Overheating and Down on Power? L345DT

[SilverBulletZ]

I have been using my L345DT to till up about 3 acres of ground. I have a 6ft tiller, and until recently, it seemed to be working alright.
The first pass was about medium depth, and I had no issues with the tractor at all. For the second pass, I have the tiller on the last bolt hole "lowest" setting. At first, there wasn't a problem, but the last couple of nights, the temp on the tractor starts to climb. It does it slowly, but eventually, it gets to where it starts to overheat. I have flushed the system, checked all belts/hoses, and replaced the radiator cap. The cap did help, the original one was shot. The thermostat seems alright, the temp doesn't jump around, and without being under load, it never gets warm. I did blow out the radiator numerous times, and finally, I took out the screen and found that at some point (probably years ago), it had gotten oil or something on the radiator, and the whole bottom half was covered in caked on dirt. I sprayed all of that out, and it seemed to help, but the problem is still there. Any ideas?
Now for the second problem. I had a fuel line that was seeping, and I removed it to fix the seep. I did that, and when I did, the line had gunk in it, as did the injector pump. The tractor never ran funny, so I didn't think anything of it. I fixed the seeping, but now, the tractor smokes more under a moderate load, and when I'm tilling, it feels WAY down on power. I only have very basic knowledge of diesel engines, what can I look for to see what's causing this?
I also think that maybe the engine bogging is causing it to be part of the overheating issue.
Just a side note, there is no knocking, rattling, smoking - blue or white coming from the exhaust.

Any ideas would be awesome!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

When you reinstalled the line did you bleed out the air after reinstall?
Yes being down on a cylinder will cause them to overheat.
If none of that works I would start with pulling the injectors out and have them cleaned and tested, and not what you can do for cleaning, send them to a diesel injection shop.

 

[SilverBulletZ]

I bled the line at the filter and pump, do I need to bleed it at the injector?

 

[D2Cat]

Need to loosen the nuts at the top of the injectors a couple of turns. Put throttle to full on. Turn engine over for 15-20 seconds. Wait 30 seconds, do again. Repeat process until fuel come from one fuel line, then snug that line down. Repeat until all lines have fuel coming out, and then tighten those lines. Now you have all the air out up to the injectors!

Good luck. Report back results.

 

[SilverBulletZ]

Do I do 1 injector at a time? Or all four, and just tighten each line as fuel comes out?

 

[Bulldog]

Maybe I've just been lucky but I never have had to loosen a injector line on any of my Kubotas to bleed air. All I do is get the fuel to the pump and they'll normally run fine.
Now the trash in the lines is a whole other story. Could be algae in the tank or just dirty fuel in general. Diesel is just naturally nasty. You may need to add some fuel conditioner and let it clean you fuel system. It's not going to hurt anything even if it doesn't need it.

Overheating, it sounds like you covered all the bases. My experience with Kubotas is they don't have a big enough cooling system to begin with. Keep it washed out good, I do mine daily when I'm in a lot of dust or trash. Not trying to turn this into a war but synthetic oil will make a big difference in your engine temps.

 

[D2Cat]

Loosen them all. Tighten them one at a time as fuel dribbles out on the engine. Nothing critical, just need to open the line to let air out and tighten line when fuel is present.

 

[SilverBulletZ]

I'll do that, thanks D2Cat.
Yeah, the junk in the line had me concerned, this poor thing lead a VERY hard life before I got it. I do use Optilube XPD in every tank of fuel, it really helps with lubrication and cold weather. I put on a new fuel filter last year, and I'll be changing it this weekend, so that should help with the junk in the lines.
Yeah, the overheating is not fun, but I don't think that it was supposed to be used like a 50+hp tractor anyway, I just have to baby it from time to time.

 

[D2Cat]

Just last week I installed a mechanical water temp. gauge on my L305DT. I had a one bottom plow working a ditch and moving around with the loader full of wet sod, rocks and dirt. I haven't got the gauge past 135deg.

Makes me wonder what it ought to read?

 

[BAP]

Have you checked your air cleaner filter? A dirty filter will cause power loss, smoke in the exhaust, and can cause engine to heat up. When air flow into the motor is restricted, it runs rich. If it is dry and dusty, a lot of dust gets drawn in and plugs the filter fast. Also, did you clean the engine block off after you fixed your leak. Dirt, grease and grime on an engine acts like insulation keeping the heat in the engine.

 

[SilverBulletZ]

Just a quick update on the fuel situation. I did the injector bleed, but I think that I will need to blow out all four lines. One line would pump fuel, but it also had a lot of small bubbles with it. Two of the lines pumped fuel very well after the second cranking. Then, one line pumped well on the first cranking session, but after that, either wouldn't pump at (like it's plugged), or very little bit. I think that I'm going to pull all four lines, blow them out to make sure that they aren't plugged, and then bleed the system again.
I did check the air filter, and outside of the end canister having a lot of dust in it, the filter didn't have much, and was quite clean.

 

[ShaunRH]

Yup, pull all the lines and clean them. Have the injectors cleaned and tested by a pro-shop. Clean out the pumps and replace all the older lines. Check your lift pump as well for blockage.

It's time for a fuel system clean up and re-line. This should be done about every 10 years or so on an outdoor stored tractor. Indoor (yeah those lucky dogs!) can get away with about 15 years. It's amazing how much longer a fuel pump will last when it gets good lines and fuel all the time.

 

[SilverBulletZ]

Would it be cheaper just to buy new injectors? Messick's has them for $65/each, what would a shop charge to service them? I am also very rural, so anything I need done would have to be shipped back and forth.
What to you mean re-line? I know that sometimes the hard lines leak, but when we'd work on duramaxes we'd take a fine brush and clean the lines at the mating point to give them a new surface to seal to.
After digging into this tractor, I don't think it's seen any maintenance outside of oil changes and repairing ONLY the things that broke. I don't think that there has been any preventative maintenance done until I got it. Stinks for me, but once it's done, it's done, and I know that it was done right.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Replace rubber lines, clean fuel tank. Air in injector lines could be something to do with supply.