Had the transmission fluid dipstick on my L3301 HST blow out the other day, and oil squirted everywhere covering the whole tractor. Any clue as to why it happened? The dipstick head has popped up before, but I have just pressed it back down and went about my business. Not sure if it’s a quick fix I can handle or need the dealer to come check it out. Thanks in advance.
L3301 Transmission Fluid Dipstick Blowing Out
- Thread starter ZackA
- Start date
Somewhere there is vent for the transmission case, it is probably blocked based your symptoms. Hopefully someone can point you to the exact location.
North Idaho Wolfman
Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
And the rubber tube “hook” might be missing. Over time they split at the base and fall off.
Edit, I see you have what must be a very low hour L3301 (lack paint wear on the floor boards and diff lock) so the rubber tube is probably still there.
Edit, I see you have what must be a very low hour L3301 (lack paint wear on the floor boards and diff lock) so the rubber tube is probably still there.
Thanks for the reply. I located it this morning and I’ll attach what I found. I would think that there would be a hole in the piece of rubber to vent? It looks like there would be a hole at the tip, but it’s covered with rubber. Thanks
Attachments
Thanks for the reply Griz. I replied to another response and found the rubber hook but there is no hole in the end of it. I assume there is suppose to be so it can vent right?
Awesome, I punched out the hole in mine and will see if it still acts up. I appreciate it!
Great. You’ve got it fixed. You might just clip the tip off so the whole diameter of the tube is available to vent. Thats how mine came from the factory, full diameter open.
North Idaho Wolfman
Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
The full open diameter vents were problematic as the mud dabbers would plug them up.
That's why they changed to the smaller hole.
And it's really not moving a lot of air really quickly it sort of just builds up so a small hole works fine.
In this case an inch is as good as a mile.
Maybe Kubota ought to use the vent style used on old school automotive axles might still have them on the rear axle of pickups. Had a little metal cap on top of the vent that was lightly spring loaded. It would close (due to a partial vacuum) if the axle was immersed in something appreciably cooler than the axel to keep (mostly) water from getting sucked in.
Looks like this:
Old School Axle Vent
Be careful with that style vent with the spring loaded valve because at least from some suppliers they sometimes stick in the closed position. This is the best theory as to why the Cadillac ATS is so prone to bad axle seals which result in a trashed differential if the owner doesn't check them regularly. Because of the vent/seal issue, the leak is slow enough that they typically don't drip on the floor but lose enough fluid over time during operation that the rear end is damaged from loss of lubrication. They stick in the closed position allowing either pressure or vacuum to build.
As a preventative measure, my ATS has an even older school vent tube attached to a barb replacing the "rattle cap" vent and it is terminated in one of the tiny inline filters like Kubota uses for some diesel applications. I caught mine in time at 8K miles when there was some moisture around the seals and after getting rid of the rattle cap vent it has been fine for the ensuing 40K with no further loss of fluid.
I wouldn't use it on a vehicle that was going offroad but the ATS isn't going to play in high water
Just another example of how extreme cost cutting has taken a simple part and makes it of such low quality that what was reliable by WW II is no longer reliable. 20 years ago I was invited to attend one of the reverse auctions in use by auto manufacturers but I didn't stay for the entire online event which lasted over a day. A group of invited suppliers are bidding on supplying specific groups of parts for a multiple year model run and every time one of them makes a bid, it starts another 3 minute period for one of the other suppliers to undercut the bid and it continues until nobody is willing to go lower. The supplier goal is to make a profit by the end of a 3 year contracted run, only the buyer can see the identities of the bidders and bids during the actual auction. Given this extreme cost cutting behavior, it isn't surprising how many low quality parts are used to build a lot of modern stuff.
Rodger
Well heck, my suggestion is to dismiss any input I’ve provided in this thread. It clearly isn’t above reproach.Be careful with that style vent with the spring loaded valve because at least from some suppliers they sometimes stick in the closed position. This is the best theory as to why the Cadillac ATS is so prone to bad axle seals which result in a trashed differential if the owner doesn't check them regularly. Because of the vent/seal issue, the leak is slow enough that they typically don't drip on the floor but lose enough fluid over time during operation that the rear end is damaged from loss of lubrication. They stick in the closed position allowing either pressure or vacuum to build.
As a preventative measure, my ATS has an even older school vent tube attached to a barb replacing the "rattle cap" vent and it is terminated in one of the tiny inline filters like Kubota uses for some diesel applications. I caught mine in time at 8K miles when there was some moisture around the seals and after getting rid of the rattle cap vent it has been fine for the ensuing 40K with no further loss of fluid.
I wouldn't use it on a vehicle that was going offroad but the ATS isn't going to play in high water
Just another example of how extreme cost cutting has taken a simple part and makes it of such low quality that what was reliable by WW II is no longer reliable. 20 years ago I was invited to attend one of the reverse auctions in use by auto manufacturers but I didn't stay for the entire online event which lasted over a day. A group of invited suppliers are bidding on supplying specific groups of parts for a multiple year model run and every time one of them makes a bid, it starts another 3 minute period for one of the other suppliers to undercut the bid and it continues until nobody is willing to go lower. The supplier goal is to make a profit by the end of a 3 year contracted run, only the buyer can see the identities of the bidders and bids during the actual auction. Given this extreme cost cutting behavior, it isn't surprising how many low quality parts are used to build a lot of modern stuff.
Rodger
Griz,
I didn't mean to dismiss your input in any way. It is more frustration over stupid simple parts like this that shouldn't cause problems but they do.
My apologies if it came off the wrong way!
Rodger
I didn't mean to dismiss your input in any way. It is more frustration over stupid simple parts like this that shouldn't cause problems but they do.
My apologies if it came off the wrong way!
Rodger
No worries. Although there’s a lot of helpful input on this site, there’s nearly as many folks that appear to enjoy nitpicking the input of others. Opinions are like elbows. Everyone has them and the internet makes it easy to do so.
I do agree the quality of manufacturing has definitely been driven ever downward in the interest of profit.