Thursday afternoon I was out for a ride around my property on my 2016 Kubota RTV-X1100C with about 20 hours on it - when for no apparent reason the engine sputtered and quit. I tried restarting it and it turned over fine but would not engage. It sounded like a fuel issue - but I wasn't sure if perhaps it was a safety switch (low oil pressure or something like that). I left it in the woods overnight and started researching issues online.
There was a tremendous amount of info out there and I narrowed it down to:
1. Fuel line air leak that shows itself when the engine warms up; draws in air; vapor locks; til it cools; There were several reports suggesting that a loose clamp or micro cracks in lines in the fuel lines could cause this.
2. Fuel filter - clogged
3. Kill Solenoid stuck
4. Low oil pressure solenoid
Hoping it was number 1, I went out Friday morning with my neighbor Jack (retired engineer/military and has the knack to fix anything/everything).
It would not cold start, so #1 was eliminated. The motor turned over fine - it just would not engage. Jack noticed that when I turned the key, the fuel pump did not click on and thought that may be an issue (turned out it was not... as the RTV has a diaphram fuel pump).
Jack removed the fuel filter. It had some debris in it but overall the debris should not have been enough to cause a problem. However, Jack noticed when he removed the fuel filter no fuel came out of the fuel line.
We reached out to our local Kubota dealer, RI Harvesting - by phone, eliminated a few things (including the fuel pump issue), learned some new things (1. the fuel line has a stop valve to prevent fuel from emptying when you remove the fuel filter; 2. don't lose either of the 2-O rings on the old fuel filter) and ended up buying a new fuel filter.
When we put the new fuel filter on and went to start it - the fuel did not automatically start to fill the new filter... and the RTV would not start. In other words... no change.
We towed the RTV to Jack's house using his tractor. He has a compressor - and he blew air into the fuel line leading back to the fuel tank. When we hooked everything up, the fuel filter filled with fuel, the RVT started right up and is now running fine.
I was still concerned about what ever was clogging the fuel line still being in my tank, so I went to the local PetCo and bought a small fish net with a very fine mesh. I then began fishing for debris in the fuel tank.
The attached photos show what I found: a small glob of silicone-like substance. It took a bit of swirling and fishing to find it. And this is ALL that I found. No insects, grass, lint, or other contaminants. And trust me I searched and searched for any other debris in the fuel tank. It was one long strand.
It feels like silicone - and ended up in the shape of the fuel line. It was pliable.. and could be rolled into a ball or any shape we wanted. Not sure if it was excess sealant from the manufacturing process or something that fell into to fuel tank. It did not smear like grease. We did notice smaller clumps of it in the original fuel filter. The RTV-X1100C has 20 hours on it.
Figured I would share the info since this was the first place I turned when looking for answers. Could happen again to another Kubota. I learned a lot in the process as well.
Here are the photos.
There was a tremendous amount of info out there and I narrowed it down to:
1. Fuel line air leak that shows itself when the engine warms up; draws in air; vapor locks; til it cools; There were several reports suggesting that a loose clamp or micro cracks in lines in the fuel lines could cause this.
2. Fuel filter - clogged
3. Kill Solenoid stuck
4. Low oil pressure solenoid
Hoping it was number 1, I went out Friday morning with my neighbor Jack (retired engineer/military and has the knack to fix anything/everything).
It would not cold start, so #1 was eliminated. The motor turned over fine - it just would not engage. Jack noticed that when I turned the key, the fuel pump did not click on and thought that may be an issue (turned out it was not... as the RTV has a diaphram fuel pump).
Jack removed the fuel filter. It had some debris in it but overall the debris should not have been enough to cause a problem. However, Jack noticed when he removed the fuel filter no fuel came out of the fuel line.
We reached out to our local Kubota dealer, RI Harvesting - by phone, eliminated a few things (including the fuel pump issue), learned some new things (1. the fuel line has a stop valve to prevent fuel from emptying when you remove the fuel filter; 2. don't lose either of the 2-O rings on the old fuel filter) and ended up buying a new fuel filter.
When we put the new fuel filter on and went to start it - the fuel did not automatically start to fill the new filter... and the RTV would not start. In other words... no change.
We towed the RTV to Jack's house using his tractor. He has a compressor - and he blew air into the fuel line leading back to the fuel tank. When we hooked everything up, the fuel filter filled with fuel, the RVT started right up and is now running fine.
I was still concerned about what ever was clogging the fuel line still being in my tank, so I went to the local PetCo and bought a small fish net with a very fine mesh. I then began fishing for debris in the fuel tank.
The attached photos show what I found: a small glob of silicone-like substance. It took a bit of swirling and fishing to find it. And this is ALL that I found. No insects, grass, lint, or other contaminants. And trust me I searched and searched for any other debris in the fuel tank. It was one long strand.
It feels like silicone - and ended up in the shape of the fuel line. It was pliable.. and could be rolled into a ball or any shape we wanted. Not sure if it was excess sealant from the manufacturing process or something that fell into to fuel tank. It did not smear like grease. We did notice smaller clumps of it in the original fuel filter. The RTV-X1100C has 20 hours on it.
Figured I would share the info since this was the first place I turned when looking for answers. Could happen again to another Kubota. I learned a lot in the process as well.
Here are the photos.
Attachments
Last edited:
