Jaymeduty
New member
LS xr4145HS with cab, 610 hours and all proper maintenance done at correct intervals, I live in northwest Montana and if anybody has been watching the news we got really cold these last few days, and still are. We got a fair bit of snow last Wednesday night and Thursday(approximately 14inches) and the weekend before 16 inches. The main use for my tractor is snow removal. I came home from work early Thursday because of white out driving conditions. I plugged the tractor in because the temps were dropping quickly. I left it for 3 hours, came out started it up, everything was normal. I started plowing our driveway and after about 10 minutes i notice a strange vibration and loud knock, Idle down and everything goes away, engine sounds perfect. I played around with different RPM's and moving the tractor, If i put it under load it would lose a bit of power. I pulled it in the shop suspecting fuel and left it for the night, Friday morning I left for work for a couple hours and returned home, changed the fuel filter and filled with new diesel to help with priming the system. Tractor started immediately and sounded perfect, thinking i fixed the problem i backed it out and let it run for a bit while i got ready to plow for the next few hours, Approximately 5 minutes into plowing the low power and knock came back and came back worse. I parked it next to the shop and plugged in the block heater. I still suspected water in the fuel or a frozen line. Today i was able to get to town and get some diesel 911. Filled filter half 50% and put some in tank. Started right up, sounded good for about 30 seconds and the nasty knock returned. Let it run for a couple minutes and limped it in the shop, It had very little power, (still thinking frozen or clogged injector line) I opened the hood and noticed the cap for the crank case was missing. Went outside and it was sitting right were the tractor was parked, Why did i build excessive crank case pressure and blow the cap off? Upon more investigation i noticed a greenish/yellow in the snow directly under the tip of the exhaust, Why is antifreeze coming out the exhaust. At this time i took the cap off the radiator and fluid is 1.5inches low and nothing in the overflow/external tank and looks to have a dark oil like color to it. Oil does not seem to have coolant mixed in and is in the normal fill level, Exhaust was excessively white while idling. there are no codes and the tractor does not leak a drop besides the new coolant out the exhaust. All signs with my limited knowledge lead to head gasket. I am certainly looking for advise or tips. I talked with the dealer i bought it from and they said they have never seen a head gasket go bad on these tractors. anyone have similar issues??
Edit. I always use Diesel conditioner in my fuel
Edit. I always use Diesel conditioner in my fuel