L3301

[sparky45]

Just had a second regen @ 26.8 hr. SECOND REGEN @ 26.8 HRS!!!
I am disgusted with this system. While I contemplated the regen, I observed a very cruddy looking fuel separator so I decided to deal with it first. Although the red indicator wasn't to the white line, there was quite a bit of water in the separator so I dumped it out and found the foulest collection of black grainy lumpy hard stuff about 1/4th the way up the filter. Cleaned the filter (which was corroded on the bottom) and the plastic cup. The spring was corroded as well. With everything clean, I then opened the shut off and drained a cup full of Diesel to check for crud, water, ect. and it appeared clean.
Since this tractor sat on the dealers lot for over a year, outside and uncovered I assume that was the reason for the water.
Going to buy another separator setup to have as a backup.
Anybody else have two regen's with so few hrs?

 

[SidecarFlip]

Like the old Toyota saying goes... You bought it, you love it, Toyota. (Kubota)

The crud is organisms growing in the diesel. I'd be draining ALL the fuel out and checking the fuel tank for crud as well and possibly flushing it and when refilling with fresh fuel, adding a biocide like Powerservice PowerKleen If you have a primary filter besides the plastic bowl seperator, change that too.

According to my dealer (was talking to him on Tuesday, the DPF cannister is good for 200 regens before it has to be cleaned or replaced. Second regen in 28 hours, lets say one every 14, that is 2800 hours total run time.

I have about 1000 more on my ag Kubota's in 12 years of ownership and that is farming. Don't think you'll be doing that many hours like I do.

 

[Fido Farms]

Sounds about right for regen time. Depends on how hard u r working the tractor. My has done a few regens anywhere from 16 hrs ish and longer.. Just doing Snow Blowing, loader work, tilling the garden etc. yard work. Just enjoy the tractor. Whats to be disgusted with the system. It regens it when it needs to and all u have to do is watch it with a beer in hand or use it while its regening. Pretty straight forward I figure.. Don't over complicate it..

 

[hiho silver]

L3901
1st regen 33.5hrs, 2nd 72.7 hrs
I am pleased with this interval.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Take the average time and multiply it by 200 to get the life time of the DPF filter before cleaning / replacement. Pretty simple really.

Don't see many of you owners putting on a couple thousand hours all that quickly, if at all.

In reality a cleaning is around 300 bucks give or take and when you factor in the hours of service the filter cost is less than oil changes.

 

[Yooper]

First regen on my L3901 was at 17 hours and the second was at 36. The regens have been getting farther apart as I put more hours on the tractor. 268 on it now and the last regen was 217. Mostly PTO rpms with the stump grinder which I know is a factor.

 

[SidecarFlip]

I have no clue what determines when it does a regenerative cycle, Maybe Wolfman knows. I would think that it somehow senses backpressure on the cannister and that controls the cycle time but again, I really don't know.

I do know that when it regenerates, the carbon and soot is burned off and falls to the bottom of the cannister and when so much accumulates, it's time to clean it. Same thing with a big truck. The reason it costs what it does to clean it is, the residue is considered hazardous waste and the cleaning machine is super expensive.

I guess if you wanted to get creative you could suck it out with a shop vac and toss the bag in the garbage. Getting caught might prove to be expensive though.

 

[Brian H]

19, 34, 51 and 64.5 hrs on my mx5200

 

[Ike]

Mine did the first regen at 12 hours and then next around 17 hours. If you run your RPM's around 1600 to 2000 it will go farther between regen times. If you run it when you can 3/4 throttle or more it goes a long time between regens

 

[sheepfarmer]

I have no clue what determines when it does a regenerative cycle, Maybe Wolfman knows. I would think that it somehow senses backpressure on the cannister and that controls the cycle time but again, I really don't know.

I do know that when it regenerates, the carbon and soot is burned off and falls to the bottom of the cannister and when so much accumulates, it's time to clean it. Same thing with a big truck. The reason it costs what it does to clean it is, the residue is considered hazardous waste and the cleaning machine is super expensive.

I guess if you wanted to get creative you could suck it out with a shop vac and toss the bag in the garbage. Getting caught might prove to be expensive though.

Regeneration is computer controlled, and it is a combination of back pressure on sensors in the canister and total amount of fuel used by the engine.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Just had a second regen @ 26.8 hr. SECOND REGEN @ 26.8 HRS!!!
I am disgusted with this system. While I contemplated the regen, I observed a very cruddy looking fuel separator so I decided to deal with it first. Although the red indicator wasn't to the white line, there was quite a bit of water in the separator so I dumped it out and found the foulest collection of black grainy lumpy hard stuff about 1/4th the way up the filter. Cleaned the filter (which was corroded on the bottom) and the plastic cup. The spring was corroded as well. With everything clean, I then opened the shut off and drained a cup full of Diesel to check for crud, water, ect. and it appeared clean.
Since this tractor sat on the dealers lot for over a year, outside and uncovered I assume that was the reason for the water.
Going to buy another separator setup to have as a backup.
Anybody else have two regen's with so few hrs?

Besides cleaning the water separator, it is important to change and have on hand a fuel filter, and as others have said, drain fuel tank and treat system with a biocide. That black stuff is an infectionThe frequency of regens is often highest when they are new because on a dealer lot they are started and stopped without really warming up. Several people have commented that their new tractor regens early.

On the 60 series tractors there is a monitor on the screen of how full the dpf filter is, and the two factors that push up the filling rate are cold starts and ambient air temperature. Once the engine is up to operating temperature the %full level stops rising and may in fact go down if it is being worked.

 

[whitetiger]

Regeneration is computer controlled, and it is a combination of back pressure on sensors in the canister and total amount of fuel used by the engine.

There is no way for the engine to monitor the amount of fuel used. Regen is calculated by monitored pressure and temperature differences in the DPF muffler.

 

[sheepfarmer]

There is no way for the engine to monitor the amount of fuel used. Regen is calculated by monitored pressure and temperature differences in the DPF muffler.

That was what a Kubota engineer told me. Since the fuel injected in the common rail engines is controlled by the ECM it seemed feasible to me.

 

[whitetiger]

That was what a Kubota engineer told me. Since the fuel injected in the common rail engines is controlled by the ECM it seemed feasible to me.

There is also no fuel quality sensor which would be required as fuel quality also has a large effect on exhaust particulate build up. The amount of fuel burned has little to do with the requirements for ReGen.

I have spent days in Dallas and Atlanta at Kubota Service Training on Teir 4 emission systems.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I agree that the primary instigator of regeneration would be the pressure sensors, but have the notion that if they do not trigger a regen after so much or so many fuel pulses have been asked for to the injectors, that the system can ask for one regardless of pressure. My thought was that was one way Kubota software might keep the "punch a hole in the can" from being a way of thwarting the emissions devices. The computer does monitor amount of fuel and time since mine calculates gallons per hour, but agree there is no easy way of telling quality. In any case it would be interesting to know how the software works, since it is monitoring pressure, temperature, fuel flow in several places.

 

[whitetiger]

I agree that the primary instigator of regeneration would be the pressure sensors, but have the notion that if they do not trigger a regen after so much or so many fuel pulses have been asked for to the injectors, that the system can ask for one regardless of pressure. My thought was that was one way Kubota software might keep the "punch a hole in the can" from being a way of thwarting the emissions devices. The computer does monitor amount of fuel and time since mine calculates gallons per hour, but agree there is no easy way of telling quality. In any case it would be interesting to know how the software works, since it is monitoring pressure, temperature, fuel flow in several places.

I was under the impression this discussion was pertaining to an L3301, not a Grand L which has a different system.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I was under the impression this discussion was pertaining to an L3301, not a Grand L which has a different system.

Ah, good point, we could be operating under different assumptions. I assumed that the basic regen mechanisms and software were the same or very similar in the L tractors, and that the major differences were the amount of information provided to the operator via the Intellipanel in the 60 series. This notion is only supported by the similarities in the instructions to the operator in the manuals, but I sure don't have any first hand experience using Kubota's proprietary software as I think you do.