it...ugh!

 

[ENC]

Has the fluid ever needed topped off other than during the filter change. I have 133 hours on mine with a full HST change at 50 hours. Even losing a little bit of fluid hooking and unhooking the grapple a handful of times I still have not gotten down to the add mark on the dipstick.

 

[varmint]

Ah, warranty work and dealers... I had a friend in the 70's who was a GM test engineer for Allison transmissions- he took care of the giant diesels that worked the trannys under test (like the ones in the M1 tanks) and whenever he got a new car, he would have anxiety attacks when he had to take it in to the dealer for warranty stuff. He was (is?) an ace mechanic, capable of building/fixing about anything with wheels, and he just knew that the dealer's guys would trash something on his new baby. Then, of course, there are the dealers that lie and cheat. I don't want to start on that. Should be simple... you buy something at their price, it works like it's supposed to, or they make it right. End of story.

 

[brain55]

When mechanics at dealers say stuff like this it makes me sad. I spent nearly 12 years of my career working in Kubota dealers. I can't imagine saying something this ridiculous. It's funny the owner at the first dealer I worked for commented to me that at times he wished I wasn't so honest, but at the same time he was glad that I was, because it was easier for him remedy a situation if I had been overly honest vs if I had lied to a customer.

Brian

 

[krobertson]

Well you guys would be proud. My buddy picked up an old Ford like 1957 800 or something like that with a FEL? Anyway what a tank. We got it running and the EL works. Had to replace fuel line and such. Any who that was the highlight of my evening. Go figure no call from Kubota. I will call them again tomorrow. Will be working my tractor Friday and Saturday for a while...we shall see how the FEL preforms and the fluid levels...maybe I can smoke some chicken on the motor and boil tea on the tranny...lunch for all! j/k

 

[brokenot]

Not saying I agree with what the dealer told you about the Kubota, but we do have equipment in the rental inventory that will not "boil" but will "overheat" the hydraulic oil if driven for extended periods at higher speeds with a hydrostatic driveline. In a typical service manual's troubleshooting section, under the heading of "transmission overheating", there are several possible causes. Wrong type of oil or contaminated oil, low oil level, obstructed oil cooler, are at the top of the list, but at number four is "excessive roading". They describe an oil "overheat" situation not as boiling, but oil temps in excess of 248F.

Hydrostatic drivelines are convenient and very user-friendly, but one of my biggest issues with them is all of waste that occurs dissipating heat....especially if the machine is something which was designed to do its "normal job" at a certain speed, but is also built with the capability to move from site to site on the road at higher speeds. I've seen several examples myself of oil that has been heated up enough that the expansion in volume has been sufficient to allow oil to escape from a tank vent or fill port. No, it isn't "boiling off" and disappearing....it creates an obvious mess.

"Excessive roading" isn't a term we made up, it's straight from equipment manufacturers' service manuals and it can also be found in hydrostatic transmission service manuals....mainly due to the fact that a hydrostatic transmission manufacturer builds their product and sells it to equipment manufacturers. The transmission manufacturer can "spec" a set of parameters such as system volume, cooler sizing, etc., but they have no guarantees those specs are going to be met. And even if the hardware is properly sized, there's no guarantee operational recommendations are going to be followed by the end-user of the machinery.