Overheated

Howdy gentleman. I'm green but I'm tryin. I have an '08 RTV900 that I bought with 40 hrs on it in '08. It's my baby and I've never had a problem with it before now. That is until my oldest started driving it. He didn't notice the temp guage pegged one day last week and ran it until it stopped. Upon inspection, I found the top radiator hose had come off and lost majority of the coolant. I let it cool down, drained the oil, flushed the coolant and got it running again. Problem is it has lost quiet a bit of power it seems, will overheat when idle on a cold day and smokes like willie nelson's tour bus. Something is still causing it to overheat is problem #1. The smoke seems to clear up once its run a while which gives me hope but it sputters and chugs the whole time. I'm afraid to drive it for further inspection. Whats the damage and where do I start? I don't have the money to just drop it off at the dealer. Any ideas would be extremely appreciated.

Sounds like a bad head gasket to me.

I agree but shouldn't i see a milky tint to the oil when I check it? All of the other symptoms are there but the oil still looks good after running it. Is that present in all cases normally?

If the coolant is going into the combustion chamber and being burned (severe smoke) you may not see any in the oil.

I would call it "severe" smoke. That explains it, thanks for the help.

Good diagnosis Jerry. Nicely done.

Welcome to our forums Short Stride.

Short Stride,

You definitely need to remove the head and check for head warping and or blown head gasket.

One or both have occurred.

Get yourself a manual.

Wish Kubota had stuck an audible alarm along with the heat gauge.

Good luck.

The little Kubota's are famous for not blowing the head gasket but cracking the head, when they get that hot. And if he ran it until it stopped, most surely the piston or pistons are scored and the rings stuck. I have seen this so many times, I lost track. Oh sure you may get it to run "BUT"..Sorry to say but I charge approx. $2500 to $ 2700 to rebuild the D902 with a bad head, good rods and crank. $500 dollar core charge, Plus freight both ways. You can see the crack in this pic middle cyl injector hole to exhaust port.

Story goes, Father took home new 1100 and the kids went out to play.

Kids rolled the 1100 over and in their fright walked home leaving the machine running.

When they got back all was okay as the RTV was shut off.

Diesels don't stop when they are sideways or upside down do they.

Wonder how much a total engine rebuild cost when you starve them of oil?
.

SpudHauler said:

Story goes, Father took home new 1100 and the kids went out to play.

Kids rolled the 1100 over and in their fright walked home leaving the machine running.

When they got back all was okay as the RTV was shut off.

Diesels don't stop when they are sideways or upside down do they.

Wonder how much a total engine rebuild cost when you starve them of oil?
.

Click to expand...

Is this a different story from Short Strides?
If the head is OK. and the cam is OK. It would be about $2700 to $2800 for me to rebuild. The D1105 engine. That is a new crank, 1 new rod, Bored .5 mm over sized, new pistons, Valves and seats checked, head checked, maybe milled. These little Bota's have a tough bottom end. But No oil has been known to take out the cam bearing surface which is the block. If the cam bore in the block is messed up I have not found anyone yet that will try to repair it with a bushing. You now have a bad block. $$$$$$$$$$ OUCH!!!
I don't have a spare block for a D1105, I have only one good D902 spare block. and 2 bad ones.

Appears to me that dropping it off at the dealer for definitive diagnosis may be warranted. If the block and head are okay, take it home and supervise the eldest rebuilding the unit. I suggest that if he has to get his hands dirty the object lesson will be learned. Will keep the cost down as well.

Yes, mine was a different story. Never heard the outcome of what it cost to fix. Thanks for the explanation of what might get damaged.

Roll-over shut off switch would have been good in the story I told.

An audible alarm would have been great for Short Strides.

Anyone know if such a system, audible alarm or roll-over switch, would be even available?

Spud Hauler
I'm looking into Murphy switches and gauges, to use on these mining vehicles. But not roll over switches.. Shouldn't be to hard to set up.