Branson 7845 blowing smoke

[jswann1975]

Long time reader, first time poster. This tractor has developed a strange problem... When I start it it will barely idle sounds like only one or two cylinders are hitting, will hit three or four times and die, but after starting about five times it will run. Blows grayish smoke that seems to me like it has water vapor in it. It will do this for ten minutes, making thick clouds. As time goes on it will start to run smoother and rpms will start to tick up, then finally it will clear up and run perfectly. I don't think that it is possible that head gasket could have failed because it ran perfectly when parked.

I hate to admit this but I looked everywhere I knew to look for 30 minutes and could not find the dipstick (was thinking of checking to see if there was evidence of water in the oil). Another piece of evidence, it sat in a field for a year without moving and I'm burning the same diesel I put in it a year ago so there could be some condensation in tank. I mostly run old tractors - farmalls and massey fergusons so this is all new to me but I really need this tractor to run for the front end loader. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Kind of hoping draining fuel out will fix it. I've found answers to many other tractor problems on here before.

I know, the foundation of the problem is that I didn't buy a Kubota or Deere, but it is a long story.

 

[LouNY]

Are you waiting for the preheat light to go out?
As far as the oil dipstick, look on the left side of the engine,
down low behind the loader frame. On my 8050 I have to squeeze my hand down under the throttle cables
and below the loader frame rails to reach the dip stick.
I think I posted a picture on here one time of it.

 

[jswann1975]

I do not religiously wait for the preheat light, but do sometimes.

Thanks very much for the tip on finding the dipstick.

 

[LouNY]

Here is the thread with the pictures of the dip stick;
5220ch or 4720C

 

[jswann1975]

I feel less like an idiot for not finding it after looking at the pics!

 

[ericm979]

My 3725 is harder starting and runs on only a few cylinders for a while if I forget to wait for the preheater light to go out.

Besides not waiting for the light, your preheater may not be working properly or at all.

 

[K5lwq]

I would get some fresh fuel in a five gallon can and run a line straight from the can to the lift pump. Then start the tractor and see how it runs.

It may have a lot of fuel in the muffler from trying to start it. That will make the smoke and take quite a while to burn off.

 

[jswann1975]

I feel less like an idiot for not finding it after looking at the pics!

 

[jswann1975]

Dipstick was exactly where you described, but instead of having a yellow ring on it it had a black knob... making it even harder to see.

 

[jswann1975]

I tried allowing the preheating system to preheat... It did not resolve the problem, still starts up and does not hit on all cylinders and smokes a ton for five to ten minutes before smoothing out and running as it should after being fully warmed up. That eliminates operator error! but it does not eliminate that the system might be malfunctioning. I checked oil and there is no coolant in it, so that was a relief. Will try the fresh fuel as next step in elimination process. I had one other thought... could it be something with the system that is supposed to make the exhaust cleaner (tier IV I think it is called)? I know some tractors go through a cycle that burns off soot but I don't think this one does. Read some posts on here about Bransons with tier4 and it does not sound like that is my problem, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I really don't know much about diesels...