L3800 Exhaust Question and Low SUDT

lzicc · May 10, 2012

Does anyone get smoke stains on their FEL from the exhaust? I noticed the left side of my FEL arm close to the exhaust has black smoke stains. Is this normal?

I also noticed that I am low on SUDT. This is the second time I had to top it off with a good quart or so to get the site glass to the correct level. I wouldn't think that I would ever get low unless I had a leak. I only have 250 hours on the tractor. When I saw the smoke stains on the FEL I started thinking that maybe SUDT could be leaking into the engine and burnign the SUDT. Is that even possible?

I know a while back I ran the tractor low on SUDT. I had a leak and didn't notice it until I already had some time working with the tractor and that always bothered me afterwards knowing that I ran the tractor for a good while when it was really low on SUDT.

Bluegill2 · May 10, 2012

The smoke stain on the FEL wouldn't bother me at all. Mine doesn't have it, but I only have 32 hours.

I don't think there's any way for the hydro fluid to get into the engine. It shouldn't hurt anything to run it a bit low, but it's best to keep it topped off.

Mac in PA · May 10, 2012

I don't believe anything was affected when you ran it low on SUDT. If it was extremely low you would have noticed erratic operation when using any of the hydraulics. This would be caused by the hyd. pump cavitating.

Cavitation normally does not cause damage unless the tractor is continued to be used in this condition.

When checking the transmission/hydraulic oil the loader should be lowered completely and the bucket tilted back. If you have a backhoe it should be in the travel position.

By the way, I get black exhaust stains on the FEL also.

Mac

MHarryE · May 10, 2012

Smoke stains completely normal. Losing hydraulic fluid should show up as a leak somewhere although it depends on your equipment. Another person said to make sure you check with your loader down and bucket curled all the way back. The book also says 3 point all the way down. I always get a little loss from my auxiliary hydraulic connectors as I connect/disconnect, and if the cylinder(s) are in a different position when I disconnect than when I connected, I may be leaving some oil there. Any other leaks you should be able to spot.

lzicc · May 10, 2012

That makes me feel better. The hydraulics work fine. I have to see if maybe there is a slow leak that I may be missing. When I looked in the site glass, I couldn't see any oil, so I put a few quarts in and still didn't see anything, but maybe the site glass was already past full so I couldn't see a line. Those site glasses are tough to judge.

kcender · May 10, 2012

My loader gets soot on it .Every now and then I will clean it off with WD40.

Thomas · May 10, 2012

My L2800 same setup and yes I get smoke stains on fel,bumper guard,axle..very common.

lzicc · May 10, 2012

When I checked the site glass, the dot behind the site glass was a grayish color. I don't remember, but is that dot supposed to be white if the fluid is too low? I know when the fluid is at the level it should be, the line should be in the middle of the glass. I just want to make sure I didn't overfill it.