Oil & Fuel Should a diesel smoke a little ???

[jchipps]

I recently purchased a one owner, 1978 JD 2040 3 cyl. diesel tractor W/145 Loader from a JD dealer. (The original owner traded it in on a New 4 WD model)

It seems to be in extremely good condition. It's clean and not beat up at all. Has 2,600 HRs. Everything works well, It starts easily, has great power, and sounds just fine.

However, I notice a very small amount of light bluish colored smoke coming from the exhaust. It seems to lessen a little after running for a while, but never completely goes away.

This is my first experience with a JD and with a diesel in particular, so I'm not real familiar with anything.

Since it starts easily and has good power, I'm inclined to believe that its not the rings or something major.

Any ideas ?

Could it be something like valve stem seals ?

The tractor was traded-in last fall, so it has pretty much sat idle on the lot all winter until I purchased it several days ago.

Could setting for that long cause anything to gum up and cause it to smoke a little ?

I love the tractor so far and have already done alot of work with it, but I need to know if I need to be concerned about that smoke and what I might do to remedy it ?

Sorry I got so long winded.

Any information would be greatly apreciated !

Thanks in advance,

J. Chipps

 

[Egon]

JChips;

Is the tractor hard to start? Use excesive oil? These would be indicators of worn rings or valve seals. There are times the rings may be slightly carboned up and do not function well. Hard work at proper Rpm should help this.

Chances are all is normal .

Egon

 

[gone]

A lot of the older deeres smoked a blue haze, just were not real clean burning engines,but they were a good engine and lasted a long time. That old though check the oil and water each time you start it, the o rings on sleeves tend to dry and leak water into oil. that may not happen but has on many that sat for a long time.

 

[Hambone]

If it will make you sleep better, have an oil analysis done.
That will tell you if anything is going bad.

 

[JerryG]

First thing would be to change the fuel filter, then check the air filter. After that put some treatment in the fuel. Then see how it goes after that.

 

[adegiulio]

If your diesel is smoking, try one of those Nicorette patches on the tires. It worked for my friend, and he smoked two packs a day for 20 years!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[RoyJackson]

Does it put out that blue smoke when at idle? Or, just under a load? My 670 blows out a bit of smoke while under a load.

As others mentioned, I'd sure change all of the filters (including the air filter).
If that doesn't clear the smoke up, it might be an injection pump adjustment (don't do this unless you know exactly what you're doing....let the dealer's service dept. do any adjustments).

However, although I would get it checked out, I wouldn't worry about a little smoke out of a 26 year old tractor.

 

[yellowsocks93]

Our 970 and my 990 smoke a little blue smoke during start up and it is usually smokes when it is cold out. It does somewhat go away when reaches normal operating temp.

 

[Mark_D]

There's a chance that the previous owner "turned up" the injection pump a little bit in order to give it more power. That would cause the smoke due to unburned fuel.

 

[jchipps]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for all the great information.

I went ahead and changed the oil, oil filter, fuel filter, and both the inner and outer air filters.

Then I finally got the time to really work the tractor for an extended period of time at max pto RPM (brush hogging).

Although I still saw a slight amount of light blue smoke when I first started up, I didn't really see any smoke while I was working, "or atleast it's not enough to be noticeable"

I'll keep my eye on the oil level, just incase, but atleast I'm not gonna lose sleep over it now ! HeeHe

I also want to change hydraulic oil filter as soon as possible just to be sure that everything there is OK too.

How often does the hydraulic fluid need changed ?

PS = Where is the best place to get operator and service manuals for a 2040 ?

Thanks again,

J chipps