My new 4300 project

[pmsmechanic]

I have a brand new BM19575 front mounting kit for a 4100, 4300, 4400. You can use it for a snowblower or a broom.

 

[TractorGuy]

Well crap, looks like I need to rebuild the engine. Started noticing a whole lot of crankcase blowby and a miss. Tore the engine down (hardest part was pulling the tank, they really don't make that easy) and took some measurements. The cross hatching in all 3 cylinders looked suspiciously good. I couldn't tell if the head had been off before or not.
I'm thinking someone might have honed it in the past with stock bore when it should have been pulled and bored oversized.




I took some measurements and she needs rebuilt

Cyl. aA___aB_____bA_____bB_____cA_____cB
1 84.02066 84.02574 84.02066 84.04098 84.0232 84.0232
2 84.02574 84.01812 84.02828 84.03844 84.03336 84.01558
3 84.01304 84.03844 84.0105 84.05622 84.01304 84.03844

Hope you didn't dive into that without checking the crankcase vent. Unless it has a lot more hours than you posted when you got it, it should not need a rebuild.

 

[larboc]

Hope you didn't dive into that without checking the crankcase vent. Unless it has a lot more hours than you posted when you got it, it should not need a rebuild.

Yea, crankcase vent was blowing a LOT of pulsing vapor out of it.
Got the tractor split and the engine torn down yesterday. Piston #1 is cracked. I was trying to get it started this winter with too much ether with a failed thermister/no fuel. My own fault, kicking myself very hard thank you very much. The bore is out of spec for out of round and concentricity and I'm already in this far so I have a .25mm overbore kit on order. I theoretically could just replace the piston that cracked and live with the out of spec walls, but a new piston from deere is $220 plus all the gaskets and $75 per cylinder for a ring back.
I bought an entire Maxiforce rebuild kit for less than $400 on ebay, should be here thursday and I can take the block to the machinist.

I'm also in contact with a Yanmar dealer to order 3 sets of piston squirters. This block has bosses in the casting for the oil squirters on the turbo versions so I think as long as I'm in here I might as well machine and install squirters. I'll add the "T" later on in place of the stock muffler. Everything I read says that the piston part numbers are different between this engine and the 4020tf but the pistons I took out had reliefs in the skirt for oil squirters.

 

[texasranger556]

Oh wow, what did the compression look like with the cracked piston? Ether is great stuff, sometimes too great!

It looks like you lucked out that there is aftermarket support for your 3TNE84 engine, $400 is a steal. What all does that include? Anything on the bottom end? Maxiforce doesn't list anything for my 4400, so I'll be at the dealer's mercy if anything happens to my engine. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

I'll be interested to see how you go with the squirters. Does the turbo version run a bigger oil pump? A turbo 4300 would be an awesome package, if not abused.

 

[TractorGuy]

Yea, crankcase vent was blowing a LOT of pulsing vapor out of it.
Got the tractor split and the engine torn down yesterday. Piston #1 is cracked. I was trying to get it started this winter with too much ether with a failed thermister/no fuel. My own fault, kicking myself very hard thank you very much. The bore is out of spec for out of round and concentricity and I'm already in this far so I have a .25mm overbore kit on order. I theoretically could just replace the piston that cracked and live with the out of spec walls, but a new piston from deere is $220 plus all the gaskets and $75 per cylinder for a ring back.
I bought an entire Maxiforce rebuild kit for less than $400 on ebay, should be here thursday and I can take the block to the machinist.

I'm also in contact with a Yanmar dealer to order 3 sets of piston squirters. This block has bosses in the casting for the oil squirters on the turbo versions so I think as long as I'm in here I might as well machine and install squirters. I'll add the "T" later on in place of the stock muffler. Everything I read says that the piston part numbers are different between this engine and the 4020tf but the pistons I took out had reliefs in the skirt for oil squirters.

Wouldn't the turbo pistons be lower compression?

I read where Ford put squirters on the 2011 5.0 V8s and had to remove them later due to increased oil consumption. Not sure what they did wrong on that or that it would be relevant to a diesel.

 

[RoyJackson]

Got the tractor split and the engine torn down yesterday. Piston #1 is cracked. I was trying to get it started this winter with too much ether with a failed thermister/no fuel. My own fault, kicking myself very hard thank you very much. The bore is out of spec for out of round and concentricity and I'm already in this far so I have a .25mm overbore kit on order. I theoretically could just replace the piston that cracked and live with the out of spec walls, but a new piston from deere is $220 plus all the gaskets and $75 per cylinder for a ring back.
I bought an entire Maxiforce rebuild kit for less than $400 on ebay, should be here thursday and I can take the block to the machinist.

I'm also in contact with a Yanmar dealer to order 3 sets of piston squirters. This block has bosses in the casting for the oil squirters on the turbo versions so I think as long as I'm in here I might as well machine and install squirters. I'll add the "T" later on in place of the stock muffler. Everything I read says that the piston part numbers are different between this engine and the 4020tf but the pistons I took out had reliefs in the skirt for oil squirters.

If there's one thing Yanmar engines do well...it's start in cold weather. I used a block heater on all three Deere tractors I had with Yanmar engines...cold weather starting is easy...block heaters just make it easier. My current machine, a 2005 4520, has a Deere Powertech engine...unlike the Yanmar engines, these are cold natured (but very strong engines!)
Since the 4300 has an air intake heater (rather then glow plugs), I wouldn't use ether at all. You might be fortunate the heater didn't light off the ether
I don't know how many hours are on your 4300, but with the wear you describe, sure sounds like the tractor wasn't maintained very well.

 

[larboc]

Oh wow, what did the compression look like with the cracked piston? Ether is great stuff, sometimes too great!

It looks like you lucked out that there is aftermarket support for your 3TNE84 engine, $400 is a steal. What all does that include? Anything on the bottom end? Maxiforce doesn't list anything for my 4400, so I'll be at the dealer's mercy if anything happens to my engine. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

I'll be interested to see how you go with the squirters. Does the turbo version run a bigger oil pump? A turbo 4300 would be an awesome package, if not abused.

Looks like your kit is right here?
$422 Yanmar 3TNE88 Engine O/H Kit .25 Oversized 3TNE88-ACG 3TNE88-ACGD 3TNE88-AGD | eBay

Comes with piston kits, rod bolts, rod bearings, crank bearings, cam bearing, all gaskets, valve seals, o-rings, copper washers, main seals, etc. The same package of stuff through JD would have been well over $1000. I never added it all up.

Jdparts shows the same oil pump for the 3 cyl NA all the way up to the 4 cylinder turbo tne84 so shouldn't be an issue.

I never checked compression but based on how it ran I'm sure it was low.

 

[larboc]

If there's one thing Yanmar engines do well...it's start in cold weather. I used a block heater on all three Deere tractors I had with Yanmar engines...cold weather starting is easy...block heaters just make it easier. My current machine, a 2005 4520, has a Deere Powertech engine...unlike the Yanmar engines, these are cold natured (but very strong engines!)
Since the 4300 has an air intake heater (rather then glow plugs), I wouldn't use ether at all. You might be fortunate the heater didn't light off the ether
I don't know how many hours are on your 4300, but with the wear you describe, sure sounds like the tractor wasn't maintained very well.

Yea it either started amazingly great in the cold or wouldn't start at all (thermistor).
The grid heater only turns on when pushing the key and I didn't do that while ethering.

One other tidbit I found is that if you look up other versions of the xTNE84 on jdparts like the 3015 it looks like a 0.5mm overbore piston might be available. Everywhere else only shows a 0.25mm oversize.

 

[larboc]

Wouldn't the turbo pistons be lower compression?

I read where Ford put squirters on the 2011 5.0 V8s and had to remove them later due to increased oil consumption. Not sure what they did wrong on that or that it would be relevant to a diesel.

18:1 regardless of turbo or non-turbo.

Lots of inline engines have squirters on them, I'd guess a V engine would be a challenge to keep oil off the walls. Since it was a factory option I'm sure it will be fine as long as I install them in stock locations.

 

[larboc]

So it took some digging but I think I've found the correct yanmar part numbers to install the piston cooling jets. Seems like it's pretty common across various yanmar engines.

Nozzles 129553-39650 are $27.20 each.
Check valve 129792-39410 are $25.27 each.
Spring pin 22351-030010 are $$.77 each.

I'm going to order today. It's going to take a pretty long end mill to get down there to spot face it (5") before drilling and tapping but it looks to be parallel to the deck so it will be easy enough to fixture. The hard part will be getting a drill bit that long to not walk and get a tap to go in straight.

I'm potentially making this rebuild more complicated that it needs to be but I hate the idea of putting an engine back together 'stock'. I know I want to do a stock sized intercooled turbo setup in the near future and I feel like adding the cooling jets is the right thing to do since I'm in it this far. Am I crazy?