my tractor (branson 4720) is difficult to start all of a sudden. i have to 'pump' the throttle, and it spins and spins with white smoke coming out, then once it fires off it blows a tremendous amount of white smoke. It's always smoked a little upon start up. I serviced it this past summer, all filters and fluids. i keep air filter clean, battery is good ( seems to be) and once it warms it cranks right up. I live in middle/south georgia so i wouldn't think a few chilly nights would cause problems. I checked oil the other day and it had a grayish look but no bad smell. Any thoughts? Injectors and/or injector pump is what i'm thinking.
Branson hard to start, lots of smoke
- Thread starter calbug
- Start date
Tx Jim
New Member
"Pumping the throttle" doesn't help start a diesel engine to start. Grayish oil indicates the presence of moisture which could indicate a leaking head gasket which could cause starting problems.
Sample the motor oil, and get it tested (looking for anti-freeze/coolant reported). Gray oil doesn't sound right, you may have had a head gasket issue from the get-go.
Any oil in the coolant ? Are your motor oil and coolant levels dropping or rising ?
Rgds, D.
Any oil in the coolant ? Are your motor oil and coolant levels dropping or rising ?
Rgds, D.
Oil and coolant levels aren't dropping or rising and i'm not running hot. I check levels before every use and coolant is always at the neck of radiator and pretty green. Oil is black with a grayish tint, not dark brown like i think it should be considering it's only been @ 20 hours since oil change. Not sure if this is normal. Oil was from Napa which may not be good quality oil? I'll keep a check on it, but haven't noticed any coolant or oil loss.
Maybe it doesn't help, but it won't start unless I play with the throttle. Dirty fuel, clogged fuel filter or injector maybe?
As long as the oil was SAE rated for diesels, and the right viscosity, you should be OK. There are a few bad oils out there, but mostly no name stuff sold in convenience stores are the culprits.
Get enough coolant in your oil for long enough, and you'll be doing lower-end work (meaning bearings, etc). If it was my tractor, I'd get an oil sample kit (Blackstone, Cat, Finning....), follow the directions for sampling, and send that motor oil in for testing. You want to be able to rule out coolant contamination before this goes any longer. Oil testing is cheap, compared to rebuilding a motor, even if you do it yourself.
Rgds, D.
Edit - also changeout the fuel filter, to eliminate a potential water source.
Jerry/MT
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It's doubtful that the injectors or the pump are drectly the cause of your problem. I'd' suspect water contaminated fuel.
What ambient temperatures are you trying to start in? Do you have a "cold starting" device (glow plugs, Thermostart, block heater, etc)? Are you using them?
You should be using a good diesel rated oil in the engine. Greyish tint in the oil is indicative of water. How often do you use the tractor? Condensation can be a proble with tractors that are not used regularly but a leaking head gasket can put coolant into the lube oil. Drain a few ounces of oil from the crankcase drain and see if there is water or coolant there. Water and coolant being heavier then oil will pool their after the engine is shut down for awhile.
Are you using summer diesel fuel? In can congeal in temperatures near freezing (above and below depending on the blend) You say once you get it started and warmed up you don't have problem so it appears that cold temperatures are causing the problem. Do you have a water separator in your fuel delivery system? If so,drain that and the fuel filter and see if you have any water collected their. Again condesation in the fuel tanks can contaminate fuel and the water collects at the bottom of the tank and the bottom of the fuel filters, etc.
As Jim points out pumping the throttle is no help. Set the throttle about 1/3 to 1/2 open when you try to start. Owners manuals usually give cold starting procedures.
You will have to do some sleuthing to figure out your problem but cold weather, water contaminated fuel, or using summer diesel in winter conditions are the most frequent root causes of diesel starting problems for engines in good mechanical condition.
Tx Jim
New Member
As I stated earlier pumping throttle is just a "placebo" as it won't help in any form to get a diesel started running.
Raspy
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If it seems to help to "pump the throttle", you may have water in the injection pump that is making it stick at a certain setting. Pumping the throttle does not send in more fuel as it does on a carburetor and richening the mixture is not related to diesels like it is on gas engines. If you are sure that pumping helps, the injection pump likely has a problem related to water.
White smoke is moisture and incomplete combustion. Are you warming up the engine every time it runs or only running it for a short time and allowing moisture to accumulate in the crankcase? Have you used a lot of ether to start it? Ether should actually be called "engine death in a can". It, at the very least, can damage the rings and pistons which causes compression loss, hard starting, a lot of blowby and contaminated oil. I doubt you have a head gasket problem as that would show up in a different way.
Get the moisture out of the fuel, add an additive to the tank and then run the tractor hard for a while to dry it out completely. Moisture in the injection system will cause a lot of damage.
It also might be as simple as air in the fuel caused be a suction side leak, a bad pickup tube, or a failing mechanical lift pump.
White smoke is moisture and incomplete combustion. Are you warming up the engine every time it runs or only running it for a short time and allowing moisture to accumulate in the crankcase? Have you used a lot of ether to start it? Ether should actually be called "engine death in a can". It, at the very least, can damage the rings and pistons which causes compression loss, hard starting, a lot of blowby and contaminated oil. I doubt you have a head gasket problem as that would show up in a different way.
Get the moisture out of the fuel, add an additive to the tank and then run the tractor hard for a while to dry it out completely. Moisture in the injection system will cause a lot of damage.
It also might be as simple as air in the fuel caused be a suction side leak, a bad pickup tube, or a failing mechanical lift pump.