L245 hard start

Anonymous Poster · Jan 10, 2001

I own an L245 DT and am having a problem starting in cool weather and especially cold wx. Have to glow plug it 5-6 times for about 90 sec each time and even then it belches black smoke and misses quite a bit until it kicks off. It runs great once warmed up. Have mixed diesel conditioner with fuel with same results. Suspect the glow plugs(some or all) are not working or the injectors need work. Suggestions on narrowing down the culprit.

Anonymous Poster · Jan 13, 2001

The older kubotas usually require glow times between 30 and 45 seconds to get a good start and will smoke and miss some till warmed up. However 5-6 times at 90 seconds a shot seems excessive. Put a test light on the lead at the #3 glow plug and put the key in the pre-heat position if the light comes on and is strong the circuit is good to the plugs.
If you have good power to the plugs disconnect the lead to the plugs and remove the metal leads to each plug isolating them from each other. You can do a resistence test from the threaded portion to ground you should have minimum resistence through the plug to ground. (forgot the exact ohm reading ) If one shows alot higher resistence than the other or if all are high it's most likely the plugs. If you have any doubts replacing the plugs is relatively inexpensive.
If the glow plugs and system check out the other possibility and most likely problem is compression/not what you'd like to here but all too often the most likely cause for what you'r describing. Check your breather tube after the engine is warmed up and running if there is an excessive amount of smoke and or oil coming out then compression is probably the culprit.

TomG · Jan 14, 2001

I wasn't having trouble starting last fall, but I thought the pre-heat time was too long. I cleaned the battery and ground cables. My next step would have been checking the glow plugs, as kubmech described, but the battery cleaning did the trick. The pre-heat time was noticeably reduced, and clean cables can spin the starter motor faster for easier starting. Suppose I should have cleaned the starter cable and contacts while I was in a cleaning mode.

Anonymous Poster · Jan 14, 2001

How many hours on your L245? Have you had any previous fuel contamination? You may possibly want to have your injectors pressure tested once you've eliminated the possibility of burnt out glow plugs. Also when you start are you giving the engine any throttle? I used to have a L245DT and would set the hand throttle at 1/4 and press the foot accelerator down almost full until the engine caught and started to run and released before it had a chance to flare up.
You can also turn the starter switch back to the glow position immediately after the engine starts until it smooths out and runs evenly. These are just a few tricks I learned after I had mine for a while.

Anonymous Poster · Jan 17, 2001

Thanks for all your help. Am geting good voltage to plugs and have a new battery. 2 of three plugs are less than 1 ohm. am replacing them and will let you know the results. Unfortunately will be Feb before that can get done.