Oil & Fuel TC40DA: Oil change nightmare.

[shade tree welder]

Well, well, well...

I got everything together today and filled the respective fluids, engine oil
(SLOWLY, and yes it was driving me nuts), water in the radiator and top off
the power steering fluid. It was just easier to remove the PS tank that to
fight with it. If you had the patience, I do not, you likely could have just laid
off to the side and worked around it. Same with the radiator.

Well SWMBO and the kids were watching while I started it. She cranked for
8-10 seconds whlile the fuel system primed itself then she just purred to life.

I felt relief, my wife actually thinks it is running smoother now than
before. :thumbsup:

After running and warming up a little blue smoke came out of the exhaust for
a minute or two then stopped; just the excess oil burning off from the
disaster.

Finished up a few other tweaks, rerouted the SensiTrac control cable so it
does not run in front of one of the drain plugs. The dealer installed the
engine block heater when we purchased the tractor, they had the cord
wrapped 10 times or so around the lower radiator hose and barely had the
plug hanging below the engine guard. I am rerouting that back to the floor of
the platform for easy access.

I have several round bales to move today along with some other work, should
get everything good and warmed up then I will drain the engine oil, and water
from the engine while still hot, get any and all dirt I can out of it. Change
the oil filter, refill oil, refill coolant with EG coolant and the remaining coolant
conditioner, change the hydraulic and HST filters and top off the Hydraulic
fluid.

 

[Willl]

Glad to hear everything's back up and running. :thumbsup:

I did this exact thing to a Thermoking box truck refer unit sans the mechanical damage.

Plugged the plugs and preceded to blow oil all over the side of his building.

Got lucky and will never forget that lesson.

 

[Ford850]

That's a lot of pressure you put on yourself, trying to start it the first time while SWMBO watching! But when it started it had to bring a smile to your face. Congrats on the rebuild, and thanks for a very well documented thread.

 

[shade tree welder]

That's a lot of pressure you put on yourself, trying to start it the first time while SWMBO watching!

Yeah well it was not planned not to mention the boys standing there
seeing how Dad did... I am glad I pulled it off.

Well I got chores done and the oil and water drained out. Refilled with
new engine oil and coolant (yes I waited until it was cool to refill with
new coolant) I use a new (to me product for the engine oil) Rotella T5
"Syn blend" in 10W-30. Like I said before finding a API Service CI or CJ
in my neck of the woods has been a PITA, Autozone carries this.

 

[irvingj]

To you, a well-desrved pat on the back! Thanks again for sharing your escapade. Glad all seems to have turned out well.

Now, go back and shake the hand of your dealer for going to bat for you!:thumbsup:

 

[shade tree welder]

Nothing really I guess, morbid curiosity.

I was reassembling the air cleaner today and noticed a plug in the housing likely
intended for a breather hose connection. I'll post a picture later of it.

Here is the picture. The plug I was speaking of is the white fitting in the
elbow at the bottom of the photo. If you wanted to you could modifiy the
intake manifold valve cover casting to vent to this and not to the intake
manifold side. It would be cheaper than a new timing gear cover which is
$372. But I want to stay with stock parts.

 

[chopped]

So basically this is a new EPA thing?

 

[shade tree welder]

One last thought I would like to share on this topic. Attached is the picture
of the fuel shut off solenoid, the red arrow points to the electrical connection
for the solenoid. I will get to that later.

I believe that my bent rod was caused by not only some of the oil being filled
draining into the intake manifold and the intake valve being open. In
addition, I believe that the piston was near the top of the intake stroke
allowing nearly a full charge of air less the oil that filled into the cylinder. So
that when the valve closed and compressed the air into the pre-combustion
chamber along with some oil, that when the injector fired there was sufficient
compression to fire and with the additional oil and higher than normal
compression this resulted in unexpectedly high pressure. And since the
injectors fire at 20ｰ BTDC the piston tried to complete cycle and then bent
the rod.

So what can be done to prevent this especially if you believe you might have
overfilled the valve cover and got oil into the intake manifold?

I do not think that the starter alone would have enough power to bend a rod
even if the cylinder was full of oil, it would just stop the rotation of the crank.

I would suggest prior to starting your engine pull the wire off the fuel shut off
solenoid. The red arrow point to the connector grab the connector and pull
straight back toward the rear of the tractor. Disconnecting this wire will
prevent any fuel being injected into the cylinders and if you do have oil in the
cylinders you will just hydraulic lock the engine, likely with no damage to the
engine. Now you only have to get the oil out of the cylinders. If the engine
cranks over normally then reattach the fuel shut off solenoid and fire the
engine.

If you do have oil in the cylinders then remove the glow plugs and crank the
engine, if needed use nonflammable brake parts cleaner to thin the oil and aid
in cleaning out the effected cylinders. Replace the glow plugs, replace the
solenoid wire and restart the engine.

 

[shade tree welder]

So basically this is a new EPA thing?

Not all that new just a poor design to meet the regulation
most intake manifolds are not integral with the valve cover so
having the internal breather is somewhat uniuqe, typically they
are tied back into the air cleaner housing. My 1995 Kohler
powered lawn mower (Craftsman lawn "tractor") has one.

 

[Willl]

I do not think that the starter alone would have enough power to bend a rod
even if the cylinder was full of oil, it would just stop the rotation of the crank.

No, starter motors have plenty of torque to bend things, especially if it got a 'run at it'.