Buying Advice Need some buying advice!!

[olivedrabflorida]

I am thinking of buying a ford 1100 diesel tractor from a neighbor. He started the tractor and it blew a plume of white smoke out the exhaust pipe. He is still thinking of a price. What kind of things should I look for next time I take a look at it? Is the white smoke at start up a big issue?

 

[Bluegill2]

The white smoke could be from setting too long, bad fuel, lot of hours, etc. If if clears up and runs strong, it's probably fine.

 

[Opti-Mist]

White smoke is generally associated with moisture. If it smells sweet it is antifreeze which might indicate a headgasket issue. Being that you are in Fl there may or may not be antifreeze in the cooling system, although there should be.

 

[RoyJackson]

It's not unusual to get smoke during start up...as long as it abates in 5-10 seconds, I would not worry about it.
I'm not a Ford/New Holland guy, so I'll leave specifics to those experts.
However, the 1100 doesn't have much power...about 11 or 12 PTO HP. Is that going to be enough for your requirements?

 

[olivedrabflorida]

Thanks for the advice roy, im hoping that the tractor will be enough horsepower because all i will be using is a pto mower. The smoke only really happens while cranking the engine, then it clears up.