Well, my dad went out and bought a new brush chipper for work. I am the one that has to maintain it so I need some basic (or advanced) info.

First, I will say I know NOTHING about diesels (except you don't put Gasoline in them) The engine has a turbocharger and I don't even know what that is!

It is an 89 horsepower Kubota engine (3.3 L 4 cylinder). What do I need to know in terms of maintaining it? How often to change glow plugs, filters, etc. I have heard diesel fuel gels in the cold? How do I prevent that?

The engine gets warmed up for about 5 minutes before we use it (it runs at full throttle when being used to chip branches, approx. 2800 RPM). When done we idle it down and then let it idle for at least 5 mins to let it cool down. This procedure is correct I am assuming?

What diesel oil should I use? It says I should use MIL-L-2104C or have properties of API classification CD grades or higher. It says to change the oil after the first 50 hours then every 500 hours (or yearly) after that. Is that too long of a timeframe? Should I do it twice a year? How long until I can change to synthetic? Any recommendations there?

Any other things I should know, tell me!

-Matt

P.S. It is a Kubota V3300-DI-T-EU-1 by the way.

 

I can't help you much with diesels in general, but I can clue you in a little on turbochargers. Any internal combustion engine needs a certain air to fuel ratio, a stoichiometric ratio determined by the chemical equations involved in the combustion process. Too much fuel, (running rich), and the unburnt/partially burned fuel can cause nasty deposits on everything. Run too much air (too lean), and you can overheat. For gasoline, the ratio is about 14:1, air to fuel. So you need 14 L of air for every 1L of (evaporated or gaseous) gasoline. The problem isn't in getting that much fuel into the combustion chambers, it's getting that much air in there, and there are various ways of accomplishing that. A turbocharger is one of them. Basically, a turbocharger is an exhaust-driven compressor. It pushes air into the engine at a higher pressure than a naturally aspirated engine, which just pulls in ambient air at atmospheric pressure by the action of the pistons and valves. The turbocharger runs at very high rpm: 100-150,000 rpm typically. It may cost 50 or more ponies to run a turbo, but it can add 100 or more (net gain). You can read more about it here:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

Jason

 

I can't help with any specifics, but it wouldn't hurt if you were to bone up a little on the theory behind diesel engines if you haven't done so recently. Here's a pretty good start:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...mo/diesel.html

 

Didn't a manual come with it? My Kubota tractor had a manual, and it had routine maintainence procedures in it.

Maybe go to Kubota and get the manual?

 

Good, the first step is to admit you don't know anything, then it is easier for us to help you with your problems... LOL!!
Sounds like you got a mean little woodchipper on your hands, should be fun.

If you have a manual, the best thing to do is to follow what it says. Each engine has different recommendations, so follow the manual, that way if something goes wrong and you followed what they told you, it's their fault.

You shouldn't have to change glow plugs very often, they are not anything like spark plugs... actually I'm kinda surprised an engine like that would have them, but it probably does. Glowplugs are used to heat up the cylinders to aide in cold starts. Unlike gasoline engines that use a spark for ignition, diesels compress the fuel/air mixture until it ignites, that's why the are built so heavily. With no source of ignition, on cold mornings it is hard to start a diesel with a cold block and cold fuel/air, hence the glow plugs.

#2 diesel fuel will gel in the winter. At most all truckstops, the fuel is blended with #1 diesel fuel and sometimes winter additive. #1 has a lower cloud(gel) point then #2, but also has a lower btu/gal rating making it "less powerful". If you run straight #2 year round, gelling can easily be prevented by putting in an anti-gel fuel additive. Most any auto parts shop will have them, but make sure it has anti-gelling proterties, otherwise the additive is useless for cold weather.

Letting it warm up and cool down is the best way to make the engine last longer, you are doing that correctly! The turbo turns around 100,000 rpm, give or take a couple, and needs to be cooled down before shutting off. If you look at it, there is an oil supply to the turbo shaft, once the motor is shut off the oil is no longer being pumped to the turbo, and the turbo will continue to coast to a stop without oil. Once or twice of doing this won't hurt it, but repeatedly will eventually wear it out. And with all the heat built up from the high rpm, letting it cool gives the oil a chance to dissipate the heat, same thing throughout the motor.

If the manual gives you recommendations on when to change the oil, go with it. The first 50 hr oil change is to aide in the break-in process. On the farm we put 15w-40 in most everything we have, summer and winter. When buying, make sure it meets the API classifications as recommended, might even need to take the book along for a reference.

Good luck with it!

 

Also you never want to run the thing dry on fuel. But just in case you do, check the manual for the fuel pump priming method. Diesels won't self prime if you let them run dry on fuel. There should be a bleed valve somewhere in the fuel system to allow the air out if you need to prime it.

Second, Make sure you NEVER let any water in the fuel. Check the water trap regularly and drain it. Condensation from fuel storage in cans and fuel tanks is bad too. If water gets through the water trap it will ruin the fuel pump and injectors. Believe me, you don't want to pony up to that bill!

Again, your warm up and cool down proceedures sound good. I want to add the other problem with not cooling down the turbo before shut down is that with no oil flow, the oil in the turbo will get cooked by the intense heat resident in the turbo. The oil will carbon up (like little diamonds) and scratch the heck out of the turbo bearings. Running a cool down cycle allows the oil to do its job and carry the heat away from the turbo so when you do shut down the oil won't coke.

BTW, the turbo is the curly cue, snail like thing on top of the exhaust manifold.

 

I don't think Kubota recommends synthetic. Use what they sell during the warranty period. I have a Kubota tractor. It was the same 50 hours and then 500. Keep your filters clean. I would change the oil more often if you are around dirt all the time. I am always in dirt so I change it about every 250. It was a big investment so I want it to last. I always let it warm up. And I let it sit on the trailer to cool down before I turn it off. It cools down pretty quick. I use off road fuel in it since it is cheaper. Good luck with it.

 

obviously you dont know anything about tractors if you got a kubota. i prefer a deere. a john deere 5420 to be exact

 

Thanks for all your information and suggestions people. I am going to go over the manual a few more times. There is A LOT of info in there that I need to read.

I don't know if you are talking to me or trike1946 bu thank you for you very informative response...

-Matt

 

LOL! I didn't figure that one out either. We're talking about a brush chipper and somehow john deere gets thrown in here. But I spose they make one of them too, they make one of everything else already....
(Not to mention Kubota makes a great utility tractor, don't know why it needs to be put down.)

 

The brush chipper is not a Kubota. It has a Kubota motor though. The chipper is made by Dynamic Manufacturing Co. Here is a link to their website: http://www.pik-n-pak.com/coneheadDC50.htm

There is a picture on the website of the chipper.

-Matt

 

well what the heck was i reading? i thought you had a kubota tractor with the chipper running off the pto. where i got that i dont know. sorry for the confusion. but i have never been a fan of kubota. it seems they arent up to snuff and its hard for a bigger man to get on and off of em. you get alot more with deere. put them 2 side by side and look at the diffrence in features and structure. big diffrence there. but anyway.

 

beano
We got the picture here - you like Deere better than Kubota. That's why God made orange and green, and all the other colors. You buy what you like.

 

phoaw
And here I was thinking that it was every day garden chipper (the fact its a diesel didn't click, my ride-on mower is a diesel...)
What do you put through that thing?
A whole tree?

As for maintenance, its pretty simple, regular air filter and oil changes etc.
And I would be VERY glad you got a " 'bota" - they will take a pounding day in, and day out.
Had one of there Tractors once, the only reason we sold it was because we thought we should have been worried about its reliability with 13000hrs on it (in hindsight we should have kept it, the New Holland that replaced it was atrocious)

 

I dont know if yours has this, b/c its just a 'bota engine. But our Bota mowers at work have a light on em signalling warmup time. You turn the key to ON, and a warmup light comes on. Once it turns off, you can start the engine. I think everyone covered most everything else. Good luck, and have fun chippin, but be careful, those things are nasty suckers