Brand new Kubota SVL65-2...can't keep the engine running

[NoobAsNoobGets]

Just got quoted on a 262d3...saw this.View attachment 201771

We haven't owned ours for six months yet and we're getting a legal review of our documents. I'll let you know what the lawyer says.

But we told the dealer we'd pay their $125 an hour and they just simply refused to service us after making us the offer to service us for $125 that we accepted.

 

[Vetech63]

Demand your money back...…..that usually gets something happening.........…..like it or not.

 

[Welder Dave]

Like I said before they had no problem selling it to you. Did they deliver it? Demand your money back and if you get the run around STOP Payment. It sounds fuel related but with all this new technology and DPF etc. who knows what could be wrong. Tell them Cat has 6 month's travel time and mileage in their warranty and they either come and fix it or pay to have a local mechanic fix it with the warranty still in place. All you want is a proper running machine which isn't asking for much when you spend 50K on a new machine. If they refuse ask them if they really want to go through the process to repossess it because you WILL stop payment and buy from a dealer that actually cares about their customers. By what you said it would be a real PIA for them to repossess it. No sense paying for something you can't use. I wouldn't be surprised if a carefully worded letter from your lawyer wakes them up.

I had the engine in my Cat rebuilt and it lost oil pressure after 16.5 hours. Talked to the shop and they arranged for a mechanic to come out and look at it a couple days later. I was about an hour away. Mechanic did some tests and confirmed there was no oil pressure. I pulled the engine out again. A couple gear teeth on the oil pump sheared off. Later when it was using too much oil mechanic came out again. He came out to investigate and then came out a 3rd time with another rebuilt cylinder head. I made what I thought was a joke about if the engine had to come out a 3rd time they would do it. Guess what, it had to come out again. Still using way too much oil but no smoke at all. They said they would pull it if I could get it to them. Through a contact was able to get a low boy to haul it there and back (when fixed) on weekends for $300. Pay for the driver and fuel. It was better than pulling it myself but the shop looked after me. I paid about 7K and at least the machine ran to load it on the trailer. If I had paid 50K for a brand new machine, I'd be livid with that dealer.

 

[KSSS]

That is about what I expected from Kubota. Kubota could care less what Cat or anyone else has in THEIR warranty. You bought a Kubota and they apparently don't make house calls in the first 6 months. I don't think the thought of repossessing the machine is going to be a big motivator for Kubota to do anything. They will likely have some third party repossess the machine and whatever that costs will be added to the default amount on the machine. I doubt that really matters to them, if someone repossesses the machine with a medium lift helicopter, so be it. If your default amount is 50K on the machine, it will be come 65K after the machine is flown out. No skin off them. I very much doubt a letter from a lawyer will move Kubota either. Are you going to sue Kubota for breach of contract? The short version of the contract is they agree to sell the machine. You have a warranty period and it is your responsibility to provide the machine to them (the dealer) for any work. The selling dealer isn't obligated to go to you to fix it, even though that is a service typically offered in the industry, they are not under obligation to provide that service, even when paid to travel. The poor reviews of the dealer were justified, you took the time to research that, but didn't heed what you learned.

My suggestion would be to have the machine fixed. Forget you have a warranty, because in your case, you really don't. Your breaking your own heart trying to extract help from the dealer or the OEM. Have it repaired third party and get the machine back to work. When you have the ability, trade it on something else. Why wont you share what dealer this is?

 

[Welder Dave]

With all due respect KSSS you don't own a Kubota so how would know how they would react? I'm sure people have had issues with Case dealers as well. Kubota can't be that much different than any other manufacturer. Look at the ugly D6C thread and how getting corporate involved after lots of prodding turned a dealer around. Apparently this Kubota dealer refused to come out even if the buyer said they would pay them to come out. I think the best case would be if a local mechanic could fix it relatively easy and get Kubota to pay some or all of it. Without seeing the actual contract and warranty statement it is anybody's guess what it actually says. There may be a legal requirement for the manufacturer when you buy a new machine and it dies in 28 hours. If you bought a new truck and it died in 200 miles, you for darn sure wouldn't be footing the bill to have it towed to the dealer. The machine won't run and there is no way to even get a winch truck near it to load it.

 

[heymccall]

This isn't near southwest PA by chance, is it?

I'd throw some gear in a bag and come take a look see.

 

[KSSS]

I knew Kubota Corp. wouldn't be of help because they haven't shown a desire to provided much help to their SCR machines with issues that are provided to the dealer to be fixed. I wish I would have been wrong, but I wasn't, at least not yet.....unfortunately. This has nothing to do with CASE or CAT or any other OEM, this is Kubota and what matters is what Kubota will do. Your right that we don't know the exact wording, but it is pretty clear that the verbiage doesn't obligate the dealer to respond to the customer to repair the machine. Kubota Corp. itself doesn't have the ability or obiligation to go fix it themselves and they are not able to compel a dealer to go fix it. Change the narrative, provide the machine to the dealer and they still refuse, that would be different and you would have legal footing, but with the machine sitting in a "geographical anomaly" they don't have to go to it's location to fix it. If it was a new pickup, that would likely be different since most have road side assistance for 36K miles.
Dave we agree on one thing and that is getting the machine fixed without the help of Kubota is likely the best solution. If Kubota helped with the bill all the better, but I would not plan on that happening.

 

[Welder Dave]

I think the least Kubota and/or the dealer could do is pay for a local mechanic to hopefully fix it and not void the warranty if it is a licensed mechanic. If it does have to go to the dealer, the best option may be to hire someone local to take it to the dealer or rent a trailer if possible to take it there. Not sure how the machine was originally delivered? Would have to get a tractor or other machine to pull it out so it could be loaded on the trailer. Perhaps a local contractor with another machine and trailer could haul it if required. Then the other problem is if it has provisions to be towed out of the woods a mile to the trailer. Depending on the location maybe someone on this forum like heymcall would offer to take look at it. It may be something simple but not being a mechanic would be very frustrating trying to diagnose it. Maybe Kubota corporate will step up to the plate. If they do nothing social media can be pretty powerful if words get out. Someone goes online to look at reviews of the machine and see's how the dealer and Kubota failed this customer and they may decide they don't want a Kubota. A local AG or construction dealer might be a good option for a mechanic. It's not their machine but they probably have similar issues and could gain a customer in the mean time.

 

[NoobAsNoobGets]

We are waiting on the legal review of the warranty to see what our options are. KSSS is right, we didn't heed the warnings from the poor reviews of the dealer. We gambled on the reputation we had heard of Kubota machines being reliable, and it was a 60K mistake on our part.

One we get our review back we'll decide if we're going to stop payment and let them get their machine (don't care about the black credit mark) or if we will hire a third party knowing that Kubota may very well void the warranty because of it (the warranty seems pretty worthless at this point anyway).

We will update as we know more.

 

[NoobAsNoobGets]

This isn't near southwest PA by chance, is it?

I'd throw some gear in a bag and come take a look see.

No sir. Thanks for the offer though.

 

[The Peej]

I think some key information has not been answered, When it was purchased was it discussed that it would be used outside the dealer's service territory. Living remotely has a lot of costs and I don't find it unreasonable that the dealer will not travel 10+ hours. How was the machine delivered, did the dealer deliver it? was there an extra charge for delivery? If it runs for a few minutes at a time can you slowly make your way out to a road?

 

[NoobAsNoobGets]

I think some key information has not been answered, When it was purchased was it discussed that it would be used outside the dealer's service territory. Living remotely has a lot of costs and I don't find it unreasonable that the dealer will not travel 10+ hours. How was the machine delivered, did the dealer deliver it? was there an extra charge for delivery? If it runs for a few minutes at a time can you slowly make your way out to a road?

We didn't discuss servicing outside their area. I did know they sent service calls out, but I didn't discuss ours with them specifically. I just assumed which obviously was a poor choice. They're the closest dealer (4.5 hour drive away from us) and the next closest dealer owned by the same company is twice as far away. The machine was dropped off at the nearest road by a third party shipper (cost us $800 to have it shipped), we drove it up the one mile ATV trail from the road to our place.

The town we live in has an airport with daily flights to where the dealer is but that isn't an option due to the equipment they'd need to bring apparently.

 

[NoobAsNoobGets]

We'll know more when we get the legal review. If we decide to have a third party fix the machine we have options in our town. Plenty of heavy equipment here and a couple places that rent them out. We're just trying to keep from voiding the warranty but then again the warranty isn't proving to have any value so far.

 

[Welder Dave]

I think some key information has not been answered, When it was purchased was it discussed that it would be used outside the dealer's service territory. Living remotely has a lot of costs and I don't find it unreasonable that the dealer will not travel 10+ hours. How was the machine delivered, did the dealer deliver it? was there an extra charge for delivery? If it runs for a few minutes at a time can you slowly make your way out to a road?

These are good questions. The best option I think is to try and get Kubota to pay a local mechanic to fix it. The dealer likely didn't want to mention you are on your own should you require warranty. If asked most dealers would probably say not to worry, you won't have any problems. If a local dealer has machines with Kubota engines would be ideal. They may go to bat for you depending on the problem. A good dealer can make a huge difference when dealing with warranty issues.

 

[heymccall]

Having someone else repair, or even evaluate, the machine would not void the warranty. If that were the case, I'd never have any warranty coverage, or dealer goodwill coverage.

Do you like the machine? If so, shirley someone around you, if not you, is mechanically inclined enough to evaluate what I believe is a fuel supply problem.

While paying out of pocket for the repair may suck, it appears to be the only option. Reimbursement can be had, even on my Kubotas. Sometimes it takes a while. Cummins took two years on one DOC reimbursement, but most were handled within 6 months or less.

 

[heymccall]

First, I want this line removed, and lowered to the frame. Does fuel freely run out?

 

[heymccall]

Depending on the results (flows a lot), then I want this assembly removed and dissected. Special attention is to be paid to the inlet elbow for obstruction.

 

[Welder Dave]

This is excellent! Hopefully with pics. heymccall can walk you through what may be the problem.

 

[NoobAsNoobGets]

So the contract we signed, and State laws, means Kubota could come after us for the full value of the machine and just leave it with us. They wouldn't have to repossess it, they could have a court require us to pay the balance of the loan off. So that options won't work and bad on us for not getting a guarantee that the dealer would service us. But if warranty isn't voided by third party work, no big deal (I'd hate to test that, I do not trust Kubota to do the right thing).

We've hired somebody in the town we live in who works on these machines and he's gonna come up and show us how to replace the fuel filter and we'll see what happens. We'll also go over the diagrams provided here and give that a go. More than likely, we're guessing, it's some gunk that got into the fuel after Kubota's untouched brand new fuel cap fell off without me noticing (because the dealer didn't put it on right, or because it was defective).

Thanks all for all the assistance.

 

[hosspuller]

So what is the name of the Kubota dealer that won't support you properly ?