I've been wrestling with this one on and off for roughly a year. Something in my tank is causing reduced to nonexistent fuel flow to the first fuel filter (which I upgraded using an aftermarket kit to make it more accessible/increase capacity). Slow/no fuel, tractor loses power, sputters and dies.
If I remove the fuel line at the first fuel filter and blow air in, I can get good fuel flow for a few minutes. All our fuel gets filtered through an additional filter funnel on its way into the tank.
I took it to our local dealer in March of 2021 and asked them to check the fuel intake for rust and fuel tank for debris, as well as fix a leak I'd put in the fuel line while trying to get enough fuel flow to load the tractor and head for the dealer. They tried to claim the entire problem was the fuel line leak. When I pitched a fit, the mechanic's notes miraculously included "swept debris out of tank."
I brought it back to the farm, where it ran great for 5 months... Just long enough for the dealer to claim it must be a new issue.
Since then I've put an endoscope down the tank, used a shop vac to try to suction clean, put in a diesel fuel tank cleaner and tried several blind swipes with long brushes.
I'm at the point where I think the next step is taking the tank off, but looking at those directions I can't help but think it might be just as easy to find a second fuel tank that could sit behind the seat and bypass Kubota's design disaster entirely. At the very least, I'd have a tank that would be easy to service if problems arise in the future.
How stupid is this idea?
If I remove the fuel line at the first fuel filter and blow air in, I can get good fuel flow for a few minutes. All our fuel gets filtered through an additional filter funnel on its way into the tank.
I took it to our local dealer in March of 2021 and asked them to check the fuel intake for rust and fuel tank for debris, as well as fix a leak I'd put in the fuel line while trying to get enough fuel flow to load the tractor and head for the dealer. They tried to claim the entire problem was the fuel line leak. When I pitched a fit, the mechanic's notes miraculously included "swept debris out of tank."
I brought it back to the farm, where it ran great for 5 months... Just long enough for the dealer to claim it must be a new issue.
Since then I've put an endoscope down the tank, used a shop vac to try to suction clean, put in a diesel fuel tank cleaner and tried several blind swipes with long brushes.
I'm at the point where I think the next step is taking the tank off, but looking at those directions I can't help but think it might be just as easy to find a second fuel tank that could sit behind the seat and bypass Kubota's design disaster entirely. At the very least, I'd have a tank that would be easy to service if problems arise in the future.
How stupid is this idea?
