Hold on there fellas, it never shut down. Sorry if I gave that impression, but I didn't think I said anything to indicate that it shut down. No, it just lost power. Driving across a flat road it would not drive in 4th gear high range like it had before. I had to downshift to 3rd and even then the rpm's wouldn't get much above 2k.
About 20 minutes ago I went into my dealer's service manager's office and talked with him about getting the compression tested. He agreed to it, and since I negotiated travel expenses for warranty work into the purchase, it will be entirely on their dime. Only thing I don't like is he wants to bring the tractor there to do it. I'd rather be there to see the reading myself, or at least have an independent 3rd party do it. That might void the warranty though?
I wrote a reply to this thread/post earlier and then it disappeared when I went to edit it. Anyway, your issue is somewhat bigger than you know. THere is a recent thread that I'll link you to, which briefly describes what you had happen except in this poster's situation his engine did die. Basically from what I can discern he had a block heater installed on his low hour Kioti and it blew out onto the ground which caused upper end valve train parts failure. His problem seemed to be a result of having happened AFTER factory warranty had expired. Neither he, nor any of us, to my knowledge, had ever heard of this having happened on a Kioti to date, but now that you have also experienced this type of failure, AND your dealer's shop mechanic asked you to open the hood, it tells me they are aware of this kind of situation, and maybe due to it having happened to other Kioti tractors in their shop.
If I were you I'd skip the compression test because if it comes up within range you may end up with no help. A compression test at this low hours likely won't tell you what you need to know. The cylinder wall or piston damage, unless it were severe, or wall bluing via excessive heat would only be visible through other more specific tests with engine disassembly necessary to make a definite diagnosis.
If you're going to make a case for a different engine or complete tractor, NOW is the time to do so. If you're going to keep this one have them remove the block heater and replace the factory freeze plug. Make sure to keep the defective B. heater. You definitely do NOT want the existing one to blow out again, which it very well could at any time during it's life. It's IMHO even more likely to do so since it already failed miserably.
I've owned two DK series over the last 10 years and both have block heaters, neither of which have I ever used. Granted they live on a radiant heated barn floor and were both installed by my dealer without request on my part.
I suspect, as your dealer's field tech mentioned, something is wrong as to the mating of the block heater adapter sleeve diameter and the block's actual dimension(s). It's also possible since this is not an isolated instance on several (?) Kioti's recently, that the plug manufacturer and Kioti are working to find the answer to which it is. This is another reason a case with Kioti should be started regarding your specific tractor. The more cases they have to investigate, the sooner they will have to solve the problem.
Consider your dealer's mechanic took no time to point you to opening the hood- indicating he knew what the most likely outcome was to your issue. The field tech didn't hesitate to know how to remedy the problem and spoke of others they'd seen. They clearly understand the problem; which begs the question of why they continue to install these block heaters?
Here's the link to the other thread where none of us had enough info from the owner to make an absolute diagnosis. I will say that I speculated that the B. heater was installed recently or as in that OP's situation the heater was the cause of the problem. When it blew out the top end of the engine's heat soared to unsustainable temps and parts then failed, trashing the engine beyond repair. You clearly don't want to faced with this outcome during OR past warranty.
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kioti-owning-operating/406244-update-rx6010-low-hours-motor.html
Note there are actually 2 threads about this issue on this OP's tractor. Seek out the 2nd one around the date of the first one.
As already stated by others, document all emails, name and numbers of who you speak with and when. ONLY things in writing are worth anything, NO verbal agreements with your dealer of Kioti Corporate. I would also let Kioti know about the other thread I linked you too. They need to know this type of case is being watched closely by Kioti owners. This is good for everyone to know we're all on the same page. Good luck, post back any questions, etc.
CM
