New DK5310SE cab; A/C inop ... thoughts?

[Harry in Ky]

It seems I mentioned you should look at that area back at the beginning of all this.

 

[AirOpsMgr]

It seems I mentioned you should look at that area back at the beginning of all this.

Yes, it's indeed my fault for not being more thorough

 

[Midniteoyl]

It doesnt matter. Its a warranty issue either way.

 

[Threepoint]

Yes, it's indeed my fault for not being more thorough

Greg, I hope you're saying this tongue-in-cheek! Your troubleshooting steps were pretty thorough, IMO.

Let us know what the tech ultimately finds. Thanks for the write-up.

 

[AirOpsMgr]

Greg, I hope you're saying this tongue-in-cheek! Your troubleshooting steps were pretty thorough, IMO.

Let us know what the tech ultimately finds. Thanks for the write-up.

Nothing definitive yet, called the dealer this AM for a progress report; The mechanic working on it wasn't there, but the office Mgr said he knows there is a compressor on order for it along with some other parts and would have the tech give me an update next week.

Will update when I hear more.

Brgds,
Greg

 

[AirOpsMgr]

I spoke with the dealer this past Fri to get a status report, the tech said "All the parts came in yesterday and we should have you ready to go mid-next week", to which I asked, "So what ended up being the root cause?" He responded, "We usually just order all of the parts needed, won't really know until we start digging into it, but most likely the compressor seized"

Will update when I hear more Wed of this week; hopefully she'll be ready to come home and get back to work ... mowing 15 acres of grass over the past 2 days on a 72" ZRT already has me missing that A/C'ed cab!!!

 

[AirOpsMgr]

Picked my tractor up from the shop today, Mechanic said it was a seized compressor / burnt clutch; He also said he's done 5 of them in the past year at varying hours, but mine (at 70 hrs) was the lowest he's seen.

He said once replaced, he hasn't had any come back, but doesn't know what's causing the initial fail. They ran it for 2 hrs yesterday with the a/c on full without issues; I'm about to get some seat time to catch up on 3 weeks without it, fingers crossed!

 

[Midniteoyl]

Bad batch, it happens. As long as they take care of it, all's good.

 

[AirOpsMgr]

Bad batch, it happens. As long as they take care of it, all's good.

Indeed, $0 out of pocket due to warranty, so all good with the exception of being without for the past 3 weeks. On a good note, 5 hrs of seat time this afternoon and the A/C is still nice & frigid .... for now.

Speaking of bad batches, i'll digress just for a moment to say that part of my career has included some dealings with Ground Support Equipment (GSE) maintenance of airport ramp equipment, used to load and unload aircraft.

Just within the past year, we've encountered a bad batch (or consecutive bad batches) of alternators from several vendors across the US, some failing within a couple of days, but nearly all within a month. We think we've narrowed it down to a couple of primary part numbers that are resold by others within the market, but only time will tell.

And FWIW, none of this is meant in a derogatory tone toward Kioti or the local dealer; I've seen top-tier items fail in many applications and know that all colors are susceptible, just wish my case wasn't 3 weeks of downtime (which was mostly caused by short staffing of MX techs at my dealer).

I'll update further as I get more hrs on the meter.

Brgds,
Greg

 

[AirOpsMgr]

Quick update, after getting the A/C compressor replaced at about 70hrs, the 2nd unit went out at about 90ish hours (this time the clutch was engaging and disengaging when the A/C was turned off and on, however, it would not produce cold air); Similar to the first occurrence, there was melted plastic blown off onto the underside of the hood - belt and pulley were intact, not sure where the melted plastic spun off of other than the pulley.

Dealer replaced it again under warranty and stated that they spoke with Kioti but have no further info as to why it failed again.

I'm now on my 3rd A/C compressor, so far have put about 12hrs on this one and no issues yet (all 12hrs have been using a finish mower at full PTO RPMs in the mid-90's outdoor temp, but I'm taking breaks every couple of hrs (as I did before) to ensure the hood screen vents are clear and every 4 or 5 hrs I blow out the radiators just to be safe. No major buildup just as before, but will continue the practice to keep that ruled out.

Would be interested to hear if any other Kioti owners are having issues with A/C compressors on new units.

Brgds,