XR4155 Won't Stay Running

[Cycledude]

Looks like you are making some good progress, hopefully everything turns out well.

Only about 50 hours to go until my XR4155 reaches 515 hours hopefully mine won’t run into the same very expensive trouble ! So far it’s been trouble free.

 

[Snowman87]

Jees, what a mess for 500 hours. Was the EGR the catalyst for everything else taking a crap?

I agree. I really thought we were going to find a simpler issue like the metering valve, either in the actuator itself or that the fine screen around it was clogged.

Couple other thoughts:

I'm still surprised the tractor wasn't smoking, I didn't notice a significant loss of power, and that there weren't any codes thrown till today really. I'm a pretty technical guy with a decent amount of operating/wrenching, all I can do is shrug my shoulders. While I don't enjoy spending this kind of money, I sure have learned a lot about how things work on this tractor, it will help me in future troubleshooting/wrenching.

Outside of this experience the tractor has been reasonably reliable. I'm coming up on 8 years now and it's been to the shop twice (separate instances with a couple year gap early on) under warranty to replace the front wheel bearings, sounded like another common design issue. I've used my tractor for a lot of front end loader work, but have my rear tires loaded and I always run something on the rear 3 point (box blade, landscape rake, or finish mower). Outside of that it's been 1 battery and fluids/filters. When I was purchasing this tractor the price-point gap was large between this and some of the mainstream brands, not to mention that the comparable New Holland used the LS chassis/engine with their own loaded.

I continue to learn over-and-over not to buy the first year (or maybe 2 years in this case) model. Product launches need to happen at some point to get miles, hours, etc. on to generate revenue and learn what needs to be improved. Sounds like what I'm installing is on the newer model tractors, telling me they've learned where there common failures were. I honestly think both were issues - turbo seals and EGR valve. The more I talk to the tech it seems like both are relatively common failures on the early model 41XX tractors...

 

[Snowman87]

Weekend update:

• Got the EGR cooler re-installed
• Waiting to re-install the turbo until I get the new crossover pipe so I have the most working room
• Pulled the intake off, it was pretty slimy... Thinking more and more this was all due to a faulty EGR valve like CloverKnollFarms thought
• Got everything cleaned up and seems like I'll be ready for the intake kit when it shows up
• Also pulled apart the EGR valve to see how it was made - the small motor spun freely and I could actuate the valve using a screwdriver to move the gear. I didn't try hooking the motor up to power but guessing it was too weak...

I'm going to swing by the dealer some time this week to grab the intake kit.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Ive never read a good thing about EGRs. God bless these engineers, but somehow TYM makes diesels without all that stuff, and basically never regen.

 

[Snowman87]

Well, I was able to pick up the update kit from the dealer and get some time in the shop last night. Overall it was a really easy install with the directions, though the pictures weren't always the best.

Attached are pictures of some part numbers (kit and EGR valve) as well as some component comparisons. Kit came with a new intake manifold, EGR cross over tube, EGR valve, intake tube, intake boot, fuel filter bracket, wire harness and extension, misc. gaskets, misc. hardware, and instructions.

The dealer tech is scheduled to come out again this Friday, hoping it's just a quick programming trip this time around!

 

[Snowman87]

The little blueberry lives!

Tech came out again last Friday and was able to get things up and running again.

Notes:

• Tech input information into his software and had to wait for a one time use code from an LS corporate rep. Had to wait about 30 minutes.
• Tractor did smoke a some and didn't run smooth immediately, had an injector that was being difficult. The tech said that sometimes these tractors are difficult to start up after removing the fuel rail, which had to be done to install the intake manifold. Guessing it was due to air in the lines as we didn't bleed it because it fired right up on the first round of cranking.
• Tech did do a regen and things looked really good. Showed zero soot load and zero pressure loss across the DPF. Happy to see this wasn't ruined!
• While I was at it I flushed my coolant. I used distilled water (takes a little under 2 gallons) - filled, ran to temp, and drained 4 times before filling with fresh coolant.
• While my tractor was down I was also able to fab up a more robust mounting setup for my Larsen LED lights. They are heavy! The rear mounting was strong enough, but front mounting is just a rivnut into the roof. I lost a little bit of the mirror safety swing feature but I'm not worried for my use. These new lights are awesome, I can't believe I waited so long to buy these.

I don't have a final bill yet but guessing I'm in the upper $3k territory after parts and labor/travel, I'll respond once I know for reference. Put ~4 hours on the tractor this weekend and everything is running great!