The 10,000 hour engine

What do you do?  I have a Kubota M108 here with a severe engine miss.  I have isolated the problem to cylinder number three.  I did a compression test and compression is at the low end of the specification, but not below the spec for acceptable use. 


Now the tricky part.  The tractor has 10,000 hours of operation on the original engine which is about the expected life of the engine.  I could just replace the bad injector and it would run.  I could put a set of injectors in it and it would run better.  To replace the injectors costs about $4500.  A new complete engine costs $8500. 


Installing one injector in an engine with this many hours is not a good plan. I have replaced injectors one at a time only to have another injector fail within a few days.  A whole set of injectors is expensive, more than half the cost of a new engine.  It is a lot of labor to get the injectors out.


So now the lines blur.  If I just repair the fault, it will be back.  If I replace all the injectors, it will cost more than half of a new engine and will most likely need more repairs very soon.  If I put in a new engine, the rest of the tractor is still worn out.


What would you do?

There goes my job!

We have been in a drought for several years now.  It has gone on so long that jobs are now being lost.  Farmers are not planting because there is no water.  Repairs are being put off or just patched until there is some relief. 

My phone has stopped ringing.  I did have some loyal steady customers who kept me busy, but at this point I can't even count on them.  There is just not enough work

Just a few years ago I would have had several air conditioner service calls per week during this time of year.  I had a customer decide to remove the windows from his cab so he wouldn't have to replace an air conditioner compressor and evaporator recently.  Gone are the days that if the air conditioner, radio, and suspended seat all didn't work, the tractor parked until they were all fixed.

Winter for field techs

 

I am a field mechanic all year long.  You might think that after a rain when it is too wet to work in the field I might be inside the shop.  It doesn't really work that way.

 

When tractors are parked it is the best opportunity for preventative maintenance and they are only parked here when weather stops work. 

 

 

The growers here know that there is a brief window when the weather stops field work so annual inspections and tune ups have to be done in the mud, fog, cold and rain.  My phone starts ringing at the first sign of rain. 



You learn to cope with the mud and cold after a few years.  Sometimes it is difficult to take things apart and keep them clean and dry inside.  I find working on these bigger tractors the hardest because you have to climb on them or under them to do almost everything.  If you plan ahead and take all the tools and parts you need and try not to move around too much you can keep things cleaner.

Any part that is bare must be sprayed with WD-40 quickly to prevent rust.  Many parts suppliers use large heavy duty zip lock bags for parts which I always save.  They can be used to protect parts and hardware while things are torn down.  I keep blue lint free rolls of towels to wipe parts dry and my nose when it runs in the cold.  I wear nitrile gloves to keep my hands dry and parts clean.  Most important is rain gear because mud can easily be blown off with an air compressor.

With preparation you can work in these conditions comfortably and you have a good excuse to go mud boggin'.  You can fling mud all over a company truck and the boss doesn't get mad.  You had to get to the tractor, right!

TractorTech

you can run.......

I worked for a Massey Ferguson dealer for four years. I struggled working on Massey Fergusons more than any other brand of tractors. It always seemed like there were parts issues and we never had the right tooling. I left there and moved back to the Kubota dealer where things are much easier.

My boss here knows I have Massey experience so when one comes in for repair I often get it. Two clutches this week. Man I'm tired.

Week one

It has been a full week now at the new job.  I am getting used to my surroundings now and starting to feel more comfortable.  I'm figuring out where everything is but I am sure there is more to find that I haven't thought of yet.

I worked on a Kubota RTV 1100 that overheated and now I am replacing the wire harness on an M125X.  I had to replace the engine on the RTV because it was up in the hills far from the owner's home when the water pump went out and leaked all the water out.  He had to drive it to get home and the little engine that could, couldn't.  I also got some new tractors ready that had been sold.

I like the change so far and I really can't see a down side.  I was getting pretty beat up at the old location working on so many big heavy jobs.  Eight Steiger axle seals in a row, in a sandy field and a Steiger with the park brake locked up in the middle of the field was a challenge.  I wish the old SM could have spread that around a little.  All that kind of work to one guy makes him find a new job.

I haven't got my service truck yet.  It is coming from Texas and should be here in a few days.  I saw a photo of it today and I think I'm going to love it.  The biggest challenge I've had here so far is separation from my tools.  I'm using a small chest that I bought in 1985 and there is not enough room for the tools I need.  I had to pick a few essentials that would fit in that little box to work with for a couple of weeks.  I haven't had to borrow tools for  a long time and I don't like it.  I'm praying for patience.

I am so used to being interrupted every day to go on  road calls and then driving from job to job that working in the shop continuously makes me beat tired by the end of the day.  I will never understand why anyone would want to work inside the shop all the time.

I miss my old friends.  I really enjoyed working with them.  The transition did not go as smoothly as I had hoped and some that had to stay ended up with hurt feelings.  I wish that wasn't how it happened but it is.  I only hope the new company that bought them out is good to them.  Me, I'm glad to stay with the company that has treated me so well for so many years.

New Job

I started a new job today with the same company in a different location.  Are you confused yet? 

Ok, it goes like this:  I worked at Pioneer Equipment Company in Five Points, CA for 25 years.  Then I left for four years but I went back.  I have been there two years this time.  A recent sale of the company has given me the opportunity to transfer to the Fresno, CA location. 

I started as a Service Technician and worked my way up (or down, depending on how you look at it) to Service Manager.  I left to work with a friend at a Massey Ferguson dealer for four years.  I had the chance to go back to Pioneer and jumped on it. 

If you are following along you see that I started as a Service Technician, then I was a Field Technician, then Shop Foreman, then Service manager, then Field technician, now a Shop Technician for a while until I go back to Field Technician.

Now the weird part.  I started in May of 1983.  I left in May of 2008.  I came back in May of 2012.  Then in May of 2014 the Five Points location sold and I moved to the Fresno location. 

I want to tear May out of my calendar now.

Kubota Engine teardown

I recently replaced the engine in a Kubota RTV 900.  The water pump seal began leaking and the coolant level was not checked or topped off.  No coolant in the engine quickly caused the engine to overheat.  When the engine got to the point that it was hard to start the customer brought it in for us to check it out.

The engine cranked faster than normal and made a lot of smoke.  I ran a compression test and it was low.  At that point the customer decided to replace the engine with a brand new replacement engine from Kubota.

New engines from Kubota come with starter, alternator injection pump and injectors.  They also have a new engine warranty and are reasonably priced.  It costs close to the same amount to overhaul one and the rebuilt engine usually has a 90 day warranty.  Most customers want the new engine.

I tore down the overheated engine and recorded it on video.  Watch and you will see what happens to an engine when you ignore that coolant puddle in the driveway.  Sometimes the temperature gauge will not show that the engine is hot if there is no coolant in the engine.  The gauge reads coolant temperature not air temperature.  No coolant, no warning that's just the way it works.