B20 low on power for moving, smokes, only really starts in wamer weather.

[jaznm]

bought this thing several years ago, now getting back to it.
hydro stat will move all three gears but has lack of power, commonly if going up a slight hill in low, will nearly stall out the tractor. When this happens lots of smoke. have changed oil, filters, hydraulic fluids, checked for muffler blockage. does start really hard in cold if at all. Been thinking about checking injectors first.

Hydraulics seem to work well. but when engaging drive and working hydraulics it's too much for the little guy. it acts like something on the hydro transmission is lugging it down when it shouldn't be.

 

[bruceatlam]

Do you have any blow by??

Check your compression -----low power plus hard starting sounds like she needs engine help to me.

 

[motorhead]

Did you check the air filter and housing for blockage? A critter could have built a nest in there. How many hours on the machine? Have you checked valve clearance?

 

[jaznm]

Do you have any blow by??

Check your compression -----low power plus hard starting sounds like she needs engine help to me.

Do not have blowby but have not checked compression, guess i need to trailer it in to check this. It only blows black smoke under load, brings it down to almost a stop. did pull injectors, reversed lines so I can see spray patter. cyl 1 (closest to steering wheel, not sure if that's convention) shows good pattern, 2 and 3 weak compared to 1. If i change 1 and 3 injector postions, whatever is in 3 position is week. this seems to be pointing to an injector pump perhaps?

 

[jaznm]

8-26-12
checked all the air filter and housing had replaced it with new filter, all clear. Even cheded exhaust for blocked muffler, all clear there.

It only blows black smoke under load, brings it down to almost a stop. did pull injectors, reversed lines so I can see spray patter. cyl 1 (closest to steering wheel, not sure if that's convention) shows good pattern, 2 and 3 weak compared to 1. If i change 1 and 3 injector postions, whatever is in 3 position is week. this seems to be pointing to an injector pump perhaps?

 

[Breeze]

Check your compression -----low power plus hard starting sounds like she needs engine help to me.

I agree. This is one of the first things to check before you waste time and money elsewhere. It is relatively easy and not expensive to check.

Round numbers you should have greater than 370psi in each cylinder and no more than 10% difference between cylinders. Factory spec. is around 500 psi.

If you can determine the engine model number, year of manufacture or at least number of cylinders, possibly someone can help with valve clearance.

 

[Breeze]

Go Here:

http://kubotaireland.com/tech.htm

It looks like you have a D950-A-T 3 cylinder engine.

Torque and clearance specs are listed at the web link.

 

[jaznm]

Been awhile, did not actually check compression but tried the trick with pulling out the injectors and look at the spray pattern. only one injector had a good pattern. If i moved any other injector to the position with the one with the good pattern, it looked good. Long story short, have a new injector pump in it, after taking to a shop to see if it could be rebuilt or adjusted, they declared it unfix-able. It now runs at least 100% better but still lugs down and smokes a fair bit. I guess the next step is to check the compression, unless there are other adjustments others can suggest.

 

[bosshogg]

Another thing to consider is having the fuel pump overhauled. It is nothing short of amazing after a fuel pump that was not working correctly is overhauled and re-calibrated. I would check the compression first though.

 

[birddogger]

I just want to add; you know you do not drive these like cars, right? When I use a tractor there are 2 throttle settings: idle, for sitting still, and rated RPM for moving. If you are jockying it around inside the barn to park it a medium RPM is OK, but otherwise rev it up.