L4701 I am an idiot how screwed am I ?

[Bmyers]

The guy may be 100% legit. It could be just extremely bad luck. The probability is it is something else, but there is a possibility that it did just break when you got it home and calling a person a conman without proof can provide legal challenges along the lines of defamation of character.

I wish you the best of luck and will be interesting to see what the final resolution is.

 

[fried1765]

I'd think there's krap in the fuel, and 20-20 hindsight '10 minutes' probably wasn't even enough time to get the tractor up to operating temperature, let alone test every function/feature of it.
94hrs on a 2 year old tractor isn't very much and fuel goes 'bad' after a month or so.
Sounds like it'll still start and run, so I'd drain tank, remove, CLEAN, purge the fuel lines, clean injectors,all new filters, add fresh fuel,prime and start it up. It might run 'rough' for 4-7 minutes, then clear up and be fine.

"fuel goes bad after a month or so".
Not so!
I have used diesel that was more that three years old, and it worked just fine!

 

[Henro]

I will say he called me back and he called the dealership. If he was truly a conman I don't think he does that.

You obviously have not met well practiced con men.

Hope it works out for you.

The best con men make you think they cannot be con men.

LOL but experience from the past speaking, and I met some of the best...

Good luck in how this turns out...maybe Kubota can be conned too...hope so...although this sounds like a judgement call on my part, which is not intended.

Edit: keep asking yourself, what are the chances...

 

[OrangeKrush]

"fuel goes bad after a month or so".
Not so!
I have used diesel that was more that three years old, and it worked just fine!

I'm glad you responded to this because I forgot by the time I read through the rest of the post's. From what I have read "ON HERE" ott, that fuel stays good for quite some time. I'm hoping so because what's in my tractor has been in there for a while and have another 5 gallons waiting to go in after that. It was pumped at the same time!

 

[BobInSD]

...Looking back when I test drove it, it was only in a 1-acre lot so I kinda did circles, moved the bucket and 3 point hitch, etc.....everything seemed to work fine. Lucky my wife was there and saw it all working etc.. LOL. I didn't rev it up much because there was really not a need. I mean I didn't have much room to go fast and really thinking such low hours I wasn't too concerned...

Don't beat yourself up. That's about all I ever do, plus a couple of tests I've picked up online. I had a scare w/ the Kubota, it was cutting out on me, almost stalling. Luckily I realized it had a seat safety switch that was a little sensitive. None of my other tractors had such modern conveniences so it gnawed at me for a couple of days before the light bulb came on.

I hope it works out for you. If it's just one bearing that would point to a manufacturer defect. If all of the bearings look burnt it's more likely a maintenance issue.

 

[OrangeKrush]

Oh and good luck OP, I hope this works out well for you. I couldn't imagine spending that kind of money and this happening. Keep your head up!

 

[Bark]

Just wondering, who did the 50 hr service on it? Owner or dealer?

Not wanting you to throw money away but if you still can, get a sample of that oil. Don't ask me why but you may want to get it tested later on.

 

[DustyRusty]

Nice douchey worthless post. Very helpful.

You might want to think twice before you start making disparaging comments about some of the most knowledgeable people on these forums. I know that Whitetiger is one of those most knowledgeable people. His name is Whitetiger, but I'll bet that he has a memory like an elephant, and doesn't forget much. Just hope that you never need his expert advice.

 

[Jared 756]

Lots of guessing going on here…but the biggest problem I read is the “Oil is all sparkly”.

If there’s metal in the oil… it IS ”kabotas” problem….no matter how it’s spelled.
Whether they’ll pony-up and fix it on their nickel may be jdays’ problem…. hope not. And hope you’ll stay with this topic and let us know how this turns out!

Just because there is metal in the oil doesn't make in automatically Kubota's responsibility

 

[fried1765]

I'm glad you responded to this because I forgot by the time I read through the rest of the post's. From what I have read "ON HERE" ott, that fuel stays good for quite some time. I'm hoping so because what's in my tractor has been in there for a while and have another 5 gallons waiting to go in after that. It was pumped at the same time!

In many places around the world, diesel is often stored in 55 gal. drums for years at a time!

 

[Bark]

That's why I am suggesting he retain a sample of the oil.
I love my L4701. Its almost three years old and the fire breaks it made probably saved our place from the English Hills fire.
The L4701 machine has the torque and power to disk straight up and down the hills that I previously had to disk sideways using our old 1932 AC Model M on because I could use it disking sideways without it rolling over.
The L4701 has a great engine so I can only imagine that your machine may have had a very improper oil added to it at some point.
Ummm, did I mention that I have been wrong once or twice before?

 

[motionclone]

Maybe some algae jostled loose from the ride or removing from the trailer, blocked the fuel line which caused all the poor running conditions. And its actually the dealership thats trying to scare/scam him into needing a new engine?

How would rough operation like he described equate to metal in oil? What engine problem causes both?

 

[mcmxi]

Wow! So many assumptions in this thread.

@Jday, how well do you know the folks at the dealer you're using. Do you have a history with them? My dealer is all about building lifelong relationships so I absolutely trust them. I consider many at the dealership to be friends but your situation may be different.

It might be in the best interest of your dealer to tell you that you need a new engine so I would definitely get a second opinion unless you have a history with them that indicates that you can trust them.

As for Kubota being responsible for this ... what a joke. How can anyone state that off the bat without knowing what the issue is, how the tractor was used/abused etc? The warranty could have been voided by any manner of incompetence, negligence or neglect.

Definitely get a second opinion on this.

 

[Cathy Liebchen]

Has the signs of having been run without oil in it

 

[lugbolt]

I have a suspicion based on past dealings with used equipment

prior owner either changed oil and forgot to put oil back in, or ran it out of oil somehow, or maybe it was vandalized....whatever reason, if there is in fact shiny stuff in the oil that was drained out of the engine, that's about all that could happen.

bad bearing shows up within minutes. It would have never made it out of the factory, and I've been through that factory (two of them actually). The testing is pretty rigorous but not abusive, basically they run them and test for oil pressure, etc.. In 30 years of dealing with kubota's I have never once seen a Kubota engine with a bad bearing, and frankly have never even heard of it.

that's why I said, that's about all I can think of that could happen.

Now, with that said, prepare yourself for the worst. It may very well be provable that the engine was either run out of oil or low of oil, and if that's the case, the warranty department might tell you to pound sand. Then what do you do? They "are" rebuildable, although not cheaply. Dealers got to where they replace engines, I dealt with this sub ject a while back. It ends up being the same or even less costly to replace it than to rebuild it at dealer pricing. Make sure they replace or at least clean the dpf as it is now contaminated with whatever was causing the excess smoke.

 

[DDCD]

Very sorry this happened and I hope it works out. I know it's no consolation but I bought a used 50+ year old tractor from a trusted family member. He told about several of the oil leaks. He didn't tell me about the other 10 leaks because he didn't know. I've put a bunch of money into that tractor and it came from close family.

At 94 hours I probably would've not suspected a bunch as well. I'm also more towards the trusting side.

I agree with all that say the dealer needs to provide some proof besides sparkly oil. All that smoking and lack of power sounds like it could be a fuel problem as well however the Kubota techs that post are very knowledgeable.

 

[jyoutz]

I think I would get a second opinion at an independent shop or another Kubota dealer. I think that an independent shop would be more likely to rebuild rather than replace the engine.

 

[Bark]

Once again-

Just wondering, who did the 50 hr service on it? Owner or dealer?

Are the original grey filters still on it. Do the current filters have the date or hour written on them?

 

[whitetiger]

Nice douchey worthless post. Very helpful.

The facts as to whether there is a problem, was a problem created by the seller, is there a manufacturing problem, or even what the alleged failure is are not yet known. As of now, everything is pure speculation and it's really, really hard to comment about "any recourse"

Someone may have accidentally added gasoline to the fuel tank, the engine oil may have been changed with oil not suited to a diesel engine, the engine may have been overheated, the oil may just have a natural metallic tint to it, there may just be a fuel delivery problem, etc, etc. I could list pages of "could be".

I will wait until the facts are known before "any recourse" and then maybe I can post a "very helpful" post that is as helpful as your post.

 

[GeoHorn]

Just because there is metal in the oil doesn't make in automatically Kubota's responsibility

My thought was that a 94-hr tractor with metal in the oil has a high likelihood of internal mechanical failure….and regardless of warranty chronology….it speaks poorly of the machine from the standpoint of quality production or design…making it a ding on Kubotas’ rep.

Of course, there’s the presumption that the machine has been properly serviced with oil…however, even if the 50-hr service was completely ignored there’s no reason for a tractor to make metal in the oil at 94 hrs. (Agreed, the term “sparkly” isn’t very definitive. How “sparkly” was it? Big sparkles? Tiny sparkles? Did the buyer pull/look at the dipstick during his test-drive? Did he notice anything at that point?)

The Big Question in my mind is what the seller did at that 50-hr he claims to have performed. The suggestions made here that he may have run it without oil and caused damage…. isn’t very likely if he did the service at the 50-hr point….because the tractor ran for another 40+ hrs and seemed to run fine at the initial “inspection”. Even a cursory test-drive inspection would likely have revealed any deep engine problems if it was making metal. So that doesn’t lend itself to a theory the seller damaged it and knew it and therefore sold it to an unsuspecting buyer.

I might be wrong. It’s possible the seller sold it with a known problem which a quick-test-drive didn’t reveal. But with the sellers subsequent actions, … that seems unlikely.