How does things like this happen?

[Welding man]

A customer just brought in a MX5400 Kubota with 600 hours and a locked up engine. He said he was mowing and the oil drain plug fell out of the oil pan. Oil had not been changed since last fall. Why did the plug fall Out? We disassembled the engine and it is a nightmare. Crankshaft and all 4 main bearing retainers are in bad condition. Broke the camshaft, Wiped out one balancer shaft and did not hurt one single connecting rod or rod bearing. Kubota wants $17,000.00 for a replacement engine. Short block not available. No remans that we have found. No Cores, too new. If the crank can be reground, we might get it back together for around $9000.00. This is a very complicated Tier 4 engine. I wish I had not seen it.

 

[Destroked 450]

Worked on a friends M9000 last year, over heated and scored 3 pistons
Kubota wanted $1500 for a new engine and proof of the old engine being destroyed before they would ship the new one. They wanted multiple holes drilled through the block and head to prove it couldn’t be rebuilt
We were able the save his block and rebuilt it, it was my first and last Kubota repair

 

[mhb@ufe]

Had a customer bring in a L2500 that lost a drain plug on one side of the pan. It had scoring on both sides of the oil pan that looked like he went over a stone wall with it.

 

[rrlund]

I had one drop out of my White 2-135 one time while I was chopping corn. It has two plugs, one in front of the axle brace, one behind. The front one was loose. Either I didn't tighten them when I changed the oil, or somebody loosened them while it was left in the field overnight.

 

[charlie n]

Probably put it in hand tight soes not to strip the threads. Get on Facebook and go to the MX owners page. Start scanin and read a couple questions and issues and you'll understand the nature of the beast. Read one that said ,I spread a load of rock with my tractor and box blade today. Took me 2 hours to do the job and 5 hours to detail the machine. I'm just sayin.

 

[docmirror]

The oil drain plug fell out because it was not properly torqued after the oil change was done. Or, it was smashed into something that loosened it(unlikely). Does the oil pan show impact damage?

 

[da.bees]

Who can say how long a hand tightened plug stays in before dropping out? The lesson here is that a live data reader with alarms is a good investment. I've always ran them on my diesels and it's surprising to know how often engine and transmissions get hotter than they should be run. Knowing when that happens and simply dropping to next lower gear cools it right down. In this case oil pressure alarm would have gone off and saved some if not most damage. On the $17k rebuild, ouch!

 

[DanielW]

Does 'mowing' mean bush-hogging? If bush hogging some thick brush, then that could be the reason. Back in my early teenage years my grandfather had me bush-hogging an area of thick (1" or so) willows with a neighbour's JD 2130. All the willows were at least 4' or 5' tall, so they had me driving over them and having them bent down by the front axle before reaching the bush hog. One of those willow stems rubbed hard along-side the drain plug and undid it. I had the sun at my back shining on the dash so the oil light wasn't immediately obvious. As soon as I turned and the sun was no longer shining on the dash I saw the oil light and shut down - probably about 30 yards later. But by that time the damage was already done.

I was always (and still am) irked that I took the heat for that one. First, because I felt that even a thick willow against the side of the plug shouldn't have been enough to undo it. Second, because I was only doing what I was told to do as a 13 year old kid and I don't think anyone else would/could have done any differently nor noticed any sooner. And third, because it was the neighbour who convinced my grandfather to use that tractor & bush-hog. We were clearing it by hand with chainsaws before that. The neighbour saw us and said that we should try using his 2130 and heavy-duty bush hog for the job, which he was trying to sell at the time. He was working on convincing my grandfather to buy the pair. In the end, we ended up paying him for a full engine rebuild (including labour), and he decided to keep it for himself once it had a new/tight engine. I always felt my grandfather should have pushed back more on that one.

 

[Ray,IN]

As long as we're telling oil stories here's mine. I was bush-hogging one day and the motor began to sound odd. I checked the gauges, the oil gauge indicated zero. I shut off the engine and began looking for signs of leaking, which didn't take long to spot a stick ran through the oil filter.
I walked to my house and got a new filter out of the garage. Took it a 5qts oil, got into my pickup, then went and replace the filter N oil. That tractor engine carried the same oil pressure as before the puncture.
The filter is located near the bottom port side of the engine in an upright position. Wonder the odds of a dead stick puncturing the oil filter?
Now I must go check the drain plug in my tractor; I bush-hogged down some 10' saplings last spring and Daniels story is nagging on me.

 

[ss55]

A customer just brought in a MX5400 Kubota with 600 hours and a locked up engine. He said he was mowing and the oil drain plug fell out of the oil pan. Oil had not been changed since last fall. Why did the plug fall Out? We disassembled the engine and it is a nightmare. Crankshaft and all 4 main bearing retainers are in bad condition. Broke the camshaft, Wiped out one balancer shaft and did not hurt one single connecting rod or rod bearing. Kubota wants $17,000.00 for a replacement engine. Short block not available. No remans that we have found. No Cores, too new. If the crank can be reground, we might get it back together for around $9000.00. This is a very complicated Tier 4 engine. I wish I had not seen it.

If a tractor is new enough to still be under warranty and requires major work it might be better for everyone involved to sent those customers to the dealer.

 

[Welding man]

If a tractor is new enough to still be under warranty and requires major work it might be better for everyone involved to sent those customers to the dealer.

Warranties do not cover operator error. Someone left the plug loose. Not Kubotas' fault. They want 17,000 plus labor for a new engine. Not an option.. We will fix it for a lot less.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Warranties do not cover operator error. Someone left the plug loose. Not Kubotas' fault. They want 17,000 plus labor for a new engine. Not an option.. We will fix it for a lot less.

The general warranty does not cover operator error but KTAC does. If it was financed and is still covered by KTAC Kubota will pay for the new engine.

TOH