[changzuki]

- Down on power
- Intermittent pronounced vibration
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Nothing obvious is really jumping out to explain this.
Although this recent transmission w/overdrive unit is heavier, and when turning it by-hand at the input shaft it does require more effort that the old straight 4-speed, but hardly seems possible for the performance loss...
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Even cold, the engine starts excellently without hesitation and goes right into a perfect idle, minimal to no exhaust smoke. The crankcase vent blowby is also minimal, nothing worth noting.
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At one point with hood open and the engine idling, I did notice a drop in rpms and a pronounced shake of the engine (actually the entire car). After a few seconds the engine magically recovered and all was "normal".
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I've NEVER had any great success with the many automotive "canned miracles" that will restore lost compression, clean fuel systems, and jump your mpg up by "X" amount. But the price is do-able and the marketing on the label is the answer to all my problems so..... $20 later, I am $20 poorer and nothing else has changed.
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The fuel filter is a sizable spin-on can and should go a very long time before needing replacement, but after all the "stuff" I ran through the system, figured it was probably better to go ahead and replace that too. It had trapped particles but gravity flow of fuel through it was not impeded.
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The Kubota documentation does not encourage the use of the decompressor as I have used it. A compression (imbalance) test suggests there is no problem though...
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At this point the fuel system is suspect and after many failed attempts to replicate the rpm drop / engine shake, the winds of change were about to blow in. With the engine idling and a 3/4 open end wrench at the ready, the shaking resumed! Cracking the injector line on cylinder number one only made a marginal difference and more importantly, there was evidence of air in the escaping fuel! Cracking injector lines number two and three would nearly make the engine stall so they were carrying their loads just fine. Once the air was bled from line number one, the idle was once again perfect.
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Over the course of the next few runs the wrench was along for the ride and ready to leap out and crack line number one. Each and every time the results were the same - air in the fuel from the #1 injector.
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It was time for a closer look!
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~CrazyJerry