Bobcat mini excavator with 10HP Kabota engine. I tipped over pushing a tree, I feel pretty stupid. My leg was pinned under the machine and couldn't reach the kill switch. It ran for two minutes while smoking until it stalled out. Righted it with a chain and the starter motor is seized. I don't have the special tool to crack the injector nossle, so I opened the exhaust valve with a screw driver and it fired up just fine. but it's smoking and acting like it wants to seize again. Where is all the oil coming from ? And how did all the oil get inside the Air filter ? What if.... I lay the machine over on the other side (right side vs. left side) to get the oil to drain back out from where it came from ? Bad Idea ? Thanks in advance for any ideas.
You probably flooded the intake manifold and subsequently the air filter with oil. If it has a turbo, the boost side is probably full of oil as well. Did you at least correct the engine oil level before starting? You said you opened the exhaust valve with a screwdriver? Did you leverage the rocker arm or did you turn the adjusting screw? Can you attach pics?
If the engine has glow plugs pull them out then crank. BTW you don't need to touch the injector nozzles but the injector can be removed without special tools. Once you clear the oil out of the cylinders work the be jeaus out of the engine and eventually it may stop smoking. If it doesn't then the bore will be glazed and a major fix begins..
Thanks, Normally aspirated. I agree, there’s oil in the intake manifold, maybe the answer is to pull the manifold. That might be cheaper than bending or breaking a connecting rod trying to burn the oil out of the manifold. could the excess oil be siphoned from the rocker arm access? I tried taking a picture of the engine but it’s an mechanics nightmare with very limited access Due to accessories. I pulled the air filter canister By detaching the hose clamp at the aluminum intake manifold and The canister was full of crank case oil. The hose clamp
It does have glow plugs, finding them through all that spaghetti may be problematic. Now I’ve got a place to start. Thanks I will change the oil and decompress with the glow plug to get it started cross my fingers and then update everyone with the results
In the 3rd pic, the 2 brown wires next to the injector, that should lead you to the glow plugs
Gaining access to the glow plugs is more difficult than sticking a screwdriver under the rocker arm. Is there potential for interference between the piston and valve ? The first time I did it, I may have gotten lucky, I propped the screwdriver under one rocker arm and turned the key, the screwdriver fell out from under the valve within one rotation but that was enough to releave the compression lock. However, it was knocking like a really cold diesel. (Trying to hydrostatic lock again) I kept the RPM at idle for two minutes then shut it down due to the loud knocking which may have been due to a lack of air filter installed. If I get it started again, would it be better to idle for a couple of hours or run wide open to burn / blow out the oil ? I'm all for rolling the dice to fix it, but would it be cheaper in the long run to pull the head first ?
The loud knocking noise could be the sound of a damaged engine. The next sound could very well be a piston trying to escape. One drop of oil on top of a piston in an engine that size is all it takes.
^Not sure if serious
Vetech, Yes, I'm serious ! Heck, I'd pea on a spark plug if I thought it'd help. It would be easy to drain the crankcase, tie a strap to the roll bar and pull it over on its "other side". I just don't know where all the crankcase oil went. On a different note, the crankcase got way over-full, probably fuel in the oil due to being on its side, return fuel in the rocker arms ? I think Tones is the bearer of bad news, because it's got a horrendously awful sounding knock right now. I'm torn between paying the shop to pull the head / top end right now, or run it, as is - until it stops smoking
How is your leg?!?
Ha, ha, Thanks for asking. The dirt was soft enough, no damage and was able to eventually wiggle free on my own.
Did it run to seizure or did it run out of fuel?
Kubotas are generally pretty tough little engines, and they're only asking 10HP out of that one! As far as I know, the same quality goes into their little engines as the rest of them, unlike some manufacturers. Oil being sucked into the intake will make it knock and smoke from preignition. If it turns 360 by hand, and then runs, you're not doing any more damage from hydro locking the engine, but you'd want to know there's no more oil getting into the intake. Not sure how the engine oil could be over full? that's the most concerning thing, along with the knocking. I'd drain the oil since it's high, and check the filter, there are directions on youtube to cut a section and squeeze it in a vice to see how much metal there is inside. The oil got into the air filter because there's probably a hose to direct crankcase fumes to the intake to lower emissions.
Good question! I was wondering if it seized after it quit running while it was still laying on its side. If a valve was open, oil could flow into a cylinder. I’m thinking it ran until seizure because I didn’t have to prime the fuel - it fired right up after I relieved the hydraulic lock. It seamed a slow and gentle seizure. The exhaust smoke started, within five to 10 seconds of the roll over. The RPM decreased slowly as the exhaust smoke increased. Well, maybe “relatively “ gentle. Now, after adjusting the oil level and running it briefly, it seized again. I just wish I could locate the pooling oil and suck it out with a vampire pump.
I've seen it before. Panicked rookie and a Cat skid steer. Engine ran away and by the time they got it shut down it was too late. Expensive mistake for sure. It would start but that engine was toast. Once you cleared the hydro lock it that should have been it. Not like it would hydro again because of a little pooled oil in the intake. It would have just smoked like dog for awhile. The fact its seizing now? Yea expensive mistake.
I'm not so sure. I started it, and ran at idle for one minute with a loud knock. Then I started it and ran for 30 seconds at WOT and I think that pushed more oil in the chamber because, now it's seized again.
it won't hydro lock again running, it will burn that oil and blow smoke. Your bearings are seizing up most likely. After confirming the metal flakes in the oil filter, either pull the engine apart and see if the crankshaft is salvageable, or look for another engine, shouldn't be too hard to find a little Kubota, they're common enough, and usually keep running forever.
The end of this story: There's a large hole in the side of the block. Ouch !!!
Did that happen at the end with a bang? or do you know when it threw a rod?
I’m not sure when it happened, I suspect while it was laying on its side