Lots of smoke, no power - did I hurt my B3030?

[Lindy]

I'd mowed 25' or so on the B3030 when all of a sudden there was an almost complete loss of power and lots of gray smoke. It was barely running. I got off and popped the hood, and almost immediately it started running again. It took a bit for the smoking to stop, but it seemed to run ok after that.

In hindsight, I think what happened is when I cleaned the air filter after mowing last time, I might not have gotten the assembly seated back into position properly. Maybe the air intake tube got pinched somehow restricting the airflow into the engine. When I engaged the PTO and the motor started working harder and grabbing more air, the flow was strong enough to suck the ends of the plastic intake tube together pretty much stopping the air flow.

Is this typically what would happen when a diesel is starved for air?

Is it possible that I damaged the engine?

TIA. Don't know much about diesel engines. The B3030 has been bullet proof in the 3 years I've had it. First time anything like this has ever happened.

 

[kuboman]

I'd mowed 25' or so on the B3030 when all of a sudden there was an almost complete loss of power and lots of gray smoke. It was barely running. I got off and popped the hood, and almost immediately it started running again. It took a bit for the smoking to stop, but it seemed to run ok after that.

In hindsight, I think what happened is when I cleaned the air filter after mowing last time, I might not have gotten the assembly seated back into position properly. Maybe the air intake tube got pinched somehow restricting the airflow into the engine. When I engaged the PTO and the motor started working harder and grabbing more air, the flow was strong enough to suck the ends of the plastic intake tube together pretty much stopping the air flow.

Is this typically what would happen when a diesel is starved for air?

Is it possible that I damaged the engine?

TIA. Don't know much about diesel engines. The B3030 has been bullet proof in the 3 years I've had it. First time anything like this has ever happened.

Assuming that your explanation is correct then you did not hurt anything. I am guessing this only went on for less than a minute?
No worries

 

[DiezNutz]

Right, all you did was "choke it out", it would have simply stalled eventually.

I'd be more concerned about attempting to clean an air filter element instead of just replacing it, but that's another topic altogether.

 

[Lindy]

I am guessing this only went on for less than a minute?
No worries

Yes, it was only for a short time. Just long enough to move away from the neighbor's yard. He was holding a party, otherwise I'd have stopped immediately. Didn't want to smoke him and his friends out. :laughing:

I'd be more concerned about attempting to clean an air filter element instead of just replacing it, but that's another topic altogether.

I was just using my compressor (low pressure) to blow out any dust and loose debris that had accumulated in the in the bottom of the canister.

Thanks, guys.

Lindy

 

[sarti]

Last year my b2630 started doing the same thing..Everytime I'd open the hood it would run fine..I found the strip of rubber above it on the hood was
closing off the air when the hood was closed..Since I trimmed the rubber I haven't had a problem

 

[leonz]

all purpose mosquito fogger aka B3030

I'd mowed 25' or so on the B3030 when all of a sudden there was an almost complete loss of power and lots of gray smoke. It was barely running. I got off and popped the hood, and almost immediately it started running again. It took a bit for the smoking to stop, but it seemed to run ok after that.

In hindsight, I think what happened is when I cleaned the air filter after mowing last time, I might not have gotten the assembly seated back into position properly. Maybe the air intake tube got pinched somehow restricting the airflow into the engine. When I engaged the PTO and the motor started working harder and grabbing more air, the flow was strong enough to suck the ends of the plastic intake tube together pretty much stopping the air flow.

Is this typically what would happen when a diesel is starved for air?

Is it possible that I damaged the engine?

TIA. Don't know much about diesel engines. The B3030 has been bullet proof in the 3 years I've had it. First time anything like this has ever happened.

assuming you mean the dust ejector nipple its possible but the rubber is so flexible it would stay open.


NO, you do not clean the air filters you toss them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the safety element which is the inner element became so filled with dirt and junk it created a huge pressure gradient and collapsed sucking a pin hile of air and giving you incomplete combustion and the mosquito fogger incident

No you did not hurt it, just throw the filters out and replace them now and from now on or buy an oil bath precleaner and you will be lucky to change an air filter in 5 years of continous use.

dont overtighten the wingnuts as it collapses the ends of the air filters and can tear the element creases.

If you have dirt in the primary filter area of the canister vacuum it out from now on.

 

[Lindy]

all purpose mosquito fogger aka B3030
assuming you mean the dust ejector nipple its possible but the rubber is so flexible it would stay open.

NO, you do not clean the air filters you toss them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the safety element which is the inner element became so filled with dirt and junk it created a huge pressure gradient and collapsed sucking a pin hile of air and giving you incomplete combustion and the mosquito fogger incident

No you did not hurt it, just throw the filters out and replace them now and from now on or buy an oil bath precleaner and you will be lucky to change an air filter in 5 years of continous use.

dont overtighten the wingnuts as it collapses the ends of the air filters and can tear the element creases.

If you have dirt in the primary filter area of the canister vacuum it out from now on.

Mosquito fogger, yep that's pretty much what it looked like. You've seen that happen before? We don't have too many mosquitoes around here to begin with, thankfully.

I appreciate all your pointers and will take them into consideration -- e.g. vacuuming out the canister instead of blowing it out.

However in my case, there was just a little bit of dust inside the canister that I was cleaning out. It wasn't packed with dirt and leaves or anything like that. I'm just being careful to keep it really clean. I operate in pretty clean conditions, and I do change the air filter at the recommended intervals.

It wasn't the dust nipple that was causing the problem. That was in position and operating properly as far as I could tell. It was actually the main air intake "flat tube" (if I can call it that for lack of a better term) that collapsed. It must have gotten pinched a little bit like sarti's did. So just a marginal additional amount of air intake was enough for it to get sucked closed. I could see a spot where the plastic had been bent a slight amount.

Anyhow, lesson learned. I'm just happy I haven't damaged the motor.

 

[Johndeere3720]

my dads Deere did that when he first got it. Just had to clean out the air filter and was good to go. I recently cleaned the filter and some screens that go to the radiator and when i put them back in and started it, i got a large cloud of dust blown out of it. I just slowly gave it more throttle until it maxed out to be sure it blew all the dust out. :thumbsup: Oh and kinda a funny one, about 3 weeks ago i went out to start my Deere riding mower and as usual i pushed it out of the shed to start it so i wouldnt have to breathe the fumes and since the engine is so loud. So i started it up and poof, pink is being shot out of the grill and is everywhere! So i flip the hood up and find a mouse nest of insulation sitting on the battery. Now i know why my battery died. :laughing:

 

[crazyal]

Had a girlfriend who put diesel in her Mustang. Lite smoke at first but then increasing until it would run anymore. The funny part was she made it to the parking lot of the upscale store where she worked before the diesel finally won out over the gas and she smoked out all the stores bad enough so someone called the fire department. I hadn't thought about that in years until you started talking about your neighbor.

 

[browbiz2]

Had the same problem with our B2630 off and on for a couple years, tried various things with the flat horn that seemed to fix the problem but then problem came back with a vengeance last week; saw your post and decided to look "up" under the hood instead of just at the air intake and sure enough we decided that the hood gasket must somehow be getting in the way; so we trimmed it and problem fixed. THANKS for you post !!!