Ford 3000 - Blueish hue smoke story / question

[john_bud]

Ohhhhh, it's really "Miss Applied -eh?"

 

[thartweger]

I am back. It has been a while, yes. I almost lost my mind dealing with all of this, but in the end, I think I have made out. SO! After all the smoking at idle and looking like a steam engine nonstop. I had parked this 3000, used a borrowed tractor to finish the job, then took the 3000 back a few days later. This was back in November or so when I was posting. The day I started the tractor to take it back to the shop to have all this smoking and such checked out, the smoke had cleared on way to the trailer. I figured it might have cleared up right? Well that day, back in November or so mind you, my dad ran it back to the shop. They pulled it off the trailer and could not get it started. They tried pull starting it my dad said etc.. not sure if they loaded it down with ether then or not. A few weeks pass as the tractor is there and he finally says its ready. I get out there and he has the mechanic come out to start it for me. He starts to crank it up and as he starts he is spraying ether on in constantly for about 10 seconds while hes starting it and while its running... at this point im pissed off and asking him why in the **** he is spraying that much... hes like its cold natured man! whatever moron! ... either way, this thing is missing like crazy, smoke hue is all sorts of colors. My dad tells me lets leave and figure this out later. I go to back it up to get it on trailer and start to turn it in reverse and oil shoots out of the steering colum all over again, problem they claimed to have fixed already, twice. (beating head off wall repeatedly at this point) ... I get the owner out there, we have a pow wow, and he says leave it here well take care of it. Well come to find out actually at the time im talking to the owner, the mechanic fesses up and tells me the fuel filters had imploded and jammed all the **** from the tanks into the injector pump and injectors.(prior to this they claimed to have changed everything on this unit) Weeks pass AGAIN.. its now like what Febuary, nearing the end, and its finally ready AGAIN!!! I get out there and instead of it being a jerry rigged rebuilt injector pump, its a brand new one. Has brand new rings. Steering column completely rebuilt, new battery (the right one now and actually hooked up 12volts now not running 2 batterys in 24v as they had it, retards) ... few other minor things done. I had to pay only 800 bucks for all those parts and the labor that it took to get it all apart and back together, which brings me to a grand total of 4750ish invested into the tractor with piddly things like hoses and what not to that ive replaced. O YEA, lol, that also reminds me... while i was out there and we had it running after the rebuild, the lower radiator hose was sucking in. the mechanic is like, aww thats normal cars even do that... im thinking ok whatever dude.. either way i figured out what was causing that, IT HAD NO THERMOSTAT!! good one genius mechanic, lol! what a fiasco this has been, but it appears im doing OK now. It is still a ***** to start, course its been very cold here, and while i was at the shop picking it up, they started it with a shot of ether. im thinking to myself, man, why are we starting this all over again? I have started it a couple other times because of working on it and had to do a quick shot of ether. I do not want to use this ether! ... I think one issue I am having and I am trying to correct it now is a low battery. They claim to have replaced it but im not sure. Either way, this was causing it to crank slow which would cause it to not want to start. Been keeping a trickle charger on the battery. Today it got out of 30s and into 50s and i started it today. I shot a quick shot of ether into it this morning while cranking it over and after 10 cranks it never combusted.. I let sit a bit then came back and cranked again and it fired up eventually on like the 10th ish crank without the quick shot of ether this time. So I feel its wanting to start without ether. We will knnow more tomorrow. But yea, anyone have a response? Sorry its so long, I just have a lot to share since I have been gone for so long! My hands are tired. lol talk to you soon.

i have a few questions i need to ask too... course i also just downloaded an 800 page service manual so that might help me with my questions also.

 

[thartweger]

That's why i asked him back in post # 56 if he even had the plug in the manifold. got no response on that one.

i think I'd deffinately add the thermostart to that machine.. any lil bit helps..

soundguy

soundguy they actually installed one for me, but im not sure its even working or if they even put it in right... lol sigh... well get to that tomorrow... sorry recaping some of the old posts.

 

[thartweger]

Problems with CONTINUED use of an engine that's seen ether abuse; You CAN band-aide fix the problem by adding a heater to ease starting. Done early in the engines life, we wouldn't be having this conversation. It would have been a preventative measure then. Now it's a band aide. You CAN continue to run a worn engine. But there's a down side. Worn rings and worn out ring lands will wear cylinder walls MUCH faster than they should. Piston clearance adds up fast. That can (and will) lead to piston failure at some point. Then you have a door stop that was once an engine. I've seen diesels with 15,000 hours that still run. They might not implode, but they are a nuisance to start, waste fuel and oil, and are unpleasant to operate (smoke...) The ultimate solution would be to re-ring it as soon as is practical. You MIGHT save the engine with a small (relative to total engine replacement) investment now. It MIGHT need pistons too. (if ring lands are worn beyond service limits)

They said the pistons were fine and they said the sleeves were fine. I would have really really really reather they just paid the extra 100 bucks and replaced teh sleeves but o well. Its hard to take their word though when theyve already fed me bs and with all the bs ive went through with them. I do know its running phenominal atm though, but it bugs me still they didnt change the sleeves.

 

[thartweger]

here are the pics i promised months ago. i changed front tires on it since then, and still need to bathe it.

 

[Soundguy]

-IF- it has new rings.. they won't be new long with all this ether it's snorting.

i see it's got an alternator.. I sugest you see if it is charging and keeping the battery up.

if you can get her running good.. your money is still in line with what a good 3000 goes for.. etc.

soundguy

 

[JB4310]

I'll just say regarding the battery seeming low and engine not cranking well, the one time I used ether on my 1700, it bound the motor up tight and would not crank well at all. seemed like the battery was drained even though it was fairly new.

Are you running any type of block heater on this thing in the cold weather?

JB.

 

[redneckford]

that is a nice Ford 3400 with 4 speed transmission-----not a 3000----only difference is heavy none adjustable front axle with 5/8 power steering cylinders----that tractor came from the factory with a generator painted yellow and blue----be sure the alternator is properly hooked up and is charging when it is running above an idle---

 

[thartweger]

its a ford 3000, it just has a 3400 front clip or so im told, but if theirs any question i could always pull the serial number off of it.. i do not have a block heater, i just got it back from having new rings put in it. im actually contemplating on just putting a freeze plug heater into it. its warm now though and im thinking i might be able to avoid that till next year. its not bound up, i know that for sure. the tractor cranks real fast when youre "jumping" it with another vehicle or a big battery jumper. i think battery may have bad cell, will find that out for sure later. my main concern after getting it back was the coolant line sucking in which has been corrected. now to remedy other things.

 

[thartweger]

-IF- it has new rings.. they won't be new long with all this ether it's snorting.

i see it's got an alternator.. I sugest you see if it is charging and keeping the battery up.

if you can get her running good.. your money is still in line with what a good 3000 goes for.. etc.

soundguy

i havent used much ether at all man really. just 2 quick shots from me and thats becaues it was deathly cold. i dont want to and im going to do my best not to for sure. id rather it start on its own really. its runs fine, just the starting can be an issue at times. it runs like a dream to be honest. has some smoke on startup but clears up within no time at all and only somke you see after its running is black puffs occasionally when throwing up the rpm's, which is the way it should be. as i stated i plan on getting a freeze plug heater, but right now i might be able ot avoid that till next winter. as for the alternator, well, i havnt put a voltage meter on it yet but a mechanic here told me if thats a delco alternator, which it is, he said i can take a piece of metal while its running and place it against it and if it has magnetism, its working. another thing im going to do is run a 2 guage wire from the alternator straight to the battery. right now it has a 10 guage or so wire from the alt to the starter to chrage it, which im going to leave, just going to add a line. i feel it wont hurt.

also, how do i hook up the rpm gauge on this thing? i dont think anythign on the instrument panel is hooked up atm, and i need to figure out how to get it all hooked up so i have that luxury. i definately want my thermostat hooked up at least and my rpm's/