New(ish) Yanmar Owner - Question about Gauges, Gears, Levers, Buttons - the works!

[IvarForkbeard]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster here...
I've had my Yanmar 155D with a FEL since last year, although it was in storage until just this past spring when I moved to my 160 acres here in northern ontario ( Aiki Homestead if you're interested in my background story...)
It was a busy summer starting a homestead from scratch in the bush, but now that the snow has begun to fly, I'm hoping to have time to settle down to doing more catching up with my learning about things BEFORE I absolutely need to know them.
Anyway, the Yanmar has held up very well. I basically taught myself everything I know about it (not much, admittedly), but there are still some questions I have, and hopefully you guys can help me out...
1) On the port side of the tractor, there is a short 120V AC cable - I assume this is some sort of built-in block heater? Although it seems if I turn the key anticlockwise and hold it, that also seems to heat things up before I attempt to start her...

2) On the dash, in the bottom left corner, there is a small "peg" - it can't move or turn, what is it for? Some instrument long since gone?

3) Again, the dash, top left, there is a long rod that extends under the hood - it is threaded at my end, so I assume it could have a knob attached - my father in law says he thinks it is a choke - I've never used it - do I need to know about it? Do diesel engine's need a choke? (I guess I could ask Google that question...)

4) On the right side of the dash, I have two idiot lights. Both have always lit up and remained lit during use since it was purchased. Yesterday when I started her up, the left one went out, but she still ran normal.

5) Oil pressure always climbs to 75 soon after starting, then slowly drops back down to under 10 - normal?

6) Tach and hour meter worked when I first bought her, but quit about a month ago, do I care?

7) On the starboard side, there is a longer lever below the seat which sure seems to be a high/low setting, then a much shorter lever that is a mystery, and then a small round foot pedal that my father in law and I are pretty sure locks the transmission into four wheel drive mode with all four tires locked to rotate - are we close? What is the short lever for?

8) How do I check/change the oil? I've done neither - but was told when I bought her that all fluids had been checked over.

9) As in my blog, I have attached a large electric winch to the back - it drains the battery before I can finish winching a log more than about 75'. I am planning a low tech solution of carrying a spare battery (which I already own) and just using jumper cables to hook it up temporarily when I'm winching to see if that will give me enough juice to do what I need to do. I'll leave it hooked up for the drive home to top up both batteries - okay?

That's enough for now, thanks for any light you can shine on these questions!

[winston1]

Sending you a pm.

[Car Doc]

Interesting blog on your homestead that is a beautiful area and being a bog area its even more interesting that you are building on it!

I dont think the tractor can or should be asked to charge any more than what it uses itself with the lighting etc the alt is very tiny and would be really working to fully charge even one battery on a short drive but thats jmho.

Living where you are replacement parts probably wont be easy to get on short notice like that alternator for instance I would preserve it like that last match.

I wonder about solar battery chargers and say have a truck or large deep cycle battery on the winch to run it and later back at the house plug it in to the solar charger? I wonder about just pulling logs out with the tractor it should be plenty to do it but I dont know your circumstances either? Keep us posted on how the Yanmar fits in to your routine I for one am interested in what you have going on up there.

[IvarForkbeard]

I'm way ahead of you now - today I disconnected the winch from the existing battery altogether, and I'll just use my spare battery and some jumper cables to run the winch, then recharge the spare battery with my generator or perhaps my solar panels (when I have a surplus - sometime in July maybe... Ha ha.)

Today I also finally figured out how to remove my hood and get a better look at things - yes, feel free to laugh, but I couldn't cipher it out, and up to now didn't have time to either. I had to remove a plate at the front before the hood could slide forward a bit and off the pins.

Now I'm thinking I need to change the oil asap - I pulled the dipstick, and it's low, and black as sin. I'll try to consult the service manual to see how much oil I need, and what sort of filter. How often does it need to be changed? Is the drain plug hard to find?

In my long list of questions, I mentioned a rod that comes out of my dash. Now that I can see the innerds with the hood off, I see that that rod is connected to two levers on either side of the oil cap - that doesn't tell me what it does though. Any ideas?

[kenmac]

sounds like, that's the rod that controlls the compression release

[Andy in Gap]

I think that rod is the decompression lever. It's used to aid in starting. You pull the lever and then turn the key, allowing the starter to spin the motor over easier. With the motor spinning, let go of the lever and it should start.

[IvarForkbeard]

Thanks! Should I use it every time I start? Or just under certain circumstances?

[Car Doc]

It will depend on the temps in cold yes I would turn the key left for 20-25 seconds (Thermostart) and then pull it and spin the engine over and push the rod in and she will or should start a lot easier.

[IvarForkbeard]

I'll try that next time I start her - so far she's started fine down to a few degrees below zero without me having to pull the rod.
I really want to change the oil before I run her again though, after seeing how nasty and low it is. Any idea what filter I need? And how much oil I should have ready? And where the oil plug is?

[Andy in Gap]

http://www.wixfilters.com/Lookup/App...aspx?Section=4

The proper wix filter is 51064, or napa 1064. Napa will have the correct fuel filters for your machine as well.