Jinma 254 overheating with oil spray

[Helped wanted]

I'm thinking blown head gasket, oil is leaking into the exhaust manifold. Do you have oil in the coolant?

No, coolant looks a little rusty but no oil.

 

[Helped wanted]

Other causes that come to mind are bad valve seals or stuck/broken/worn out piston rings.
Have you changed the engine oil? If not I would try that first. If you have done that already I would consider an old school method of filling the crank case with diesel fuel, lock the fuel cut off to OFF and either spin the starter a few times or have someone pull you a little ways while in gear to get the inside of the engine "washed out". I would probably also make sure the air intake is completely blocked off so there won't be an accidental start. Then drain and let drip dry overnight and refill with new filter and oil. A less aggressive approach would be to add your favorite snake oil to the crank and fuel and run it for a little while. Then drain and refill with fresh to see if that helps any. Sitting long periods of time is hard on seals and this won't help them but it might loosen a stuck ring or help flush debris out of the system.

Does it seem to have good power?
Does it smoke under a load? Is the smoke whitish, bluish or good old diesel black?
Some engines have a breather canister on the side of the engine block and some are in the oil filler cap. Make sure that breather is clean and will let air through.
If you have an infrared thermometer, try temping the top of the radiator to see if you can tell how hot the coolant really is when it shows normal and when it shows overheated. It may just be a bad sender or gauge.
How is the airflow through the radiator? If in doubt give it a good blasting of compressed air both directions and see what comes out. If you run the engine up to operating temperature without the radiator cap on, you should be able to observe the coolant flow increase as the thermostat opens up. Also you can stick a regular thermometer in the coolant to see if the gauge is accurate.

Let us know what you find.

Yes, I have changed the oil withing the last 50 hours of use.
I will try the snake oil trick.
It does have good power, feels like the same amount the first time I started driving it.
It has solid exhaust smoke under load and when reved. Unfortunately the color is white, it use to be black before this overheating problem reappeared.
Airflow through radiator is good. You can see through it. I will get a temp of radiator later today hopefully.

 

[Helped wanted]

Sure it's oil? If it's oil you must have a dead cylinder, if not it will burn up the oil and make heavy blue smoke. And what happens when it over heats? What are the symptoms? How is the radiator cap?

I am not sure that it is oil. It smears like oil and is a pain to wash off. The only symptom it will show when overheating is #1 spraying oil from exhaust. #2 engine noise gets louder ( no knocking tho ) #3 while running if you pull the radiator cap it will boil over. Radiator cap is in good shape to my knowledge. Cap has been replaced with the same psi as original.

 

[Helped wanted]

Looks like normal Detroit Diesel slobber to me . The cause could be one or a combination of different scenarios.
Laid up outside for a couple of years without the exhaust covered can give you rusted/pitted valves and seats, rusted and pitted cylinder liners as well as stuck rings and corroded pistons. I'm amazed it ran at all. Do you notice any blow-by? This is an indication of how well the piston rings are performing, and general health of the engine. The exhaust manifold looks pretty coked up which is an indication of low operating temperature, excessive idling or low speed operation, or incomplete combustion due to low compression. As for overheating, observe the radiator top tank for bubbles in the coolant with the engine running - this indicates a combustion leak, either from a head gasket or a cracked head. This will also result in a loss of coolant during operation from overflow if you don't have a coolant recovery system installed.

Exhaust has had a cover over it while it sat for years or anytime it's turned off. There is zero blow by. It's always been ran at low speed with lots of idle, I've used it just as a garden tractor basically and to move brush.
No loss of coolant unless I let it boil out by removing radiator cap while it's running. Also no bubbles in the coolant at idle.

 

[Helped wanted]

Exhaust systems that are exposed to rain (no cap) will spit black rain on startup, but usually quit in a few seconds. When the water evaporates you are left with black soot smudges everywhere. (ask me how I know...)
I can't think of a situation where an oil galley in the head would be next to the exhaust port so that kind of rules out a cracked head, unless there are multiple cracks that would allow oil to get to the exhaust. However a crack that allows coolant to leak into the exhaust port could very easily cause this condition. If you have anti-freeze in the mix it won't all evaporate in the open air easily and with the soot would look like oil. Think of it this way, coolant leaks into the exhaust and gets vaporized and "steam cleans" the exhaust port, then it can collect in the muffler and condense back to a liquid state as the muffler cools. If this is the case I would expect to see lots of white "smoke" from the exhaust. This would consume coolant over time and could lead to air pockets in the engine which would in turn lead to localized overheating.

Since the coolant system has been flushed and new thermostat and radiator cap installed about all that is left there is air flow through the radiator and possibly a bad water pump. Usually they just leak at the bleed hole but I suppose it is possible that the shaft is spinning but the impeller is not. A look-see in the radiator cap at operating temp should show good current in the top tank.

The OP could pull coolant and oil samples for analysis to see if oil, coolant or exhaust gasses are going places they should not. Most heavy equipment dealers can hook you up for getting samples and lab work done.

If down time is not an issue removing the head for inspection might be the most direct route of finding the problem.

Lots of variables in this troubleshoot. They will need to be eliminated one by one until the actual cause is revealed.

Exhaust has been covered up until last week when the Muffler broke off. Antifreeze is not in the mix. Since dealing with overheating issue I've just been using water because it's free. Those splatters everywhere only happen when at slightly higher than normal operating temp.
I will try to get a exhaust gas tester this weekend. I do not see any rainbow colors or oil like colors in the coolant. So I don't think oil is mixing with the coolant. Water pump may be a solid lead on the overheating issue.

 

[Helped wanted]

It

Might be wrong, but----
From posted pics your exhaust stack seems broken off at manifold.
That would allow some water to collect and once fired up the exhaust would blow out that accumulated sooty wet mess and cause all that black splatter your pics show.
Missing exhaust stack might just be your (and simple) problem.
Once replaced be sure to add a flapper cap to prevent water invasion.

It is, it broke the day before I made the original post. I'm working on welding it back on.

 

[Helped wanted]

Lol. Another thought that just occurred to me is that a dribbling injector mixing with soot would have approximately the same effect.

I've never messed with the injectors except the prime the system with fuel after cleaning the system. That would explain the white smoke if an injector is sticking. Any info on replacements or test options to isolate the possible injector?

 

[piper184]

White smoke is usually an indication of either an engine running cold or an engine that is getting water into the combustion chamber.
From your answers above my best guess at this point is a bad head gasket or a cracked head that is letting coolant (water) into one of the cylinders. This causes the white smoke and could explain localized overheating.
I understand using plain water especially during a troubleshoot, no sense wasting expensive coolant. However, remember that anti-freeze is more than just protection against freezing. It lowers the freeze point of water but it also raises the boiling point. Since a proper coolant mix is more dense than plain water it is able to absorb and carry more heat energy than plain water. This allows the engine to operate at higher temps than if using just water. Diesels especially like running warmer than their gasoline counterparts. More efficient combustion and all that. The role of a pressurized radiator cap is to raise the boiling point of the coolant so that when it contacts the high heat of the cylinder wall or head it doesn't boil off and leave the surface (in that tiny spot) dry and un-cooled. The system would work best if you could increase the pressure to the strength of the block, but it has to be set at the limits of the hoses and radiator. (a miss-read mark on a cap once cost me a radiator).

Based on your comments and answers I suspect you already know all of this so apologies if you do, but it may help someone else who reads this post someday.

Usually if I need to observe the flow in the radiator I take the cap off cold and start the tractor and watch as it warms up. I can watch temps rise and coolant flow changes. For systems without coolant recovery you have to leave the cold level down to just above the cores in the radiator to allow for expansion, even with a pressurized cap. If you have a recovery system you can fill the radiator to the neck and not lose any coolant. Again, you probably already know this.

My Jinma came with a cap designed for coolant recovery but was only set up for overflow so I had to run with less coolant. When that cap failed I installed a DIY recovery system and has worked quite well since. Added bonus is I can check the coolant level without removing the radiator cap. A short side note here: My Jinma 284 with the Y385 engine does consume a small amount of coolant. I have no idea where it is going but have to assume through the cylinder as there is never any any evidence of it anywhere. It might use a pint in 50 hours so I haven't chased it down. Oddly enough my Ford Explorer does the same thing and it is way more complex than the tractor. I have put 175,000 miles on it and have seen no ill effects and still have no idea where it is going.

A dribbling injector would be producing an over-rich mixture and would be producing black sooty smoke. If it were so bad as to not burn off all the fuel on the power stroke it could "load up" the cylinder and blow out the exhaust unburned, mixing with the soot and making black rain. I think this is what Bob was referring to above.

Do your soot spots completely dry out in a day or two or do they stay "wet"?

Speaking strictly for myself, I would get a head, valve cover, exhaust and intake gasket and pop the head off for a look-see. A lot of information will be revealed one you can see what is going on. If you can see the problem great, if not I would take the head to a machine shop for cleaning and magnetic inspection for cracks (magnaflux). If good, have it milled flat if needed and re-install, fixing the exhaust at the same time. Re-assemble and test the tractor again. Take lots of pictures as you do the R&R and post anything you have questions about.

Best of luck and let us know if you have more questions and especially the results.

 

[Bob Rooks]

I've never messed with the injectors except the prime the system with fuel after cleaning the system. That would explain the white smoke if an injector is sticking. Any info on replacements or test options to isolate the possible injector?

You don't have to touch injectors in order for them to fail, they will do it all on their own, that's why it is so important to keep your fuel squeaky clean and free of any moisture. Fuel can never be too clean. Under certain atmospheric conditions, white or grey exhaust would be normal for a cold start, the white whispy smoke evaporating quickly would indicate condensation or coolant incursion, whereas a grey smoke that lingers in the air indicates raw unburned fuel from incomplete combustion usually due to a cold combustion chamber or low compression. These symptoms should go away within a minute or two as the engine warms up. As Piper indicated, it's best to operate the engine "hot" 185°F to 190°F to achieve thermal efficiency (lube oil temp. usually trails coolant temp. by 5 to 8 degrees) This "boils off" accumulated moisture in the lube oil and decreases fuel consumption. You can have injectors pop tested at any diesel shop, but many have made their own DIY pop testers.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Water pump may be a solid lead on the overheating issue.

There have been instances of the impeller being carried away from cavitation (not using the proper coolant and casting sand and rust), and I know of one instance where the impeller was spinning on the shaft. Also, make sure the belt is tight. The coolant pump produces around 20 psi at high idle to circulate coolant throughout the engine (though not the same as radiator pressure).