XG850 Starter replacement

[bmcf]

PSB-2020-034-E-R1 issued on March 16, 2020
It replaces the starter solenoid relay and positive battery cables.
It is a Fix when Failure only, and is good for 5 years from the date of purchase.

Hi!, I am having the same issue on my 2020 RTV-XG850. Would you happen to have a copy of the PSB? My dealer claims no knowledge. Thank you!

 

[whitetiger]

Hi!, I am having the same issue on my 2020 RTV-XG850. Would you happen to have a copy of the PSB? My dealer claims no knowledge. Thank you!

All your dealer has to do is log into their Kubotalink and put PSB-2020-034 in the search line. It will bring up the PSB in its entirety.

Check your private messages for more info.

 

[bmcf]

All your dealer has to do is log into their Kubotalink and put PSB-2020-034 in the search line. It will bring up the PSB in its entirety.

Check your private messages for more info.

Thank you!

 

[Tashier]

I am now dealing with this as well. Starter is toast, magnets are all over the place and shattered. I've found a PDF on Mitsubas website that details the starters.

https://www.mitsuba.co.jp/en/vpep/products/product_details/starter_details.html

I haven't really figured out a direction to take on this as I'm not gonna pay $800 for this tiny little failure of a starter.

 

[Tashier]

re: throwaway society

read between the lines here. Stuff costs. a lot. Particularly OEM stuff. Ask yourself why?

Along comes the chinamen who make cheap and inexpensive replacements. They're less expensive and that's what we buy on-price. "I ain't payin $700 for a starter that I can get on amazon (or whatever) for $100".

and thus, it's cheaper to throw the old starter out, put a $100 starter on it 6 times than it is to pay $700 for a starter. Right?

From a dealer tech standpoint we have to look at that stuff too. Yes I've rebuilt lots of starters. Ain't particularly hard to do on "most" of them. However, to simply R&R a starter might be 1 hour labor (so $150 in our case). Plus the cost of the starter.

Or I can rebuild it. You still pay $150. Add in the cost of the brushes, armature, re-gluing the magnets if needed, which all adds labor to the cost. Then remember that a shop has a warranty on their work, so it HAS to be right, because the owner is very likely to have some kind of problem later on, be it a dead battery or a fouled spark plug, or a flat tire-and he will REMEMBER that you replaced the starter in April of 2024 and then the shop gets to eat the cost of the flat tire and probably a wheel too. That is how people often are, unfortunately.

So now you're at close to $600 and are gonna likely eat another cost later on down the road. Or you can put a $700 starter on it for $150 in labor and if the starter fails later on, the dealer can pass the liability onto the manufacturer rather than having to eat it themselves. THAT is why things have gone to "throwaway" status-it simply costs too much to repair stuff like the old days.

We shop guys try to keep the costs down as much as possible for the end user, keeping in mind the liability, the future costs, the aggravation, and a whole bunch of other stuff too. In the end the decision is made, repair it or replace it. Most times it's less trouble for both the shop/tech and for the customer, to replace it.

In the case of engines, a lot of times they're fixable. But the cost to fix often exceeds the cost to just replace it-then the replacement may have a longer warranty on it too vs a shop guarantee which can be 14 days or 30 days or 90 days depends on the shop, and that that guarantee entails.

Any way you slice it this is not an $800 starter. I just did a starter on a 7.3L Diesel and its massive in size and complexity with gear reduction etc and it was half the price.

 

[lugbolt]

Any way you slice it this is not an $800 starter. I just did a starter on a 7.3L Diesel and its massive in size and complexity with gear reduction etc and it was half the price.

and there are millions and millions of them made, and the aftermarket has them covered in addition (which are often cheaply made, with the exception of Denso, which is an OEM, and about $400....I have one on mine). There are no aftermarket choices for Kubota XG850, at least that I know of, thus that's gonna allow the price of the OEM starter to remain the only option. Maybe you can build or source an aftermarket version, and try to sell enough of them to make a profit on. If that's the case, let us know how much they cost.

the 7.3's are still out there in numbers, in pickups and buses. My brother is a bus mechanic and sees a few of them to this day. UPS trucks still have a few too, among others. They're slowly going away. Slowly, but that is the result of so many of them still being out there. I own one, and will never own another diesel for personal use.

 

[bmcf]

I am now dealing with this as well. Starter is toast, magnets are all over the place and shattered. I've found a PDF on Mitsubas website that details the starters.

https://www.mitsuba.co.jp/en/vpep/products/product_details/starter_details.html

I haven't really figured out a direction to take on this as I'm not gonna pay $800 for this tiny little failure of a starter.

The local Kubota parts guy told me it "happens frequently". Unfortunately, Kubota hasn't done anything about it.