Occasionally engine stalls when depressing foot pedal in forward or in reverse

Beet Digger

New member

Equipment
L3901
Sep 8, 2019
2
0
0
84101
I am a new Kubota owner after purchasing a used L3901 with 290 hours on it. I only have 10 hours on the tractor and need some advice. Some times during the middle of normal operations with the hydrostatic pedal engaged or stationary attempting to engage the hydrostatic pedal for the drivetrain forward or backward the engine starts to bog down and stall out. If I release the pedal pressure the RPM returns to its normal operating parameter. If I wait a few seconds the problem disappears. The PTO handle is not engaged. No error codes are displayed on the dash. This occurs about 1x every hour? Reading the forum threads I donÂ’t think it is a seat kill switch that needs adjustment since I take pressure off of the pedal and RPM recovers. Once again I am very new and would appreciate any advice.
 

mdhughes

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3901DT
Dec 10, 2014
1,207
622
113
Ste Geneveive county, MO
I wouldn't rule of the seat safety switch. When I first got my L3901DT it would act like it was stalling at times. It turned out the I was leaning to the right to look at the corner of the bucket.

Try bending the tab on the seat down just a little and see if that helps the problem.
 
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heinsite

New member

Equipment
Kubota L3400, front loader, b75 Backhoe, Bush Hog, box blade, rake
I have forgotten to release the brake before (mine only locks single pedal). Sounds crazy, but it happens. Maybe you start to bogg down, hit the brake and it releases? Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 

Fordtech86

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L3200
Aug 7, 2018
4,705
5,476
113
Pineville,LA
I have forgotten to release the brake before (mine only locks single pedal). Sounds crazy, but it happens. Maybe you start to bogg down, hit the brake and it releases? Just a thought.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
As a side note your split brakes aren’t locked together. My L is the same way, only locks the left pedal for the parking brake but if both brake pedals locked together then both brakes are locked.
 

Roadworthy

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L2501 HST
Aug 17, 2019
1,649
525
113
Benton City, WA
Regarding your seat - I had issues and bent the bracket for the safety switch. Problem returned. The pivot rod under your seat is held in place by a cotter pin or some such. If you lose it the rod works its way out and the right side of the seat drops lifting the left side slightly and tripping the safety switch. Check that the rod is in place and put a clip into the hole.
 

CapnDean

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L6060,ZD1211
Feb 22, 2018
184
3
18
Gulfport, MS USA
I had so much trouble with my L3901 seat switch that I disabled it. I realize that there are 50 people out there that are going to tell me I am an idiot - but I was the able to stand up and look over the front when bush hogging tall grass. If I made a quick change from fwd to rev I would often stall out because I bounced up in the seat.

It was irritating to say the least.

Mind you none of my other tractors have a seat switch. As a kid I rode a bicycle without a helmet, roller skated without knee pads and stood on the seat of my moms station wagon while she smoked.
 

SDT

Well-known member

Equipment
multiple and various
Apr 15, 2018
3,084
923
113
SE, IN
I had so much trouble with my L3901 seat switch that I disabled it. I realize that there are 50 people out there that are going to tell me I am an idiot - but I was the able to stand up and look over the front when bush hogging tall grass. If I made a quick change from fwd to rev I would often stall out because I bounced up in the seat.

It was irritating to say the least.

Mind you none of my other tractors have a seat switch. As a kid I rode a bicycle without a helmet, roller skated without knee pads and stood on the seat of my moms station wagon while she smoked.
I have disabled the seat switch on all of my Kubota tractors, except the 9960, which merely beeps rather than shutting down.

It's one of the first things that I do when I bring a new one home.

SDT
 

D2Cat

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Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
12,899
4,266
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
Mind you none of my other tractors have a seat switch. As a kid I rode a bicycle without a helmet, roller skated without knee pads and stood on the seat of my moms station wagon while she smoked.
Capn, you're a miracle! (at least to those who write laws):D:D

I have a trencher with a seatbelt! Yes, it's 40HP and moves about 10' per minute in average material, and I've never come close to a head on collision in 30 years! It has 15" wide flotation tires and full time four wheel drive. I've never pulled it up to see it the belt works!!
 

07wingnut

Active member
Lifetime Member
Feb 13, 2016
248
90
28
Clearwater, BC, CA
After having watched farmers in my area lose a couple of days in critical haying season over these safety switches not working (it usually happens on weekends) and experiencing a few episodes myself on a BX23, I installed this. The red push button switch will start the engine regardless of safety switches, and the toggle, if switched forward will not allow the safety features to kill the engine.
Safety police, fire away. I'm 70, have farmed all my life with tractors that had no safety switches whatsoever, and I am living still. If manufacturers want to install these things, then make damn good and sure that they are the last thing to fail.
 

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Bogatyr

New member

Equipment
L4240, RTV900
Feb 16, 2020
2
0
0
SE Michigan
Not sure if you figured out your issue yet but another thing to try is checking the bleeder valve for the fuel system. I had the same issue on mine (though it happened more frequently with all the hills on my property) and it turned out the previous owner left the valve open during the last maintenance he did. Closed the valve and it was instantly fixed and a new tractor.
 

shootem604

Member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L245DT with Kubota (Arps Model 22) FEL and Kubota B/L4520B (Woods 650) BH
Apr 23, 2018
875
18
18
British Columbia
My neighbour's L3400 seat safety switch quit in the middle of a major snow storm 2 years ago. I bypassed it then as an interim measure, and he's still using it that way.
 

Arlian

New member
Sep 10, 2017
11
0
1
Coopersburg, PA
I wanted to share that I found a similar behavior recently on my 2017 L3901 with a different cause. I confirmed the seat switch was good by doing the check on continuity between pins A and C when fully depressed. It checked good. Then I jumped the harness between pins A and C on the tractor side connector and the stalling behavior continued. After a little bit of head scratching I inspected the harness and found a broken wire on the tractor side of the harness about 1 inch from the connector. The strands in the wire were broken, but the plastic exterior was only partially compromised so it was not obvious initially that there was a broken wire. I soldered a short piece of wire in to repair it and that fixed the problem.