Oil & Fuel Strange Engine Performance (Lack thereof)

[DickThomas]

Assistance please;
Had planned to do a bit of road rut grading with today's thaw, but my Branson 3510 won't cooperate: It started normally, but after allowing a few minutes to warm up, it seemed to have no power. I opened the thottle a bit and waited for it to warm more. It ran for a minute or so, then 'almost' died. It did NOT stall, just putzed & putted for a minute then picked up again. Faint white smoke. Still no power when I tried to move - nearly stalled again.

It's only 50*F out, so it shouldn't be that cold! I boosted the throttle to about 1500 RPM, it ran fine for a minute or 2, then tried to die again. I let it sit for 15-20 minutes - same wierd cycle: Run fine for 2 minutes, slow to almost stalling for about 30 seconds, with faint white smoke, then perk back up as if no problem. I kicked the throttle up to 2000+ and it grumbles and belches heavy white smoke, runs rough, with the throttle getting sluggish - more = rougher.

I initially thought fuel filter or pump, but white smoke = raw fuel, not likely to be a fuel blockage.

Last used the beast about 1 1/2 weeks ago to plow a few inches of snow off 1 mile of dirt road - not a hitch then.

Would appreciate any available thoughts and experiences. Unfortunately it's 50+ miles to the nearest dealer!

Thanx,
Dick Thomas
Conifer, CO

 

[Jerry/MT]

It take air and fuel to burn in the cylinder to generate power so check the fuel flow from the tank, through the filter to the pump and also check the airfilter for clogging. With diesels, it's almost always a fuel flow problem.

 

[Recoveryhill]

An idea of the number of hours on the machine would be helpful. White smoke could be a compression problem, but not likely with a low hour engine. One would assume your coolant is properly treated for your climate if you saw very low temperatures after your last use.

With any diesel engine it's a one, fuel, a two, air and a three compression. One and two are the easiest and most likely to cause issues so eliminate all possibilities there first. Low compression can have several causes, none of them good but a test of cylinder compression is easy and cheap to see what' you've got.

Best of luck.

 

[skyhook]

Could be "condensation" water in the fuel, maybe add a conditioner for that.

 

[aczlan]

Have you checked you air filter yet? If its plugged it could cause those symptoms.

Aaron Z

 

[DickThomas]

Thanx for the ideas, will check them out, next warm day. Tractor has just over 400 hrs, in about 6 years of ownership. Bought it new & have done maintenance pretty much by the book. We have had some warm/cool/cold cycles this winter, so the water in fuel could be the culprit.

Thanx again for the replies!

 

[Halftrack]

When was the last time you added fuel. If recently, your fuel may have been "cut" with gasoline and would produce these results. The New Holland owner thread had a recent incident which turned out to be diesel mixed with gas and I had an incident a few years ago. With the "spread" between diesel and gas prices, I think some of our dealers sell gasoline at diesel prices. If you recently added fuel and the problem began, consider draining and replacing the fuel.