a lot of thick, black, sooty smoke: injector?

[dicktill]

I have 2022 Massey Ferguson GC 1723EB tractor (TLB). It just turned 500 hours recently and it has an Iseki E3112-XB03 engine. I has always had a little bit of black smoke at startup and under heavy load, but it has now started to really pour it out, again, especially under heavy load. It has become a bit harder to start, and smokes then, and it also smoke a bunch when the engine is throttled down from 2500 to 1500 rpm (under no load). It does not seem to have lost a great deal of power, nor does it seem to be guzzling fuel I replaced the fuel filter (it was clean) and the air filter (pretty clean too), gave it the Seafoam treatment: filled the fuel filter bowl with Seafoam (of course, it doesn't hold much) and put the rest in the fuel tank; all of these had no effect. I got fresh fuel from another station, filled the fuel filter with Seafoam again, and put an entire 5.25-ounce bottle of Lucas upper cylinder cleaner with injector cleaners in. Still no change, so I am guessing that I need to clean the injectors.

Is that something I can do myself or do I need to take it to the dealer? Or can any service station do this?

Any tips on removing them? Do I need new gaskets?

TIA, Dick

 

[bmaverick]

For diesel engines, Deere and Yanmar state not to let the diesel engine idle for more than 10mins at a time in a given hour.

Long idle times doesn't burn the fuel off properly. And then parked, it cools, leaving the build up even more.

Seafoam and the Gumout products are both designed to tackle this problem.

Yanmar is one of the world's largest Marine diesel manufactures. Seafoam originally was developed for diesel marine engines. Thus the name Seafoam from the marine industry.

Not underlined below, but one of Seafoams STRONG points is CARBON CLEANER. You got to get the carbon/soot out of your engine!

Likewise, the Gumout does a tad bit better for the diesel injectors.

 

[rScotty]

If you do try a compression test, be sure to use a Diesel Compression Gauge. It goes to 1000 psi - much more than you can hold by hand. A gauge for a gas engine will not go high enough. In any compression test, test each cylinder by cranking the engine as close as you can to the same number of times, and with the throttle shut.

The Yanmar procedure is good for all diesels, but procedure 2,4,& 5 are specific to diesels that have pre-combustion chambers for indirect injection that are held in place by the injector body. Not all diesels have indirect injection, but a lot of late model medium and small modern diesels do use indirect injection. In these there is a possibility that the pre-combustion chamber can come loose during a compression test if the right adapter isn't used.

Note that the graph shows the different pressure that can be expected with differing cranking rpm.

 

[hayden]

I'd look for intake restrictions first. I think for every 10 times someone replaces or rebuilds injectors, only one actually needs it. It's possible they are the problem, but at 500 hrs it seems very unlikely. Maybe at 5000 hrs.

Does the engine have a turbo? If so, check to see if it's stuck.

When you changed the air filter, was the original filter all present and accounted for? There is typically an outer and inner filter. Were both still there? It wouldn't be the first time that an engine ingested a filter and got plugged up.

 

[dodge man]

Injectors can be pretty delicate, I wouldn’t try and clean them your self.

 

[dicktill]

I'd look for intake restrictions first. I think for every 10 times someone replaces or rebuilds injectors, only one actually needs it. It's possible they are the problem, but at 500 hrs it seems very unlikely. Maybe at 5000 hrs.

Does the engine have a turbo? If so, check to see if it's stuck.

When you changed the air filter, was the original filter all present and accounted for? There is typically an outer and inner filter. Were both still there? It wouldn't be the first time that an engine ingested a filter and got plugged up.

@hayden: Thanks for your response.

It is a naturally aspirated Diesel (non-turbo).

The air filter was all there, and I even thought of the possibility that a "mouse made a house" in there so I pulled off the housing and the inlet and outlet hose and cleaned everything. I even soaked the original air filter in soapy water overnight. Looking down into the intake manifold, I see a bit of soot/carbon and it was a tad wet.

I did pull the injectors and soaked them in gasoline as recommended in the service manual (yes, it says to then soak them in Diesel before re-installing). #2 was black but the cleanest of the batch. #1 had more carbon build-up. #3 had a lot more carbon buildup and was wet. Although I did clean all three of them (I did not disassemble them), I replaced #3 with a new injector, and I used new copper washers on all three.

Good news: I started her up with no air filter and got her outside (cough, cough), but she cleared up very quickly. I then re-installed the original, but now washed, air filter and again she's relatively good. At some point I will re-install the original #3 injector (now soaking in brake cleaner) to see if it was really bad or if all she needed was a little TLC (tender loving care).

Oh, and thanks to @rScotty and @dodge man for your posts too.

edit: oh, you too @bmaverick

 

[bmaverick]

@hayden: Thanks for your response.

It is a naturally aspirated Diesel (non-turbo).

The air filter was all there, and I even thought of the possibility that a "mouse made a house" in there so I pulled off the housing and the inlet and outlet hose and cleaned everything. I even soaked the original air filter in soapy water overnight. Looking down into the intake manifold, I see a bit of soot/carbon and it was a tad wet.

I did pull the injectors and soaked them in gasoline as recommended in the service manual (yes, it says to then soak them in Diesel before re-installing). #2 was black but the cleanest of the batch. #1 had more carbon build-up. #3 had a lot more carbon buildup and was wet. Although I did clean all three of them (I did not disassemble them), I replaced #3 with a new injector, and I used new copper washers on all three.

Good news: I started her up with no air filter and got her outside (cough, cough), but she cleared up very quickly. I then re-installed the original, but now washed, air filter and again she's relatively good. At some point I will re-install the original #3 injector (now soaking in brake cleaner) to see if it was really bad or if all she needed was a little TLC (tender loving care).

Oh, and thanks to @rScotty and @dodge man for your posts too.

edit: oh, you too @bmaverick

I have the small Harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner. I put the injectors in it with Seafoam. Them come out shining like new.