Skidloader Kubota saga continues

[jon f mn]

Since I got the Kubota in and running I've
been having another oil leak problem. This
one, like the other, has been a real
problem. The oil gets on the belts and gets
sprayed everywhere so tracing it down has
been impossible. At first I thought I had
messed up the front engine seal and it was
getting thrown off the pulley. So I pulled
the engine and put in a new seal. But that
wasn't it. So I pulled the engine again to
look for the leak. I just couldn't find
anything that looked like it was leaking.
Spent hours looking and cleaning trying to
trace down the source. Finally I called a
friend to help so one could drive and the
other look. We started by taling the engine
out and hooking up the engine and running
it, but didn't see any leaks after 15
minutes. So we put it back in and ran all
the controls trying to find the leak. At
that point we could see it was hitting the
front of the engine, but not where it came
from. So out with the engine again. We
couldn't even separate e gine oil from
hydraulic system oil because the hydraulics
uses engine oil. So no way to tell the
difference there. And a very thorough
inspection yielded not hydraulic leaks. So
we hooked up the engine and started it
again. FINALLY, I was able to spot the
leak, it was coming out of the hole with
the green bolt in it.

There was no bolt in that hole at any time
that I have had the engine. The reason it
didn't leak on the earlier tries at running
the engine is because it's fairly small and
deep and not under pressure, it's just in
the timing cover. So when the engine was
cold the oil was too thick to come out, but
once the oil was hot and thin it would
splash out. And right on the fan belt so it
got thrown all over. Put that bolt in and
problem solved. Sure has been a frustrating
project so far. I just hope that's the last
of the issues now. I do believe that the
hydraulic issues I was having are more
related to the belts slipping from being
oil soaked and not from actual hydraulic
issues. That would be nice.

 

[Janicholson]

Woof. at least you now have engine R&R below flat rate. Jim

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Sometimes you just have to keep looking until you find the problem.

Good for you.

 

[jm.]

Depending on the use but most times there is a loop bracket with a bolt holding the line from the water pump down to lower radiator opening. Glad you got it fixed. Without the bracket the cover has a metric Allen head in that hole .

 

[Hobo,NC]

That chucks : (

Time for a home made smoke machine to find leaks.

https://www.dieselplace.com/threads/home-made-smoke-machine.787122/

I made one 15 years are so ago it worked ok. I have a Redline now its the cheit... The only limit as to what you can do with it is your imagination.

 

[john in la]

Now you see why any reputable shop or even a big business would not have touch this original job.

You have spent enough money and time even if you only count the time as down time on this job you could have bought a nice skid loader.

 

[ASEguy]

Glad you found it. Think that's the original bolt? I wonder if a plug goes there instead. We use dye tests for tough leaks.

 

[jon f mn]

That's a true statement except my time isn't worth anything, at least according to my father. Should have just bought the replacement engine kit with a Honda engine that was available for $2500 at the start. Of course that same kit is now well over 3k now. But I do love a challenge, so I'm not real upset.

 

[jon f mn]

That is a bolt from a junk jd lawn mower I have sitting here. I just hope that doesn't cause problems now, I don't have much luck it green stuff.