1235 Blowing Excessive amounts of White Smoke

[jsears]

Hello, all. I am brand new here. So please be gentle.

Here's a little background:

About 12 years ago, we bought a house on 9 acres. A little more than 6 acres of the property was fenced off in various shapes and sizes, so I pulled all of the fence posts and removed the fence. I now have a very nice sized lot at the rear of the house to do about anything I want to do, so I keep it mowed.

I bought a used (about 800 hrs) Massie Ferguson 1235 with a finish mower to do the mowing chores. And up until this spring, it ran flawlessly. But this year, during one of my mowing sessions, all of a sudden the tractor started bellowing white smoke. I mean LOTS of white smoke. When I tried to shut it down, it seemed as if the engine wanted to "run away". I had to put it in gear, hold the brake and dump the clutch to kill the engine. When I looked things over, I found that there was a massive amount of dirty, oily fuel all over the left front tire that had come out of the exhaust pipe.

I let the tractor cool down and attempted to restart it just to see if it would run. The battery was totally dead. There was not even enough juice in the battery to make the fuel pump click like it normally does. A jump start got it going, and I was able to get it to limp back to the garage.

Someone suggested to me that the problem could be electrical in nature, in that, there was not enough voltage to send the computer a signal telling the injectors when to put fuel into the cylinders. Thus, causing the timing to be off. Not being a diesel mechanic, or even knowing ANYTHING about diesels, I thought I'd try a new battery on the chance that this was the problem. After installing the battery, the tractor ran fine. After doing an oil and filter change to get the excess fuel out of the oil pan, the tractor seemed to run like new.

Since that time, I have mowed at least twice. Maybe three times (about 5 1/2 hours) with no issues what-so-ever.

Yesterday, I started to mow. I got about 15 minutes into the job, and everything started all over again. The white smoke. The run away engine. The oily mess all over the tire. Everything. I checked the voltage at the battery, and everything is fine there. I let the tractor sit for about an hour and restarted it. It started fine and ran fine for about 5 minutes, then the white smoke started again.

Can anyone please help me figure out what is going on with this thing?

I am sorry for this post being so long winded, but I wanted to try and explain the problem and the history of it.

Thanks again for any help you can offer.

Jim

 

[2LateIWon]

usually white smoke mean collant in combustion chamber like a blown head gasket. Check your coolant see if it's low or dirty. As far as electrical issue I have no clue. Good luck

 

[jsears]

Thanks, 2Late..I've already checked that. Coolant is up to normal level and is circulating when engine is running. I have been told that if there is a problem with the head gasket or a cracked head, if I look into the fill neck of the radiator with the engine running, I will see bubbles coming up as the engine will be putting pressure back into the cooling system. I do not have that.

Jim

 

[TjkMF88]

Do not believe you have a head gasket issue.. The engine running away is caused by the engine consuming its own lubricating oil. This is why you are seeing the excessive amounts of blow by out of the exaust. Your tractor does not have a electronically controlled engine, fuel delivery is not controlled electroncially, its mechanicaly metered by the injection pump. The smoke you are seeing probably has more of a light blue tint, or possibly gray, meaning oil consumption. Oil is possibly entering your air intake system via the breather system or possibly through your fuel/injection pumps. The battery issue was more than likey caused by your alternator extremely overcharging as your engine was turning excessive r.p.m's when running away. This can be a extremely dangerous situation if your engine runs away and fails, parts can go flying.. are you mowing on extreme angles or inclines?? I would reccomend taking the tractor to your local dealer immediatily for repairs as catrophic engine failure could be prevented.

 

[jsears]

Please see my replies to your suggestions.

The smoke you are seeing probably has more of a light blue tint, or possibly gray, meaning oil consumption.

Tjk..I think you are correct here. It does have kind of a bluish tint to it.

Oil is possibly entering your air intake system via the breather system or possibly through your fuel/injection pumps.

If it is entering through the air intake system, how is it getting there? How do I check for that? And if it's going through the injection pumps, I can assume that the pump needs rebuilt? Why would it only be intermittent?

. are you mowing on extreme angles or inclines??

No..Everything I mow is on flat level ground.

I would reccomend taking the tractor to your local dealer immediatily for repairs as catrophic engine failure could be prevented.

I'm afraid I might have to do just that. However, I wanted to get some opinions from you guys first. Shop rates are outrageous at the local dealership (and it's my cousin who owns it), and I really can't afford to have it in the shop for countless hours while they troubleshoot the problem. Because of some other recent mechanical issues that I have had with my truck, I am beginning to become gun shy of dealerships in general. Work ethics are not what they used to be.

Thanks

 

[TjkMF88]

Im going to rule out oil entering through your fuel injection system on this model. It is getting into the air intake system in some fashion. As the machine is running pull off the vent hose from the valve cover and check to see if oil is running out, if its not put your finger in the hose to plug it off, then pull it out and pay attention to see if you notice pressure bulid up. Its possible crank case pressure is buliding up and forcing oil into the intake system. Its intermittent because it takes awhile to bulid up enough pressure to cause the excessive oil to enter the intake system, when the engine runs away its burning the excess oil bulid up. Im sorry to this about your delarship, Is this a official AGCO delarship? They should be in the $70.00 an hour range which is typically lower than any other industry, auto, rv, marine, etc.. If they are higher you are over paying.

This could be a difficult problem to repair for you without proper service literature and know how.

* check your engine oil level again and make sure its not over full or dilluted since your last oil change- this could give us another clue..

 

[2LateIWon]

Sorry I was no help but this is a very interesting read. Hope it's a simple easy fix. Good luck

 

[jsears]

Yes..I know that the oil level is high after lastnight's episode. I have not started he engine since, and I will not start it until I get the oil level down to the proper levels. I have not checked to see if it is diluted or not. But if it's anything like the first time it happened, it will most definately have a bunch of fuel in it.

* check your engine oil level again and make sure its not over full or dilluted since your last oil change- this could give us another clue..

 

[TjkMF88]

Ok, This adds another aspect to our situation. Fuel could be entering into the oil sump through the injection pump (or transfer pump- if mechanical) leakage. The dilluted oil could be causing our problem.. The extra high level of dilluted oil is entering our combution chambers causing the run aways.

 

[jsears]

OK..So recapping with what info I have given you..

You are suggesting that the problem is oil getting into the combustion chamber by one of two methods. Either through the air intake system or through the fuel injection pump?

Can I rule out the injectors themselves?

Am I missing anything here?

I'm sorry if I sound a little stupid about this stuff. If I do, it's probably because I am.:ashamed: