Sidekick RTV-XG850 backfiring / loss of power

[catalyst]

at 400 hours, that's a lot of usage. So at that kind of hours there comes many, many questions. Was it maintained properly? What kind of maintenance was done? Who did it? Is a failure normal wear, abnormal wear, neglect, abuse, or indeed a defect? The more hours that a unit has on it the more these are questionable items that hold more validity. Think about it this way. Say you're looking at used cars. You find one you want, but it's got 200,000 miles on it. What's that got to do with anything? At 200,000 miles there are a lot more questions than the one up the street that's got 20,000 miles, right?

and that's where the manufacturer's warranty department is. There are a lot of unknowns when they are processing warranty claims. Look at it this way, from their perspective. Some components are not built by Kubota, they are purchased (outsourced). If said component fails within the kubota warranty period, kubota warranty processors have to get paid by the people who make the part(s) which is just about as annoying to deal with as it is for us consumers to have to carry our stuff to the dealer to request warranty repairs. Say an outsourced part fails and kubota is the one administering the warranty on the unit. Kubota warranty processors have to ask (or tell) the manufacturer of the part that the part is defective-and they often have to PROVE the fact, via pictures or what have you, so that they can get paid. If y'all only knew how much money they lose on warranty repairs in a year, you might raise an eyebrow--or maybe not since a lot of folks just don't care, they only see "their" side of things.

400 hours is not a lot a usage. That would be within the normal factory warranty hours. I would not expect an engine failure within that window to be "normal". You are comparing that to a car with 200,000miles on it, but in reality given most car warranties, the apples to apples would be a car with 30,000-36,000 miles on it with an engine failure, and yes - that would be premature.

 

[Siesta Sundance]

400 hours is not a lot a usage. That would be within the normal factory warranty hours. I would not expect an engine failure within that window to be "normal". You are comparing that to a car with 200,000miles on it, but in reality given most car warranties, the apples to apples would be a car with 30,000-36,000 miles on it with an engine failure, and yes - that would be premature.

Agree, 400hours is not much. I think my truck at the 5k mile oil change intervals it clocks about 320hours on average.

 

[Tombstone Ranch]

Speaking of...I've done 3 oil changes now, every time the oil shimmers, but the engine keeps purring, anyone else seen that on the gas engines? Normally I don't like anything like that after the initial break-in.

 

[lugbolt]

400 hours on a unit that gets used in the dirtiest, dustiest possible conditions is about the same as a LOT more hours/miles on a car that runs in a lot cleaner conditions, at 10-25% load most of the time (where anything kubota is typically 50% to 100% load all the time).

all I'm saying on that. Y'all are comparing cars to RTV's which is comparing grapes to steak. Hours is relative. Relative to maintenance and how it's used.

I've had them come in with windowed blocks at 12 hours. And I've seen them run thousands. All depends on the owner, user, and maintainer.

as with all other forums, there are a lot of unknowns. Until the unit is in front of "us", nobody really knows.

the sidekick engine runs around 4000-6000 RPM constantly. Grab your pickup truck and everywhere you go, leave it in low gear so it runs 4000-6000 RPM, and do this in the dust/dirt with a load on it, and see how long it lasts.

 

[Siesta Sundance]

I still agree, 400 hours on maintained machine is not much......

 

[catalyst]

400 hours on a unit that gets used in the dirtiest, dustiest possible conditions is about the same as a LOT more hours/miles on a car that runs in a lot cleaner conditions, at 10-25% load most of the time (where anything kubota is typically 50% to 100% load all the time).

all I'm saying on that. Y'all are comparing cars to RTV's which is comparing grapes to steak. Hours is relative. Relative to maintenance and how it's used.

I've had them come in with windowed blocks at 12 hours. And I've seen them run thousands. All depends on the owner, user, and maintainer.

as with all other forums, there are a lot of unknowns. Until the unit is in front of "us", nobody really knows.

the sidekick engine runs around 4000-6000 RPM constantly. Grab your pickup truck and everywhere you go, leave it in low gear so it runs 4000-6000 RPM, and do this in the dust/dirt with a load on it, and see how long it lasts.

it has never been run hard. it has been babied, which sounds like the reason behind the failure. it looks nearly new. I cited 400 hours, because that was Kubota's documentation for warranty coverage - so Kubota must also consider that to be within premature failure span.