BBQChef

Member
I have, what seems to me, an excessive amount of smoke being emitted from the, well I don't know what it's called. It is located on the right side of the valve cover if you are sitting on the tractor. It is round and has a large opening on the top of it. Shortly after starting, about a minute, it starts to emit smoke out of the opening, the longer it runs, the more it smokes.

Is this normal? or do I have a potential problem brewing inside?
 
That is the crank case vent and your smoke may well be water vapor due to condensation. As the engine warms up is you have any water in the oil it gets hot and then boils off and can look like smoke. When was the last time you changed your oil?? Or it could be caused by blow by due to the rings getting weak or sticking to the pistons
 
To be honest, I have not changed the oil since I bought it last summer. Haven't used it much either. I try and start it and drive it around a bit at least once a week. The oil on the dipstick is black and full, no signs of water. I am planning on changing the oil next week though. Already have new filter and oil for it.

I am not ruling out a water possibility though, considering what I ran into with the transmission a while back.

Oh, and the smoke definitely smells like hot oil. Should I check the coolant too? Haven't done that yet either, but is on the list.
 
You have blow by, It may or may not clear up. You can add some marvel mystery oil to the gas, about8 oz to 5 gal of gas, and tun it hard to see if you have stuck rings. But you may have a worn out engine
 

starting once a week and driving around a little is severe duty for any motor. All of its run time is below operating temp and a few minutes after a cold start. Your motor would be much better off to be started only when it will be worked enough to bring it up to operating temp.
 
Put a quart of ATF in 3 gal of gas and run it that way. Yes it may smoke a bit but that will help loosen up the rings if they are sticking to the pistons.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I think my first order of business come Monday morning will be to change the oil and filter and do a compression check and see where I go from there.
 
Basically, what I am hearing, is that with a little extra lube in the gas and really give it a workout, it should/might clear up?

I know the compression test will tell me more, but I really hope it clears up, because I wasn't planning on doing an engine rebuild this summer. But If I have to, I guess I will. Any recommendations on the kits and pistons sold here? Should I bore it bigger, and if so, how much?

Thanks again!
 
Should I bore it bigger, and if so, how much?

Only a micrometer can answer that question.

What you have from your description is blow by. The compression in the cylinders is bypassing the rings and causing pressure in the crankcase. This pressure has to go somewhere. That is what the vent on the side of the valve cover is for. A place to relieve this pressure.

So how did this blow by happen.
1) Just a plain old wore out engine.
2) The motor is just not used hard enough.

What happens with these old tractors is most times #2.
You use cheap low octane gasoline. The engine may be running a little rich. You pitter put around at a idle and never really work the tractor up to a good operating temperature. Carbon starts to form in the combustion chamber. This carbon makes the rings stick in the landings rather than holding tight against the cylinder walls. The compression starts to leak past the rings carrying fuel into the oil. The fuel; water vapor from the air; and oil mix turning the oil into sludge. The sludge increases because of few oil changes as we do not use the tractor much. The sludge does not lube the engine well so contaminates in the engine do not get washed away. The engine is not cleaned properly internally causing more deposits; more sticking of parts; and more blow by.
As you can see it is one big snowball effect.

So the real question is do you have a use for this much horsepower.
If so take the tractor out and work the snot out of it.
Plow a area even if it does not need plowing.
Cut the neighbors over grown field with a brush cutter.
Make the engine dig down deep for power and it will heat up and burn off the carbon.
Some like to add a little ATF to the gas thinking this oil will burn hotter and wash away some of the soot.

If it clears up all the better. If it does not clear up you may just have a old wore out engine.
Hard for us to tell which one from here but what you describe sounds like you need to work it.

On the other hand you have no use for this much horsepower.
You can live with it. Let it burn some oil. Put up with a little smoke. And just keep puttering around.

By the way you are a long way from a engine rebuild.
A little smoke out the breather does not warrant a engine rebuild unless you are a perfectionist that has to have everything in top shape. The kind that would buy a new car because the tires or brakes wore out. Or it was your dads tractor and you just want to go threw it to make everything new.

If the engine starts giving you problems to where it just does not stay running; burns more oil tan gas and smokes so bad you can not stand it; has so little power it just will not do the job; then we might consider a engine rebuild.
 
OK, lets clear the air here. First off I bought the tractor towards the end of last summer and have been slowly going thru it as I have time and money. I currently do not have any way to really work it hard other than trying to get it to go up hill in 4th gear. I have opened it up on several occasions, not just puttering around at idle.

I will need this much horsepower eventually, as I am also in the middle of a move to the upper peninsula of Michigan where it will be used not only for snow removal, but parking lot grading, and plowing a 5 acre plot for sweet corn. I would rather have a bit too much, as situations always arise where you wish you had more, than not having enough to see you through.

As I said, I have been slowly going thru it so when I do need to use it and use it for some hard work, it will be ready to go and I won't have to stop my project to fix something because I didn't go thru it beforehand.

Now, on to the compression test.

I pulled the coil wire and all four plugs out. I also added "Sea Foam" to both the gas and the crankcase oil. I turned on the gas and opened the throttle to full as well as the choke. I did 2 tests on each cylinder to get a minimal average. Both tests were dry as I did not see a reason to do a wet test.

#1 cylinder tested at 115 and 120
#2 cylinder tested at 115 and 115
#3 cylinder tested at 115 and 115
#4 cylinder tested at 120 and 120

I then put it all back together and took a trip down the road, I live on a dirt road so not much traffic, and this is where the hill is. It wouldn't make it up the hill in 4th, only about half way, but I let it labor until it almost died and then put it in 3rd and dropped the throttle a bit so it would work going up the hill. I did this 15 times. The rest of the time was wide open throttle in both 3rd and 4th gear. It blew bluish/white smoke when worked on the hill.

I then parked it and let it run a bit wide open and at idle. when I went from idle to wide open, the smoke really rolled for about 2 seconds.

To clarify, all of the smoke that I have mentioned so far, has come from the exhaust pipe, not the crankcase vent.

I am still getting a bit of smoke from the vent, but not quite as bad as it was.

After going through the carb awhile back, I have not had any smoke, or very little, coming from the exhaust, so I assume it is due to the addition of the "Sea Foam".

I did not change the oil just yet as I want the "Sea Foam" to have a little more time to do its job. Will take it out for another trip down the road and up the hill tomorrow and then change the oil after that.
 

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