Fried ECU

HenryD

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M Series, Attachments, Zero Turn
Apr 8, 2021
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  • Research and purchase M series Kubota in September of 2017.
  • Works great. Love it.
  • Off brand, “Made in Korea” battery installed at factory goes bad in 3.5 years.
  • In response, alternator output goes sky high. No overcharge protection in unit.
  • Error codes P0605, P0606, P0627, P0629 and others appear.
  • Purchase and install new, high quality battery ($150) and fully charge it.
  • Same error codes appear. Won’t start.
  • ECU is fried.
  • Replace ECU at cost of $2757.29 (invoice attached, if possible).
  • NOT covered under warrantee.
  • No aftermarket fix available, according to dealer.
  • No recall done by Kubota, according to dealer.
  • Learn of this happening to at least one other person locally.
Questions:
  • Do you know of this happening to anyone else? How far back?
  • Are you aware of any aftermarket fix, so this does not happen again?
  • How do we get Kubota to pay for it, assuming they should?
  • Is there a basis for a class action lawsuit here?
Thanks in advance.
 

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North Idaho Wolfman

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You have had the first issue of this that I've ever heard of.
Why was it not covered under warranty?
 

GreensvilleJay

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So, tractor was 100% original 'from factory'..... Kubota alternator took out the Kubota ECU because the factory installed battery went 'bad'... man I'd be all over Kubota on this, depending on how the warranty is worded.
I do know that 'electrical' items are so poorly made you generally do NOT get to return them,even ID in the sealed box !
 

Nicfin36

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Ouch! Kubota should have covered this. But, a warranty is only as good as the one who honors it.
 

je1279

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I would raise hell over that. Do you have KTAC by any chance? If the Kubota warranty didnt cover it, that certainly should.
 

random

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Nov 2, 2020
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I'm with the others here. Failed as-delivered, that's warranty. I'd be pushing it.
 

SDT

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multiple and various
Apr 15, 2018
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SE, IN
  • Research and purchase M series Kubota in September of 2017.
  • Works great. Love it.
  • Off brand, “Made in Korea” battery installed at factory goes bad in 3.5 years.
  • In response, alternator output goes sky high. No overcharge protection in unit.
  • Error codes P0605, P0606, P0627, P0629 and others appear.
  • Purchase and install new, high quality battery ($150) and fully charge it.
  • Same error codes appear. Won’t start.
  • ECU is fried.
  • Replace ECU at cost of $2757.29 (invoice attached, if possible).
  • NOT covered under warrantee.
  • No aftermarket fix available, according to dealer.
  • No recall done by Kubota, according to dealer.
  • Learn of this happening to at least one other person locally.
Questions:
  • Do you know of this happening to anyone else? How far back?
  • Are you aware of any aftermarket fix, so this does not happen again?
  • How do we get Kubota to pay for it, assuming they should?
  • Is there a basis for a class action lawsuit here?
Thanks in advance.
Sounds like warranty issue to me so long as no owner modification or abuse and warranty not expired or otherwise voided.

Do not expect any interest from attorneys in class action.

Have you communicated with Kubota Customer Satisfaction?

Is there more to this story?

SDT
 
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ruger1980

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Oct 25, 2020
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Basic standard warranty is what 24 months? Warranty on the OEM battery is 12 months? Looks like you don't have a leg to stand on. I know it hurts but that is life. I deal with warranty much larger than yours all the time and it is what it is.

Maybe Kubota has a goodwill policy, but you will have to push for that if you want any participation.
 
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Tire Biter

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sorry To hear, but don’t bother with that class action baloney. You’ll get a hundred dollar off a new tractor coupon, and the lawyers will collect millions in fees.
 
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kubotafreak

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Ecu should be part of the emission warranty, what 5 year?
 

Fordtech86

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There is so much information missing from the original post. With the little bit posted there is nothing that says Kubota needs to buy me a ecu.

What model tractor is it specifically (m series pretty broad) How was the tractor diagnosed? Was kubota ever involved? I couldn’t open the attachment but based on the description it was a receipt for an ecu you bought over the counter?

Will start with those questions for now.
 
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HenryD

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M Series, Attachments, Zero Turn
Apr 8, 2021
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Thanks to all so far. Really appreciate it. To address some of the questions:
  • I believe there is a 6 year powertrain warrantee, but I also believe that "electronics" are excluded.
  • I don't know what KTAC is, so I probably don't have it.
  • No mods or abuse
  • Local Kubota dealer diagnosed the problem and ordered the part for me. They asked Kubota for warrantee coverage, but were denied. They plan to file a "goodwill" request on my behalf. I'll let you know how that goes.
  • Have not been in touch with Kubota corporate at any level as yet. Would like to learn the scope of the problem (how many, how long) before I contact them
  • There is no more to the story. You have all that I have
  • Yes, the attachment is for the ECU purchase
  • MX5800
Again, do you know any other cases of this?

Thanks a million
 

sheepfarmer

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Thanks to all so far. Really appreciate it. To address some of the questions:
  • I believe there is a 6 year powertrain warrantee, but I also believe that "electronics" are excluded.
  • I don't know what KTAC is, so I probably don't have it.
  • No mods or abuse
  • Local Kubota dealer diagnosed the problem and ordered the part for me. They asked Kubota for warrantee coverage, but were denied. They plan to file a "goodwill" request on my behalf. I'll let you know how that goes.
  • Have not been in touch with Kubota corporate at any level as yet. Would like to learn the scope of the problem (how many, how long) before I contact them
  • There is no more to the story. You have all that I have
  • Yes, the attachment is for the ECU purchase
  • MX5800
Again, do you know any other cases of this?

Thanks a million
If your tractor has dpf filter and or any other emissions related equipment, the electronic items controlling it should be included in the 5 yr warranty. For my tractor, L3560 bought in 2013, the list was in a little booklet included in all the stuff that came with the tractor.

No, I have not seen on the forum any examples of a battery failure that caused that problem. There have been examples of issues caused when someone has tried to solve a battery problem and hooked things up backwards when charging, or some other electrical issue, and the ECU throws error codes etc. None I remember where the ECU was fried.
 

Fordtech86

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This is just my opinion from my experience in the auto dealer world.

sheep is correct in that it has a 5 year emission warranty and the ecu should have been covered.

The diagnostics sounds questionable to me. I believe your issue is more so at the dealer level. I would call Kubota customer service and inquire more about the warranty and why it wasn’t covered, without making any mention of a lawsuit.
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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These kind of post's tend to be wild rantings and nothing more.
 
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HenryD

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Actually, my thanks to sheepfarmer and Fordtech86 for meaningful and helpful replies. I will do as you suggest.
 

HenryD

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Apr 8, 2021
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As I understand it, as the battery dies, the alternator output goes up. Apparently, there is no voltage or amperage (I'm not an electrician) limiter, hence the very high alternator output is what actually fried the ECU.
 

Fordtech86

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As I understand it, as the battery dies, the alternator output goes up. Apparently, there is no voltage or amperage (I'm not an electrician) limiter, hence the very high alternator output is what actually fried the ECU.
Highly unlikely
 
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Henro

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These kind of post's tend to be wild rantings and nothing more.
^^^ This

You state that the battery caused the problem. What proof do you have of this other than speculation?

Perhaps rather than telling anyone why it happened, you should just state it happened and that it should be covered by the emissions warranty.

No clue here, but perhaps claiming something without proof is confusing the issue.

Hope it works out for you.
 
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lugbolt

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M's have 2 year/2000 hour warranty whichever comes first (usually 2 yr). OR, another year on powertrain, as I remember. Powertrain consists of internally lubricated parts and the warranty handbook outlines it pretty good. 5 years on emissions.

Your tractor was a 2017? It's 2021. If you purchased in 2017, your warranty is expired. Emissions might still have some warranty but here is the deal....read on.

Limited warranty is administered by dealer. It covers defects in manufacturing and workmanship for a certain period of time. That is one of the limitations (hence "limited warranty"). It is not lifetime warranty to my knowledge. With that said, emissions "might" help with the ecu. The problem with that is, kubota's warranty dept needs to know what the ROOT cause of the failure is. If they were able to deem that the root cause was a failed battery, a battery is coverd by the original warranty only (and actually may have it's own separate warranty?). Since the root cause has nothing to do with what powertrain and emissions limited warranty covers, you have a problem to deal with.

Notice I am not defending Kubota or anyone else here, it's just the way warranty works. Warranty is almost always called a "limited warranty" because, as said, has limitations. It is not insurance although if you had insurance they "might" take care of you (although they generally don't cover mechanical failures that are not accidental).

And finally all companies including Kubota are cracking down on warranty abuse. They are going by the books and anything "gray" is not covered. Unfortunate but it's only a sign of the times. People (and dealers) have been abusing warranty forever; and when I worked at the dealer I saw it OFTEN (daily several times a day usually), particular with lawn & garden equipment (Kommanders come to mind....). Just within the last year I saw changes in the warranty department that were not condusive to good customer service. I didn't and do not expect them to pay for everything, but there were times that they should have, but didn't--hence the phrase "gray area"--they were generally repairs that were not black and white defective. With that in mind, 88% of all of my warranty claims from 2019 through 2020 were not really warranty, they were obvious neglect, abuse, and accident, although we felt sorry for the consumer and took care of them. Kubota is smart and they know. Nowadays they want ECU data (codes), pictures, they're doing fluid analyses, they need to know this stuff to know if a failure it their fault or the fault of someone else, and the biggest reason for that is NOT so much to get out of paying for something, rather to point them in a direction that helps them build better equipment. Remember they have to compete with Deere, and now Cat, Komatsu, New Holland, and a bunch of others, so their product and service needs to be competitive. Unfortunately it also means that some repairs just aren't free anymore.

If your dealer doesn't want to give you any clear cut guidance or good explanation, move up the ladder-call customer service, and they'll get the field service rep involved.
 
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