I would suggest running an oil analysis if you can, $15-20 from cumming or any of the big diesel manufacturers will tell you if it’s diesel or water. It also tells about metals, soot and shows if you have abnormal wear. It’s great to get a baseline early in the engine life and you can track wear over thousands of hours. Just got a report back on my Cummins 10,000 plus miles mostly towing and could have easily gone a lot longer (manufacturer claims 10k towing or 15k driving interval but I’ve never intentionally gone past 7500 mile interval). Will sample at 13,000-15,000 miles next time and decide if I want to do a full change or not then.
Dave, I get our diesel at Sunoco in Potsdam N.Y. and they receive their winter blend diesel at the end of October or the beginning of November and I still treat it with a winter Mahindra treatment for diesel, so far we haven't had any problems with gelling. We do have an inline heater and a battery maintainer that I'll start plugging in next week, I think that the coldest temps we had since we had the tractor was - 30 and still no problems with gelling.
So I was right! I called them for an update...after another week New injectors installed...and we found a new problem...coolant system test...wont hold pressure...you have a blown head gasket... no chit you f-ing douche I told you there was water in the oil when I brought the problems to your attention "Don't worry we will fix it and you wont have any issues with the engine...its under warranty" This is not why I paid a premium price for a premium tractor from a premium dealership...to wonder about the integrity of the engine for as long as I own the tractor.
Uggggg. Hopefully they fix it soon. Are they going to do anything to sweeten the pot since you are out a tractor that you are paying on until they get around to it?
Not liking the "progress" on your repairs Dave. Don't blame you a bit for being pizzed. If there is good news here, your dealer sure knows by now that you're one very un-happy customer. Hoping you'll be able to use that to your advantage with them. No dealer wants pizzed off customers. Once the gasket is replaced, and you have another 20 hours on the tractor, with no issues, your confidence will come back. Good luck and I sure hope they get it home to you soon.
I did some research on my New Holland when I noticed white smoke on so tractor forums. Seemed it was a common issue with my model. Blown head gasket. My mechanic friend was going to do it but he got to busy in his shop. Off to the dealer. The service writer said he never heard of the problem before. My parts counter buddy gave me a service bulletin on the sly. "Do not use the old style head gasket and follow the new head bolt torque specs when repairing this tractor". Kinda stuck using them because no other dealers for 50 miles. Anyhow good luck Dave. Hope it works out. I'd have a talk with the owner too and let him know how dissatisfied you are.
That's how I feel, I'm stuck, I've got no options...I don't like feeling like that...if I wouldn't have to take a financial bath doing so I'd just dump it and go buy something else...prolly orange
ON the positive side yanmar engines are pretty good engines yours might have just been a bad gasket hopefully thats all I do not know how long you ran the engine with the anti freeze in the oil but probably not long enough to hurt it but the small injectors do not like antifreeze in cylinder it is probably what messed one up I have had problems with Kubota and doosan injectors because of a head gasket leak I hope everything works out for you JB
Sucks to hear it's not resolved yet Dave. I'm by far no diesel mech, but doing a pressure test should have been first and foremost on the list. It sounded like a classic gasket issue, because it was. I'd be pizzed as well.
All three injectors were replaced, definitely bad due to the head gasket leak according to the service writer.
Got the tractor back this week, ran it a bit today, seemed OK. The report said there was a head gasket leak at the middle cylinder. Also "evidence of excessive heat", not sure what that means as the engine never got execessively hot while I was running it. They sent the head out to be fluxed and found no cracks, the head was also planed by .003, I'm guessing because of whatever the excessive heat evidence was, new injectors, changed the engine oil and filter, twice. I did speak to the store manager who was also my salesman, and let him know I was not pleased.
Glad you got her back Dave. Let's hope it's the last surprise with the green rig and it never skips a beat.
Water in the cylinder under pressure creates an enormous amount of heat. Anyone who has been to school on Diesel engines would know that. I hope they weren’t trying to blame you for it. AFAIK Yanmar has always had a great reputation and I think you just got a fluke. If it’s not right you’ll know soon enough but I bet you’re good to go. Good luck DaveGunter . I think you bought a really good tractor btw. Diesels like to be run in the higher rpm range, tier 4 or not, and should see very little idle time. That and routine maintenance and you’re in for thousands of happy hours of service.
Glad you got your tractor back Dave and I hope the problem is resolved. Annoying as it is, sometimes things go wrong. The day after getting my tractor there was a major leak in one of the hydraulic lines. I was busy with snow cleanup during a storm, didn't notice it for awhile and by then my fluid was low. I fixed it by simply tightening the fitting and called to complain. They swung over that night dbl checked all the fittings and hooked me up with a refill plus 5 gal of fluid (which is pricey) Since then, I've clipped the rear rim, causing a very slow leak of rim guard, and got a flat tire from a long nail.... wore through 2 hoses missing the fact that a protective sleeve slid away from a wear point and cracked the canopy. I work the tractor pretty hard so always important to do visual inspections before use and certainly at the 10 hr greasing times. Good luck!
I agree, Dave seems pretty good, I just wasn't happy about the service response, it seems like they didn't believe me about water in the oil and didn't check that complaint out as quickly as they should have...water in engine oil is a big problem.
Good to know, I'm not mechanically inclined in the least, I don't think they were blaming the excessive heat on me, I just didn't know where that observation would have come from. Do you think that is the reason they had the head planed?
I’m so sorry this happened to you DaveGunter! I know how exciting it is to get a new tractor and I can’t imagine how it feels to lose confidence in your new tractor. I hope all the problems are behind you now and you can enjoy your tractor!
