White Smoke (billowing)

Humanparody · Aug 4, 2018

So I screwed up. How royally I screwed up is what I'm hoping you could tell me. Driving my 2520 today and managed to get my 1/2 acre lawn mowed with no issues. Afterward I went to drag my gravel driveway and hooked up my loader. Now this might not be related but i figured it's worth mentioning. Noticed my color coded caps had fallen off and attempted to connect my hoses by guessing. I got it wrong a few times as the bucket wasn't doing what it was supposed to. After about the 5th try I got it right and began to move some stone. After about 10 minutes of using the bucket I noticed a slight burning smell coming from somewhere but I couldn't pin down what it was. About a minute later, all of the sudden and without warning (aside from the aforementioned burning smell) the exhaust BILLOWED out thick white smoke that smelled of oil. It did it for about 5 seconds before I gained enough sense to kill the motor.

Being as it died right in the middle of my driveway, normal life could not proceed as cars couldn't get in or out so I had to move it which meant firing it back up briefly. At first it seemed like the engine was seized. I got half a crank and that's it. Finally it turned over and started back up with a little more white smoke coming from the exhaust (more than usual) but the hydraulics weren't working. No forward/backward, no bucket. After about 30 seconds of trying the bucket finally lifted, 10 seconds later I could move the tractor enough to get it out of the way. Just before I got it to it's final resting place the white smoke just started turning to gray/black.

And this is where I'm at. I can tell right now that I'm pretty sure I ran the hydraulic fluid too low. I generally check the site glass but today is just hopped on and didn't do my due diligence so I don't know what the level was before I got going. Although it could have dropped when whatever happened happened, I can no longer see any fluid in the site glass.

So my question is, what most likely did I do to my tractor?

Jstpssng · Aug 4, 2018

Did you check the engine oil level? If it's excessively high than you may have blown a seal in your hydraulic pump, allowing hydraulic fluid into your crankcase. That can happen when you hook your hoses up backwards... and don't ask me how I know that. In my case it was when I hooked up my backhoe pump up to my woodsplitter wrong, after which I had to buy a new pump.
Note; my comments above could vary depending on the tractor.

Humanparody · Aug 4, 2018

I wasn't able to get a good read on the dipstick, the whole thing was coated which I just figured was because the oil hadn't settled yet since i checked it within a minute of turning off the engine but I figured it couldn't be overfilled since oil can't appear out of nowhere, right lol? Well I guess it COULD appear out of nowhere if it was hydraulic fluid. So what am I looking at as far as fixing this mess?

beenthere · Aug 4, 2018

Check the engine oil now that has cooled and set for a bit. Let us know what that engine oil is.. can then go forward from there.

:welcome: to TBN

Humanparody · Aug 4, 2018

Went in clean, came out covered **** near to the handle.

beenthere · Aug 4, 2018

Now you need to look for the source of the extra oil in the engine. Doesn't sound good.

I think, from what you described, I'd dis-connect the hyd lines to the FEL, drain the engine oil and fill with correct qty before starting the engine.
Then start the engine to see if the air clears of white smoke.
Gotta get that extra oil out first.
If the smoke stops, then check the hyd. oil level and bring it to full.
Run the tractor again, and see if the 3 ph system works.

If still ok, then hook up the FEL correctly and try that. Hope you are lucky and back to working.
If not, then dealer time or mechanic time I'm afraid.

Humanparody · Aug 4, 2018

Thanks, I'll give those steps a try and keep my fingers crossed.

flyerdan · Aug 4, 2018

White smoke almost always means coolant. High oil level is because most of the coolant is in the sump and oil floats on water.

hosspuller · Aug 4, 2018

After you drain the oil, Put a wrench on the crank and turn the engine over by hand. This is to make sure you have not hydro locked the engine. Broken pistons, bent con rods, and other stuff will result.