L2501 misfires almost dies when throttle opened up from idle

Linstrum

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L3400HST with BH76 backhoe, L2501HST, B7100HST, B7100DT, all with fel's. Cat D4D
Sep 2, 2023
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Alamogordo, New Mexico
L2501 HST with a little over 100 hours, all service performed according to the book - everything was done, nothing was skipped, and everything used was from the Kubota dealer. Tractor was ordered in October or November of 2022, and delivered to dealer in December, 2022. It is stored indoors in a locked garage. Fuel is kept indoors and purchased from a truck stop with high sales volume, no "farm fuel" or biodiesel used.

I already read the L2501 thread started by chelan41 on April 21, 2019, where those symptoms are not the same.

After normal operating for several minutes, or well over an hour, under good load doing work like pulling the box scraper that is almost full, or running the rear-mounted mower in tall weeds that make the engine work, when the engine is idled-down, it idles perfectly. No misfiring at all. After a few minutes, when the throttle is opened up to go back to work, the engine immediately starts to misfire on all cylinders, and almost stops running for maybe 15 seconds. Sometimes there are a few puffs of white smoke, but otherwise the exhaust is clear. After about 15 seconds of misfiring, the engine picks up and runs normally again with total throttle response, as it should be.

The misfiring happens every time after letting the engine idle for a few minutes, maybe a bit longer. As already stated above, the engine idles without any misfiring or even a hint of misfiring, but as soon as the throttle lever is pulled back to increase engine rpm, the misfiring begins and the engine almost stops running, with rpm dropping very low. After about 15 seconds, sometimes longer, the misfiring ends, and the engine begins running normally and the rpm picks up according to throttle position. Once the misfiring is over and the engine once again is running normally, the engine delivers full power and the tractor will operate the box scraper about half full of dirt for 100 yards down the shoulder of the road, or continue mowing weeds. From that, I doubt very much that it is a plugged fuel filter or other lack of fuel problem. The Kubota dealer insisted it was a plugged fuel filter, but the evidence is firmly against that, since the engine delivers full power that requires adequate fuel.

So, what is going on with all these mysterious problems with L2501 engines not running right? My tractor runs great under load at high rpm when fuel consumption is highest, its problem is it runs great at idle rpm but almost dies WHEN the throttle is opened up to increase rpm from idle. This problem showed up after the engine was broken-in enough to start working the tractor with a good load on it. So, the problem may have been there all along, but didn't appear until the engine could be worked with a good load on it.
 

Sidekick

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Sounds like it may be warranty question for your dealer.
 

GreensvilleJay

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Hopefully someone here has seen this 'interesting' situation before.
I'm wondering if the lift pump is either defective of not connected properly ?
I KNOW for a fact that my BX23S ran FINE without it, as I spotted it disconnected while cleaning underneath. Have NO idea how long it wasn't plugged in,though filters were changed 50-70 hours previously.

Also, you don't have a lot of hours on that tractor, perhaps there's 'junk ' in the tank ? I go through at least 10l of diesel a week and have a mason jar filter .
 

PoTreeBoy

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I'm with @Sidekick. Just to be sure, check the fuel bowl for water and look around the governor area for any obvious damage.
 

Hydro

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Post a video to youtube , then post the link here

I am not familiar with a L2501 , but as you describe the symptoms , sounds like a timing problem rather than fuel . Really would depend on the type of emission system used on that engine
 

whitetiger

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under load at high rpm when fuel consumption is highest,
Fuel demand is the highest during acceleration, the governor is wide open.
You have a fuel supply problem from the tank, through the filter, or a mechanical fuel lift pump failure.
 
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number two

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Seems like I recall hearing about lift pump problems on the L2501 tractors.
Possibly a dealer question?
There may be an issue!
Check it out.
Good Luck!
 

whitetiger

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I recall hearing about lift pump problems on the L2501 tractors.
It is the same lift pump used on about 70 models, almost all Lxx00 and Lxx40 series tractors, plus many industrial engines.
 
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Nicfin36

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I just posted this on another thread. My L2501 has about 100 hours and started running rough last week while tilling a field. The engine finally quit and I wondered if it were a lift pump issue like I had read about. I unscrewed the fuel bowl slightly to see it fill up, so I was thinking maybe not a fuel issue. I finally unscrewed the bowl completely to see some crud on top of the filter. The filter looked good viewing through the plastic bowl. I then pulled the fuel line at the filter bowl from the tank and fuel ran out and stopped. It was obstructed. Turns out I had fuel microbes and I had to drain the tank. I am treating it with Bio Kleen and hopefully that is all I will have to do. It might be worth looking into.
 
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UnknownGnome

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I just posted this on another thread. My L2501 has about 100 hours and started running rough last week while tilling a field. The engine finally quit, and I wondered if it was a lift pump issue like I had read about. I unscrewed the fuel bowl slightly to see it fill up, so I thought it was not a fuel issue. I finally unscrewed the bowl completely to see some crud on top of the filter. The filter looked good viewing through the plastic bowl. I then pulled the fuel line at the filter bowl from the tank and fuel ran out and stopped. It was obstructed. Turns out I had fuel microbes and I had to drain the tank. I am treating it with Bio Kleen; hopefully, that is all I have to do. It might be worth looking into.
I just ran into similar issues last weekend while moving some dirt with my L2501. Some slime, looking like snot, was plugging up the supply line the fuel filter at the bottom of my tank. I cleaned the fuel filter and put all new diesel in. I ran for four hours with no issues.

This evening, it started moving dirt again and started to stall and bog down when under a load. I rechecked the fuel filter, and now she won't turn on. I was thinking water in the fuel, but I'm not sure. The fuel looks all the same color, with nothing floating on the surface.

The air bleed valve above the pump opens and when turning the engine over nothing comes out. Not sure if there is a manual bleed for this or I have to go to the injectors. Seems like I could have air or the lift pump is failing.. Not really sure.
 

whatsupdoc

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We had 2 diesel fuel tanks an 8000 gallon and a 6000 gallon that
we would fuel our trucks, heavy equipment and small diesel locomotives. For years we never had any issues until we ran into an issue with slime in the locomotives tanks.

After that we used a biocide treatment that cured the problem, personally I think that this started due to the use of biodiesel
in our area.

The reason I posted this is just because you clean your system
unless your fuel supply is free from contamination you will be spinning your wheels.
 
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MapleLeafFarmer

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We had 2 diesel fuel tanks an 8000 gallon and a 6000 gallon that
we would fuel our trucks, heavy equipment and small diesel locomotives. For years we never had any issues until we ran into an issue with slime in the locomotives tanks.

After that we used a biocide treatment that cured the problem, personally I think that this started due to the use of biodiesel
in our area.

The reason I posted this is just because you clean your system
unless your fuel supply is free from contamination you will be spinning your wheels.

same on this end.
6+ decades of never having diesel fuel problems.

Last few years the green snot of death, bacteria loads, etc..... has become common across a lot of yards and farms in our area.

In last 6+ decades never / ever used additives and was 100% negative towards their use. Never needed them / would never use them.

NOW in last few years I have made a 100% about face on additives. Biocide always being added now. Tank cleaners 1x per year as a just in case service. plus of course always using fresh supplies that are seasonally appropriate.

My gut feeling is like so much else in this world diesel has been "cheapened up" and the refineries and with bio-diesel the hard to avoid problems are so much more common.

Diesel problems is now the #1 subject of consternation around the coffee shop tables in our village. When the cover all crowd talks about it daily its a sad comment on the issue.

I have gone from thinking if i practice "best practices" i would be very fine but now best practices today are no longer best practices from 10 years ago.

1736350169142.jpeg
 
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Yotekiller

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I recall seeing a similar issue on a 2501 recently. The tractor would operate fine at full RPM and then after lowering idle speed back down, it would run rough. Guy replaced the fuel pump and it resolved his issue.
 
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Nicfin36

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I just ran into similar issues last weekend while moving some dirt with my L2501. Some slime, looking like snot, was plugging up the supply line the fuel filter at the bottom of my tank. I cleaned the fuel filter and put all new diesel in. I ran for four hours with no issues.

This evening, it started moving dirt again and started to stall and bog down when under a load. I rechecked the fuel filter, and now she won't turn on. I was thinking water in the fuel, but I'm not sure. The fuel looks all the same color, with nothing floating on the surface.

The air bleed valve above the pump opens and when turning the engine over nothing comes out. Not sure if there is a manual bleed for this or I have to go to the injectors. Seems like I could have air or the lift pump is failing.. Not really sure.

Did you pull the fuel line again going to the filter and see if it had clogged up again? Seems like it might be a gunk issue since you already had that problem.
 

UnknownGnome

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May 14, 2022
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Did you pull the fuel line again, go to the filter, and see if it had clogged up again? It might seem like a gunk issue since you already had that problem.
Yeah, I did that this evening—no new signs of algae or any "foreign" biologicals.
Do you have any advice on purging these lines?
I have read that this pump assembly has been problematic for the L2501, but I'm not sure if there is a specific way to test it to verify if it is truly bad.

Another is the way to purge air out of the L2501?

1736396368305.png
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Yeah, I did that this evening—no new signs of algae or any "foreign" biologicals.
Do you have any advice on purging these lines?
I have read that this pump assembly has been problematic for the L2501, but I'm not sure if there is a specific way to test it to verify if it is truly bad.

Another is the way to purge air out of the L2501?

View attachment 145849
You purge the air out by opening this valve and cranking it.

1736402325439.png
 
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UnknownGnome

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You purge the air out by opening this valve and cranking it.

View attachment 145851

Thank you, sir.

I opened it and cranked it over a few times, but no fuel ever came out, but it did start up. I ran for about an hour and a half before it started to sputter again. Let it idle, and it seemed to clear up.

Not sure what's going on.
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Thank you, sir.

I opened it and cranked it over a few times, but no fuel ever came out, but it did start up. I ran for about an hour and a half before it started to sputter again. Let it idle, and it seemed to clear up.

Not sure what's going on.
Check the fittings on the separator they are know to be bad and suck air.
 
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