Looked at a used tractor, tiny bit of white smoke out of valve cover breather?

[ShowroomShine]

Mid 1980's Ford 1510 with 3cyl Shibura diesel. 700hrs on the meter. When it was started, the breather tube had a tiny bit of white smoke coming out of it when I revved the engine, but it cleared up in about 30-40 seconds. It was cold this morning as well.

Most of what I'm seeing says this should be normal, but I figured I'd ask here before I made the purchase. Are there other tests I should look at to check the tractor for blow by or any other problems before I make the purchase?

 

[nybirdman]

I would think what you are seeing is condensation and nothing to be concerned about.

 

[RNeumann]

Ditto the last post.
You can follow where the breather goes (typically to the intake side somewhere) to see an abnormal amount of oil and carbon has developed. But more than likely this is nothing to fret over.

Hope it is a good purchase.
Merry Christmas

 

[Stimw]

Check for milky looking oil. (water in it)

 

[ShowroomShine]

Ok so an update. I do think I got hosed on the deal. I went back this afternoon and rechecked the tractor, all seemed fine for a 30yr old $2800 tractor. After starting I got the same white smoke, but it thinned out after running. No dripping oil out of the breather tube. I opened the oil fill while the engine was running, saw some whispy white smoke, figured it had a slight bit of blow-by but nothing major. Pulled out dipstick and saw no blowing oil or fumes out of that. Oil looks clean no milky oil. I purchased the tractor.

Get it home, hook it up to my box blade. I notice while driving it to my back field that the tractor sounds a little funny, almost like a 2cyl diesel, but otherwise seemed fine. After using the box blade for a little while I noticed the tractor was pretty hard to rev up under load, almost like the motor was just dying, not just bogging down. I'd stop, rev the motor back up and it would be fine.

Then I went back inside and did some research on the serial number to find out the year. Up popped the add from the municipality auction where the previous owner bought it, right there in the listing it was described as having "low power".

I feel like a ditz, I thought I tested it out well, but had no way to put it under load.

What do I start with now to find out why the power is low? I was going to check air and fuel filters, then see if the valves need adjusting. I was going to crack some fuel lines at the injectors to see if maybe one cylinder isnt firing or something like that.

 

[DJ54]

If you don't find anything wrong there, if it were me, a compression check would be my first item to check. But do have a compression tester for a diesel engine.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Mid 1980's Ford 1510 with 3cyl Shibura diesel. 700hrs on the meter. When it was started, the breather tube had a tiny bit of white smoke coming out of it when I revved the engine, but it cleared up in about 30-40 seconds. It was cold this morning as well.

Most of what I'm seeing says this should be normal, but I figured I'd ask here before I made the purchase. Are there other tests I should look at to check the tractor for blow by or any other problems before I make the purchase?

Most likely leakage around the exhaust valve stem due to cold clearance. Get the tractor warmed up and work it to see if you have excessive blow by. If it really has 700 hrs it shouldn't have much blow by.

 

[Stimw]

I would go through the fuel system checking for water. It will stop up filters and cause power loss.
I've had diesel trucks that would start loosing power and I did a filter change and they perked right up.
I would not give up yet, you might just have a diamond in the rough that just needs some tweaking. (fingers crossed)

 

[Texasmark]

I'd give it a good dose of "snake oil". Sea Foam is what I have used for bringing engines back to life. Have a half dozen that I can think of and the last one was just in the last few days, a Honda GXS 390 on a friend's ATV SXS that was just all gummed up from not being used (ethanol varnish caked) and run hard (cylinders and rings) to drive out out the carbon and moisture.

Another was my '63 Ford Diesel with 3740 (checked today) original no wrench basic engine (add ons excepted) hours, with gummed rings and dirty injectors, then several 2 strokers weed eater, chain saw, garden tiller, and 2 stroke outboard motors and on and on. I use Power Services diesel additive for a maintainer/storage tanks, but I like SF for a cleaner upper.

SF states that you can use it up to 50-50 concentrations in the fuel and 1 oz per qt in the oil, before or after the oil change....leave it in till the oil gets dirty and change it.

Before you go nuts on gee whiz I really blew it, invest in several cans....just bought some today, $6.75 a pint. at WW in the auto dept. Recommended maintenance dosage is 1 oz per gallon, but for clean up I dump a can in 5 gallons of fuel and burn the whole thing out as hard as I can. let the engine sit overnight and do the same thing with another 5 gal the next day. The sit allows time for the treatment to loosen the baked on crud. Don't forget to change the oil and filter before you start, (I'd want fresh oil on the clean up so that you can see your progress) and add the 1 oz per quart there.

Come back in a couple of days and tell us how it went.