RTV Catching on Fire....Anyone else?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Guest
My dad just had his RTV worked on to have the recall work done on the
muffler. The muffler was replaced along with a spark arrestor
added. Unit only had 47 hours on it but when he got it back it
lacked a ton of its original power. Unfortunately I was driving
it soon after he got it back from being worked on and within 15 minutes
of driving it it burst into flames at the rear of the machine. I
believe that the muffler temp. was hot enough that it melted the
plastic hydraulic reservoir that is near the muffler. Something
was apparently wrong with the muffler or spark arrestor to cause this
problem. Kubota is so far not being much help in standing behind
their product. Anyone else hear of any instances like this one
with fire?
 
Holy Cow! I've never heard of anything like that before. Somthing must have happened when it was in at the dealers.Give Kubota some time, I don't think "my RTV caught fire" will be taken lightly. Thats no somthing no company will mess with.
 
I have heard of only 1 fire on a RTV but there wasno problem with the machine. Wood chips fell on the exhaust manifold.</P>


The lack of power coupled with the high temperature makes me wonder if something clogged the exhaust at the spark arrestor. </P>


Can you elaborate on "Kubota is so far not being much help in standing behind their product."? What have you encountered?</P>


Brian</P>
 
What I meant by Kubota being a disapointment is that they sent an area rep to the dealership and he is trying to claim that hot hydraulics melted the tank and not the muffler. I am the asst. chief of our local fire dept. and have had several fire investigation classes and everything points to the muffler. I guess my dad is going to give Kubota a little more time but I am afraid that Kubota is going to try to try to claim that it wasn't their fault that the RTV caught on fire. At least the sales dept. of the dealership is on my dad'd side and believes that kubota should trade him into a new RTV due to unknown future problems with the unit due to heat etc. Will keep you posted. </P>


Chris (Nebraska)</P>
 
I don't quite follow what the problem is? So there is a disagreement about what caused the fire?! Who cares... as long as they fix the thing. If the factory service tech came out then you are getting good attention. Usualy you have to have a unique problem that they what looked at to get that treatment. </P>


You don't have pictures of it do you? I wonder if it looks anything like the combine fire? http://www.compacttractorreview.com/cs/forums/410/ShowPost.aspx</P>
 
[quote user="Anonymous"]


What I meant by Kubota being a disapointment is that they sent an area rep to the dealership and he is trying to claim that hot hydraulics melted the tank and not the muffler. [/quote]</P>


Chris,</P>


Like Neil stated, If I were you, I would emphasize "Who cares" which caused the fire (exhaust or hot hyd.). I would expect either to be a problem of the machine.</P>


I gave mine a close look in the muffler/hyd. reservoir area yesterday after thinking about your issue. I'm in no way questioning what happened but I'm struggling to see how the muffler/rear pipe can generate enough heat to melt the reservoir tank as there is a steel plate between the 2. One of my thoughtswassomehow hyd. fluid got on the muffler or pipe and started to burn. Not sure if some was spilled on the pipe when the service was done or maybe a hole in the tank (or line)that spewed fluid towards the muffler pipe or what. Do you by chance have any pictures you can post?
Brian</P>
 
The cardinal rule for trouble shooting is to go back to the last thing you changed. </P>


In this case the muffler was replaced and a spark arrester was added, which resulted in a noticeable reduction in power and a fire.</P>


I think the key elements are there.</P>


DRankin</P>
 
In reply to your "who cares" I care !! I'm the dad that owns the RTV900 and the problem is what else is affected by the fire? The hydraulic pump ran empty and the heat from the fire could cause more problems in the future. If you know anything about hydraulics and components you would understand what I"m saying. I didn't pay that kind of money to have expensive repairs down the road for a problem that Kubota Corp caused and won"t stand behind...</P>


To answer the question about pictures ,, Yes I do have pictures.</P>


</P>
 
"Who cares" was in response to what started the fire. I would absolutly care that it happened and expect things to be properly fixed. I'd be curious to see those pictures if your able to post them. </P>


</P>
 
I do not believe that there is a steel plate between the hydraulic tank and the rear of the muffler as you are describing. We pointed that out to the Kubota rep that there should be some sort of heat shield there. Our complaint so far is that Kubota is not going to stand behind future failures due to heat etc. from the fire. I could see if the fire was caused from something that we did but it wasn't. Now due to the fire caused by whatever, there is a chance that future transmission and hydraulic problems will come up without any warranty coverage. Costly repairs to us due to a fire caused by faulty equipment is our concern. A fire that was on top of the transmission concerns us about future problems. Hopefully we and Kubota can come to a reasonable agreement.</P>


Chris (Nebraska)</P>
 
mobmain
 
[quote user="Anonymous"]


In reply to your "who cares" I care !! I'm the dad that owns the RTV900 and the problem is what else is affected by the fire? The hydraulic pump ran empty and the heat from the fire could cause more problems in the future. If you know anything about hydraulics and components you would understand what I"m saying. I didn't pay that kind of money to have expensive repairs down the road for a problem that Kubota Corp caused and won"t stand behind...</P>


To answer the question about pictures ,, Yes I do have pictures.[/quote]</P>


Chris</P>


My saying "who cares" was like Neil stated. It was not a general "who cares" but I was trying to say that the issue that caused the fire was related to the machine and that Kubota needs to fix it and repair your machine regardless of what caused the fire.</P>


The steel plate I was referring to is only about 2" wide and is between the exhaust pipe and reservoir. I'm not sure if the intent was for heat or just part of the support system for the tank itself.</P>


Your picture didn't post (or something) but I can't open it.</P>


Brian</P>
 
It is pretty obvious that the poster meant (who cares) what caused the fire, not who cares if it caught fire,. The poster is saying (I don't care what the cause is, Kubota better check and get it fixed....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top