Oil & Fuel TC40DA: Oil change nightmare.

[shade tree welder]

This is the story of an oil change in my TC40DA tractor. I changed the oil
in the tractor Sunday, November 7th, 2010. Nothing special I had time and it
needed it. Drained the oil, replaced the filter, filled the oil then I went to
start the tractor and BANG! Then silence. I am a six year Navy veteran;
needless to say my language at this point was not good. So I pull the oil dip
stick and check the oil level and it is full, just like 6.25 quarts always does.
Puzzled, look over the engine and see nothing. So I try to start it again, and
a smaller bang and now a bad knock has developed as the engine runs, also a
large amount of white smoke. As the engine runs the smoke turns bluer and
has the strong odor of unburnt diesel fuel. I shut down the engine.

Obviously, there is some damage to the engine. How the heck did this
happen? What the heck did I do or not do that caused this Am I suffering
early onset Alzheimer's? So I dig up the Owner's Manual and find the
following tidbit at the end of the procedure on the second page ref 01. Now
how many of you have read that and follow that in the manual?

On Monday I stop in at the New Holland dealer, I have a great relationship
with the guys as I did most of their welding for them when I was still running
my welding and fabrication side business. So I show them the Owner's
Manual the mechanics have never heard or read this. The Manager either;
he does some checking and finds the following ref 02 & 03. I spent some
time discussing this with the lead two mechanics, both are great mechanics
and I have learned a lot from them over the years in just discussions with
them. They have me pull the glow plug and inspect them for anything
unusual, but say I should only find light soot on them as a normal condition.
They also let me know that the valve cover and the intake manifold are a
common casting and with that and refs 02 and 03 that explains a lot. So
back to my shop I head. By the way read Ref 02 lists all the models and
affected serial numbers!

 

[shade tree welder]

But the next step is testing compression in the cylinders. I know the cylinder
I am having issues with, #3. I pulled the glow plugs and #3 cylinder had a
wet/oily glow plug. The others just had the typical light soot on them. So I
am picked up one of these; www.harborfreight.com/12-piece-diesel-engine-
compression-tester-93644.html because I believe I have it narrowed down to
bad rings or a bad injector.

I get lots of smoke with a strong diesel odor (I think injector gone bad) and
there is a loud knock with the engine running, dripping injector?
Disconnecting the fuel solenoid and cranking the engine does not reveal any
unusual noises like a rod knock. The smoke gets worse with time as the
engine is running but I am running as little and need be to move it around.
And the smoke is blue, so now I think it might be bad rings and I am burning
oil, so I want to test the compression of each cylinder and see what I get.
Bad rings low compression, bad injector should not give low compression
pressure.

Well due to a family member痴 health issue the tractor has fallen as a second
priority for the week and I do not get back to is until Friday.

Well the compression test did show something;

Cylinder #1 - 605 psig.
Cylinder #2 - 610 psig.
Cylinder #3 - 315 psig.

Okay, went up to the dealer today. The manager is a good guy and I knew
he would be helpful. He finds this to be a bit goofy too. He is going to get
NH to pay for the parts, the tractor is out of warrantee but he is willing to
fight with CNH on this for me. The tractor has 357 hours on it and this is a
known "flaw" in the design. I will be providing the labor. Not to mention they
are swamped in their shop and it would be a few weeks to get to my
tractor. Flaw by the way is my term. He has already ordered the needed
gaskets and new rings for me. And after I get it apart any other new parts
needed, piston, rods, etc. he will also order up. CNH has basically a no
return policy, so we do not want to order anything not needed. Hey if they
are picking up the tab I am not going to push it too hard.

Now with all the warning signs we see all over our products these days, why
is there not a big sticker under the hood with a warning of this?

As I think about this I am possibly worried about having a cracked piston. I
am also worried about having destroyed the cylinder wall. Not looking
forward to having to replace the block. I have also given thought to
modifying the valve cover assembly to eliminate the internal breather and
make it an external breather. But in discussions with the Mechanic at the
dealer he shows me that the most recent version of my tractor the, TC 2310,
has an oil fill location on the timing gear cover. The manager checked and it
will fit my engine, so now I am leaning toward replacing the timing gear cover
and using the lower fill point and then leaving the internal breather alone so
the tractor is still all stock parts. Ref 04 is the upper valve cover, to the
right of my thumb is the breather assembly screwed in the valve cover/intake
manifold casting. Ref 05 is the lower valve cover assembly and houses the
rocker arms and the rocker arm shaft as well as the oil pressure sensor. The
number labels are over the actual intakes into the head and the line go to
the intake and exhaust valves. Ref 06 is the upper and lower valve cover off
the tractor.

 

[shade tree welder]

Well Sunday I finally take enough apart to see what the issue with my engine
truly is; Ref 07 and 08. You can see in the ref 08 picture the red circle
marks where the rod contacted the lower edge of the cylinder wall and
scraped the rod, this would be the knock I was hearing I am guessing also
you can see where the piston skirt was deburring the edge of the cylinder
wall. Surprisingly the only damage to the cylinder wall is the edge see Ref 09.
I will polish up the rough edges with some abrasives I have and do not plan
on replacing the block.

At this point my friend comments, "All that damage just from pouring your oil
in too fast? I respond, "YUP!!!

The last of the parts were ordered today, should be in tomorrow AM.

 

[irvingj]

I am dumbfounded. That is a seriously messed-up design! All because of a quick fix to go to an internal crankcase breather?!?

I wonder how many other engines could suffer the same fate!

I have never worried about pouring oil into an engine, other than trying to keep it from dribbling all over....

It's certainly good that you have such a good relationship with your dealer and he's willing to go to bat for you- give him a pat on the back!

Pics are great, and thanks for posting!!

 

[Thomas]

Great read.
I never would have thought filling to fast would have cause the problem..hmmm..interesting.

 

[mrmikey]

What kind of a engineer would come up with a system like that, should be taken out and shot.
You've got a good dealer there as well.....Mike

 

[Baby Grand]

What kind of a halfa$$ed engineer would come up with a system like that, should be taken out and shot.
You've got a **** good dealer there as well.....Mike

Agree about the engineer. Probably low cost/outsourced. Think of the money they saved.

Also agree about the dealer. Santa might want to leave something special in his stocking this year.

-Jim

 

[Ford850]

What wt oil did you use? It seems odd we haven't heard of this before, so is it that rare, or maybe the type of oil would add to the chances of it happening? You didn't say you checked the oil level after filling it and before starting it. Maybe just that step would have vented it enough to let the oil settle properly?
Very nice documentation too. Thanks.

 

[lhfarm]

Welcome to TBN and thank you for posting. Sorry it had to be with such a serious problem.

I have an 05 TC40DA and it appears the changed happened in 06. No warning in my manual.

I hope you will keep us posted on your progress.

 

[jinman]

Wow! I am stunned. What were they thinking? There should have been all kinds of warnings on that filler. Stunningly stupid! Shame on you New Holland and Shibaura. The note in the Op Man'l is too little, too late. I read my manuals, but I would probably miss this because I've owned a TC45D and would certainly assume oil changing was the same as before. Even people who make cheap engines like B&S and ship them dry know that you have to put labels all over the engine in addition to putting a note in the Op Man'l. In my opinion, this warning should have been put on a big tag and hung on the steering wheel so you could not miss it. NH should have also told their dealers to notify the owner as part of the delivery checklist. I am shocked that this is the first we've heard of this in these forums. I wonder how many people have just barely "dodged the bullet."