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I have a NorTrac 3500 crawler with a TY395E diesel engine, that I bought used several years ago, that has now developed some problems. I’ve used it about 95 hours, with no issues, but now it’s difficult to start, smokes excessively, and seems to be losing power. I noticed a drop in oil pressure as I used the crawler over a half-day period, until it was showing less than 0.2 on the meter. Thinking the oil filter might be fouled, I changed the oil, filter, fuel filters and air filter, to no avail. Next I noticed it’s begun using oil at a rather prodigious rate (2 qts/8 hours). It has started producing white smoke out the exhaust, and I can see a little smoke coming from the vents on the oil fill cap. Here are some pictures showing oil pressure at startup, after 3/4 hour, and after 4 hours, plus the exhaust smoke.
The only thing I can figure that would account for these issues is a blown head gasket. Any other suggestions?
You can take the boy away from the farm, but you can't take the farm away from the boy. 😉
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Well, first off 0.2 megapascals (mpa) equals about 29 psig. A tad low for that r/m, but acceptable. And 0.5 mpa equals about 72 psig (a bit high). This suggests that you aren’t using a multi-grade oil. There is no correlation between a blown head gasket and oil consumption.
Is the coolant level low?
What type of engine oil are you using?
Is there oil in the coolant?
Is there coolant in the oil?
Is the hydraulic reservoir low?
The picture showing the bluish white smoke indicates unburned fuel, probably from a dribbling/stuck injector that is washing the oil from cylinder walls and burning it. But going through that much oil in 8 hours suggests badly worn valve guides, broken/stuck piston rings, or worse yet – cracked pistons. Which would also account for the extreme blow-by. You can perform a cylinder leak-down or compression check to isolate the problem.
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Thanks for the quick reply, Bob!
Is the coolant level low? What type of engine oil are you using? Is there oil in the coolant? Is there coolant in the oil? Is the hydraulic reservoir low?
Haven’t checked the coolant level, but will do so. Engine has been running about normal temperature-wise. I’m using Delvac 15W-40. Don’t see any evidence of coolant in the oil, but will be sure to check the coolant for signs of oil. The hydraulic reservoir is fine, as is the transmission oil.
The crawler seems to be running a little rougher than it was. I put some Hot Shot Diesel Extreme injector cleaner in with the last fill, which seemed to make it start easier, but still running a little rough. Will manually clean the injectors to see if that improves things. Can also do compression test — did one for my Vietnam-era M151A2.
Again, thanks for the quick and comprehensive reply. NOT looking forward to replacing rings or pistons, if that’s what’s wrong. 😥
You can take the boy away from the farm, but you can't take the farm away from the boy. 😉
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