Appropriate RPMs - L3301

The rated is 2700 But for a new machine breakin it needs to be 75% of that for the first 50h.
Check your manual.
Ray

Welcome to the black arts of tractor operating. Your 3301 has DPF regen on it so my method of running a tractor will not work well for you. You need to bring that puppy up to at least 2200 to maximize your non-regen time. It's a waste of fuel for most milder uses but welcome to tier 4 exhaust.

Avoid idling the vehicle unless absolutely necessary (like warm up or cool down time).

My 3301 regened for the first time this weekend at 20 hours almost exactly. I tend to keep the rpm's up between 2000 and pto mark. All the kubota mechanics i've spoken with have said that they're made to be run high. Has far as the regen is concerned, I started mine up to move it out of the garage so i could rearrange some things. after idling outside for about 10 minutes i jump on it to bring it back in and the regen light is flashing along with the increase rpm light. I had to put the rpm's over the pto line to get the increase rpm light to go out. I think that was only because it was idling though. after about 2 minutes i started backing the throttle off to about 2200 rpms and the increase rpm light never came back on. smelled weird and sounded kind of funny but after about 20 minutes the regen light went out. I'd prefer the tractor not have to do this but it worked fine while it was in regen. I got a little unplanned seat time.

I'd like to know if theres a way that would make it regen on it's own while parked idling like that. I thought it would but I also didn't have the parking break on and probably left it in gear. Does anyone know if in the situation i described, had I have had the parking break engaged and had the tractor in neutral, would it have increased the rpms on its own and regened?

TopesRule said:

My 3301 regened for the first time this weekend at 20 hours almost exactly. I tend to keep the rpm's up between 2000 and pto mark. All the kubota mechanics i've spoken with have said that they're made to be run high. Has far as the regen is concerned, I started mine up to move it out of the garage so i could rearrange some things. after idling outside for about 10 minutes i jump on it to bring it back in and the regen light is flashing along with the increase rpm light. I had to put the rpm's over the pto line to get the increase rpm light to go out. I think that was only because it was idling though. after about 2 minutes i started backing the throttle off to about 2200 rpms and the increase rpm light never came back on. smelled weird and sounded kind of funny but after about 20 minutes the regen light went out. I'd prefer the tractor not have to do this but it worked fine while it was in regen. I got a little unplanned seat time.

I'd like to know if theres a way that would make it regen on it's own while parked idling like that. I thought it would but I also didn't have the parking break on and probably left it in gear. Does anyone know if in the situation i described, had I have had the parking break engaged and had the tractor in neutral, would it have increased the rpms on its own and regened?

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I have had the same questions, which I have posed to Kubota's "customer satisfaction" folks, and finally found some answers in the shop manual which I just received. So assuming the 3301 runs the same as the 3560 as far as the regen programming, here is what I think:

1. You can't trigger a regen cycle whenever you want. I suggested to them they change their programming to allow it , since it would be more convenient if you could when the dpf was getting full and you had 20 min to finish what you were doing. Right now you can't do an auto regen unless the meter reaches 100% and the light starts to blink. You can't do what they call a parked regen until the dpf reaches what tney call level 2.

So in the situation you describe it would not have gone into parked regen mode and increased the rpm by itself. Or at least I don't think so. There are too many things you have to set to permit it to do that.
2. You can park it and do the regen in the autoregen mode, you don't have to find work to do, you just have to increase rpm until the light goes off.
3. It is not a good idea to back off the rpm in case you interrupt the regen since there is some chance of diesel draining into the oil if it is not burned.
4. There are at least 4 levels possible in this process, there is a table in the owner's manual that helps to explain this. It gets tricky if someone misses the light flashing and the engine ECU progresses into stages 2 or 3 without being given the opportunity to regen.

On mine I think the easiest thing is to leave the dash display to show the dpf particle level, and then when it gets up to 99% to make sure it is set already to auto regen, and then when the light comes on, up the rpm and let it do its thing.

As far as the idling issue is concerned, they recommended to me to shut it off when not needed. These engines start easily, so no reason to leave it sit for 10 minutes at dead idle. If warming up in bitterly cold weather cold weather they recommend half maximum rpm, for mine 1350 rpm, for the specified length of time before working the hydraulics.

Hope this makes sense ok. It took me several runs through the manual before I understood mine. It is not very clearly written. Holler if not.

sheepfarmer said:

I have had the same questions, which I have posed to Kubota's "customer satisfaction" folks, and finally found some answers in the shop manual which I just received. So assuming the 3301 runs the same as the 3560 as far as the regen programming, here is what I think:

1. You can't trigger a regen cycle whenever you want. I suggested to them they change their programming to allow it , since it would be more convenient if you could when the dpf was getting full and you had 20 min to finish what you were doing. Right now you can't do an auto regen unless the meter reaches 100% and the light starts to blink. You can't do what they call a parked regen until the dpf reaches what tney call level 2.

So in the situation you describe it would not have gone into parked regen mode and increased the rpm by itself. Or at least I don't think so. There are too many things you have to set to permit it to do that.
2. You can park it and do the regen in the autoregen mode, you don't have to find work to do, you just have to increase rpm until the light goes off.
3. It is not a good idea to back off the rpm in case you interrupt the regen since there is some chance of diesel draining into the oil if it is not burned.
4. There are at least 4 levels possible in this process, there is a table in the owner's manual that helps to explain this. It gets tricky if someone misses the light flashing and the engine ECU progresses into stages 2 or 3 without being given the opportunity to regen.

On mine I think the easiest thing is to leave the dash display to show the dpf particle level, and then when it gets up to 99% to make sure it is set already to auto regen, and then when the light comes on, up the rpm and let it do its thing.

As far as the idling issue is concerned, they recommended to me to shut it off when not needed. These engines start easily, so no reason to leave it sit for 10 minutes at dead idle. If warming up in bitterly cold weather cold weather they recommend half maximum rpm, for mine 1350 rpm, for the specified length of time before working the hydraulics.

Hope this makes sense ok. It took me several runs through the manual before I understood mine. It is not very clearly written. Holler if not.

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Thanks, this is a good response. As far as backing off the rpm's, you feel like having it too low would disrupt the regen? I would have thought you'd just get the increase rpm light, increase till it goes out and your good. In my situation with the tractor only sitting an idling, i had to increase the rpm's to a higher level than i ever had them. Nearly max. I didn't like leaving it so high.

TopesRule said:

Thanks, this is a good response. As far as backing off the rpm's, you feel like having it too low would disrupt the regen? I would have thought you'd just get the increase rpm light, increase till it goes out and your good. In my situation with the tractor only sitting an idling, i had to increase the rpm's to a higher level than i ever had them. Nearly max. I didn't like leaving it so high.

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I did exactly as you described, also because the rpm required was higher than the first time I did it, and the increase rpm light did come back on. I put the rpm back up, and it did indeed go out again, and it continued regeneration. However, the next time I was in the house with the owner's manual, I found it said "do not unnecessarily start and interrupt the regeneration process. Otherwise a small amount of fuel becomes mixed with the engine oil which degrades the oil quality."

EDIT I also found today in two places where it said not to decrease rpm once into regen since it might interrupt it. I apparently got away with it since it continued, but there might be some diesel in my oil.

There is also the chance that if it is interrupted that the system will go into level 2, with buzzers sounding etc.

If the system is set to "auto mode" I think we have a little time between when the regeneration indicator starts flashing and the increase rpm symbol lights up to warm up the engine if it has not been driven yet. Mine has as the default when you start up the inhibit mode. I am hoping that it would allow me to warm up the engine and then select auto mode and go on working for the regen, but I haven't tried it yet.

wfishtx said:

Is the auto-regen always on when the tractor is running? In other words, will it start the process on its on as long as the RPMs are up or is there something specific the operator has to do to start the process?

Reading my warning sticker on the fender, it appears as though an alarm will sound and a light will come on telling me that the regen needs to run, I then push the button on the dash, increase the RPMs if necessary and then let it do its thing. Is this a correct assumption?

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I believe as long as the requirements are met, meaning rpm's are high enough, the system regens without any input from the operator. You can inhibit the regen by pressing the inhibit button, but besides that it will do it on it's own, as long as the rpm's are high enough. I'm not sure if I'm being clear. The auto-regen is always on unless you disable it by pressing the inhibit button.

sheepfarmer said:

I did exactly as you described, also because the rpm required was higher than the first time I did it, and the increase rpm light did come back on. I put the rpm back up, and it did indeed go out again, and it continued regeneration. However, the next time I was in the house with the owner's manual, I found it said "do not unnecessarily start and interrupt the regeneration process. Otherwise a small amount of fuel becomes mixed with the engine oil which degrades the oil quality."

There is also the chance that if it is interrupted that the system will go into level 2, with buzzers sounding etc.

If the system is set to "auto mode" I think we have a little time between when the regeneration indicator starts flashing and the increase rpm symbol lights up to warm up the engine if it has not been driven yet. Mine has as the default when you start up the inhibit mode. I am hoping that it would allow me to warm up the engine and then select auto mode and go on working for the regen, but I haven't tried it yet.

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I thought about what would happen as well if it tried to regen as soon as i start my tractor on a -20 morning. Would i be able to warm it up first? I wish i would have been on my tractor when the lights started coming on to see what the sequence is.

wfishtx said:

Is the auto-regen always on when the tractor is running? In other words, will it start the process on its on as long as the RPMs are up or is there something specific the operator has to do to start the process?

Reading my warning sticker on the fender, it appears as though an alarm will sound and a light will come on telling me that the regen needs to run, I then push the button on the dash, increase the RPMs if necessary and then let it do its thing. Is this a correct assumption?

Click to expand...

On mine, if the tractor key has been turned off for whatever reason, when you start the engine it is in the inhibit mode. So to answer your first question, no not necessarily.To put it into autoregen mode you have to push the button labeled "auto regeneration switch", which can be done any time. On my panel it is the furthest to the left and has the regen symbol plus auto written on it. Then when the dpf reaches 100% it will start regen by itself as long as you have it at a high enough rpm and it is warm enough.

Went out and looked at my sticker, and if the conditions you describe are met for the top half of the sticker, yes that is a correct assumption. You would push the auto regen button and up the rpm if needed.

I think the lower half of the sticker describes what happens and what to do if you don't notice the light or the buzzer, and it passes through warning level 1 to 2 or 3, and then the button you push is the parked regen button, looks similar but has a circle with vertical line in it.

I have heard that some of the earlier tier 4 tractors had the default mode when it was started to be auto, but yours is new so I assume same as mine. To find out turn tractor on and see if that button lights up by itself or if you have to push it first.

sheepfarmer said:

On mine, if the tractor key has been turned off for whatever reason, when you start the engine it is in the inhibit mode. So to answer your first question, no not necessarily.To put it into autoregen mode you have to push the button labeled "auto regeneration switch", which can be done any time. On my panel it is the furthest to the left and has the regen symbol plus auto written on it. Then when the dpf reaches 100% it will start regen by itself as long as you have it at a high enough rpm and it is warm enough.

Went out and looked at my sticker, and if the conditions you describe are met for the top half of the sticker, yes that is a correct assumption. You would push the auto regen button and up the rpm if needed.

I think the lower half of the sticker describes what happens and what to do if you don't notice the light or the buzzer, and it passes through warning level 1 to 2 or 3, and then the button you push is the parked regen button, looks similar but has a circle with vertical line in it.

I have heard that some of the earlier tier 4 tractors had the default mode when it was started to be auto, but yours is new so I assume same as mine. To find out turn tractor on and see if that button lights up by itself or if you have to push it first.

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On mine it's the opposite, in auto mode whenever the key is turned on and you have to press a button to inhibit. I thought this was the new way and the old way was that it was normally in inhibit mode and you had to press a button to put it in auto.

TopesRule said:

On mine it's the opposite, in auto mode whenever the key is turned on and you have to press a button to inhibit. I thought this was the new way and the old way was that it was normally in inhibit mode and you had to press a button to put it in auto.

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darned if I know which came first, or if it is a model difference. I would be curious to know if the rest of the directions are the same in the L tractors. My wsm and owner's manual cover all of the --60 tractors from 3560 through 6060. I have the impression that the B3350 is different, the engine is different, but I don't know how different the computer software is. Except for the copyright restrictions I'd like to scan in these tables and post somewhere on OTT.

TopesRule said:

I thought about what would happen as well if it tried to regen as soon as i start my tractor on a -20 morning. Would i be able to warm it up first? I wish i would have been on my tractor when the lights started coming on to see what the sequence is.

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Yah, that was on my mind too this winter, and one day as it was approaching 99% I found some more snow to tidy up so I could do the regen while it was already warmed up rather than the next time I started it in case it was -20 out.

We may be worrying unnecessarily since most of the problems reported this winter related to parts of the egr system freezing up, and I didn't see any where they couldn't get the regen to occur. There were some posts where it sounded like tractors had been turned over to folks without any instruction and so the blinking lights and buzzers were ignored or they didn't know what to do. Usually happened on a weekend when the dealer was closed. I would be curious if anyone else has seen such posts.

Sheepfarmer, where are you seeing the percentage for the DPF? I looked through my manual and don't see anything mentioned about this. Was this an option when you bought your tractor? I have a 2015 L3901.

Oh the joys of T4. Ford just went from 5/50 to 8/80 for emission warranty which means I get a check. Reading this thread it appears Bota went with dumping fuel in on the exhaust stroke like Ford did. This means you can (will) get some oil dilution. Blackstone Labs will do oil analysis if you want. Ford says up to 5% is OK. The percentage til regen is only the % of soot on the DPF that is allowed til regen. As in 100% is not 100% blockage of course but more like 2%. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before someone loses an EGT sensor. Not trying to be mean, just curious. Been there many times myself.

Yooper said:

Sheepfarmer, where are you seeing the percentage for the DPF? I looked through my manual and don't see anything mentioned about this. Was this an option when you bought your tractor? I have a 2015 L3901.

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The L3901/L3301 does have this, I wish it did.

Mdhughes, thank you, I assume you are meaning to say that the 3301/3901's do not have a screen that you can display the dpf level on?

Yooper, the 3560 has an "intellipanel" screen for the dashboard. Besides some stuff it displays all the time, you can change what is shown in the middle by pushing a button to the left of the steering wheel, each press makes it show something else and you can use a sustained press to choose and set some features of the hst. It is kind of like the display on my truck where you scroll through stuff like %oil life, ave mpg etc. On the tractor there are about 5 views to choose from, and one is a bar graph of the dpf. It is useful, you can plan ahead so the regen goes smoothly and you have something for it to do which needs the high rpm.

Would you guys please describe (the next time you have some "spare" time) what you see on your displays and the regen instructions and I'll link to it for the tier 4 thread. Or put it in that thread. I have been wondering how different the various 2014 2015 models were, and short of going to a dealer that doesn't know I already have a tractor and asking to drive a 3301, I haven't found a way to find out. Not curious enough to buy a manual it was bad enough paying for the WSM for mine.

Nickel, as usual I learn something from your truck insights, and I agree with your interpretation. There are a bunch of little sensors around that dpf, I hope they are easy and cheap to replace. The WSM does not give the interpretation of a subset of error messages to deal with engine operation, the Kubota tech at my dealer told me you have to go online to the Kubota site with a password to get to some of that information. I was bummed, fortunately haven't needed them yet.

Glad to hear you get some money back on your truck, you have had beyond a miserable experience.