More on water coming out vent pipe John Deere 2030

Dealer still hasn't called about when he can get to tractor. My husband loosened the drain plug in the oil pan, and only oil came out. However, when he cranked it and held a cup under the vent pipe (the engine blow-by as we always called it-not the radiator overflow), he got three drops of water pretty quick, and they taste sweet. He is thinking of pulling the valve cover to see if it looks like green water is in there. To answer some of your questions, they had just changed the oil, but I did look at it when we first saw the tractor, and it was just very black, not milky.
The coolant that came out did not look rusty or anything. Seems to be a little oily film on top, but that might have been in the bucket that we caught it in. After, changing the coolant, my husband drove it about 200 yrs to put it back in the shed, and it blowed a big wad of greenish, slimey, watery looking stuff out the vent pipe. That really shook us up, and that is when I called the dealer.

The tractor is idling too fast about 10. (I think they may have done that to try to get the Alt. light to go out. It still won't till it hits about 12.) It has a kind of poof sound to the exhaust, if you know what I mean. The exhaust o-ring was gone and so was the muffler at first and so loud you could not hear anything. They replaced both with new, but there is still the poof or popping sound, not the smooth sound of a good running diesel. It sounds like it is missing. Sitting on the tractor while it is running, it sounds like a jet plane (very loud) but standing beside it, it does not. My husband pushed up on the canopy while sitting in the seat and that helped, he said. This is the first tractor we have ever had with a canopy (This is a factory metal canopy), is it normal for them to vibrate, or is it the tractor?

Just thought I would try to tell you some more details so you might help us figure out something. We kind of figure that we will probably tear it down ourselves and put an engine kit in if we have to go into it, and we're afraid not to. I know that it will take a long time and a lot of calling to ever get the dealer on it, and then he will just want to fix one thing.

Anyone want to bet it is a blown head gasket and the "vibration" is it missing on at least one cylinder

Blow by gases include water vapor that condenses in a cold engine/crankcase vent on start up until the engine operating temperature is reached. Then most of the water exits as a vapor. Two or three drops is not an alarming ammount from the crancase vent. Since you didn't see water in the oil you drained out(I presume the engine sat for a while to let any water/coolant settle before you did this check.)it doesn't sound like you have any kind of a major leak. Crankcase vents need to be kept clean so they don't pressurise the crankcase as that can cause problems if they clog. Long periods of inactivity for the tractor can allow mud daubers and other insects to take up residence in the breather tube, causing it to plug. Oil in the coolant usually shows up at the radiator filler neck and can be plainly seen.

Diesel oil can turn pretty black after an oil change because of the soot in the blowby gas that accumulates in the engine.

The Idle can be adjusted to a lower level.

It's not uncommon for a canopy to vibrate at certain engine speeds and at certain ground speeds. There are certain critical speeds where vibrations can peak and cause the sheet metal, etc to vibrate. As far as noise, tractor engines are noisey.

If it is missing, that's another issue. It could be a faulty/dirty injector.

Make sure that you check the air filter to make sure it is clean and have the fuel filters been changed recently? Clean air filters are a must on a diesel. Fuel filters are also important to so that you can maintain proper fuel delivery and have clean fuel.

You'll need to get some manuals for your tractor; Operating, Shop Manual and a Parts Manual if you intend to work on it. The factory manuals are the best and the most expensive, but they will pay for themselves.

As far as the alternatorr, depending on how it's wired, it made need to get up to speed before it "self excites' and starts charging.
What does the oil pressure look likewhen the engine is warmed up? Have you worked the tractor yet? It wouldn't be a bad idea to try to work it and get it up to temperature.

Make a list of all your problems so you can talk to your dealer about them and have him deal with them. I can'rt stress getting the manuals so you'll understand more about your tractor. You are apparently new to them and do not know what to expect. Do some research about how your model should be operated.
Hope this helps you.

Sorry, but I am have given you the impression that I was new to tractors and mechanics in general; I am not. I was born on a farm, infact this same farm, and always there to hand my daddy or my older brothers wrenches, etc. We have owned diesel tractors since 1974, and diesel pickups since 2002. My 2005 Dodge Dually is a lot quieter than the older models, thank goodness! My brothers are in heavy construction and I have even driven an old D8 dozer with a cutting blade myself. I thought my oldest brother was great, and he let me tag along with him all the time. My husband has also always mechaniced, millwrighted, farmed, etc. The reason I mentioned black oil was to let you know that there was no water showing in the oil. This tractor was just serviced at the dealership and they changed all the fuel, air, oil filters. However, they had a young boy working on the tractor who was not really a mechanic, just replaced a few parts and did what adjusting he knew how to do. That is why I think he might have adjusted the idle up to try to get the ALT light to go off. The ALT looks fairly new, and probably just the belt is too loose. There are a lot of little adjustments and things that need to be done to the tractor. I did hook up a 6 ft bushhog to it the other day and run it about 1 hr with just cutting tall grass basically, and nothing really hard like hills, etc. It did get into operating temperature on the guage, and had no problems with it. I work off the farm, and my husband has been real busy with trying to rebuild our corral before haying starts, besides watching over cows that are calving, etc., and hasn't had time to do much with the tractor. Also, we were kind of waiting on the dealer to see when he could get to it, and how much he was going to do.

Over the years I have found that an indivual sometimes had come across a paticular problem and solved it, when it has stumped the best mechanics. That is why these forums are so good.
I do appreciate all your help and input. Maybe it is just some condensation, but I don't think so, because it has a greenish tint and it tastes sweet. I have purchased manuels for this tractor also, but they don't give much in the way of trouble shooting. My husband and I are both inclined to believe that it has a mechanical problem and is missing. My husband was going to take the value cover off and look at that, but alas, his little Isuzu 4WD has suddenly quit running!!! He went thru some deep water this morning checking the cows, and now the truck starts, then dies, starts, then dies. Hopefully only something got wet, and will dry out soon. It seems on a farm that something is always breaking down or needing immediate repair. I'll post more when I get some news. Thanks again

My husband called and said he has taken the valve cover off and can't see much sign of water. Said it looked a little like some water might be in there, but not enough to amount to anything. He called a friend who use to be a diesel mechanic. The friend told him to just put it back together and run the fool out of it for a few days and then check again to see if there was anything coming out of the oil pan when you loosen the plug. Maybe you were right. I hope and pray so. Time will tell I guess. Thanks so much for your help and input.

Use an oil test kit and check for antifreeze in the engine oil.
Test the coolant with a kit as well. Some people remember to check for the freeze point. However they fail to test for and doscover the anti-freeze's corosion inhibiters are depleted.
Now the engine's wet sleeves cavitate/corrode holes through them from the coolant side to the combustion chamber and/or crankcase side.

My sentiments also.. .

my 2 cents if dealer said he take care of it i would leave it alone no reason to give him any excues for not taking of it by saying well you have massed with it so its your baby now

That's what we are doing. If he ever gets to it.
He is suppose to have a fuel guage ordered and the front hydraulic coupling. He agreed to replace them to start with, but they delivered it almost two weeks ago, and I have called twice about getting it back in and getting it fixed. The reason we were checking it out, is that if it leaking much, then we might cause more damage by running it. But, hey, the reason we bought it was to use, or we would not have bought it. We haven't done anything to it, except try to check out what's going on with it. Maybe nothing. Anyway, the dealer told me if my husband had time to do the work, that he would supply the parts. (He knows us well.) We don't want to have to tear it down if there is nothing really wrong with it. We are not trying to get to anyone, but then we don't want a bad tractor either. But from what most people say; that we need to run it some up to operating temperature to see what it is going to do. Right now, all we are doing is a few minutes here and there with the loader or bushhog. If the weather clears and it stops raining for a few days, we are going to hook up the hay mower to it. We have run it less than two hours since we got it.
As I said, the main thing is when can the dealer get it in and out. We have a friend who had his tractor in the shop there for 3 months and it was still doing the same thing when it came out, so he had to send it back. The dealer means well, but he never has enough good mechanics to keep up. I understand that, as I sometimes have the same problem within my business. He will do what he says, but it is just when that concerns me. Anyway, we have decided not to just park the tractor and wait, but to use it normally, and let the chips fall where they will. We never abuse a tractor. If it fails, we will have to fix it if the dealer won't or can't get to it. We have already purchased it, so there is no turning back.
Thanks for all your input and suggestions.