Another mandatory recall, for L3560, 4060 etc series

sheepfarmer · Jan 20, 2015

Stopped by my dealer to ask some questions, and tech happened to look up my tractor and found this "Mandatory Campaign" for the L --60 series tractors that was issued in December after my tractor had been delivered. It is for a "Closed Crankcase Vent" problem, where, at temperatures below 0, a part might accumulate water and freeze shut. Damage to engine could result. A kit has to be installed. It involves serial numbers 30000 through 40700 approximately. Your dealer should contact you, but it never hurts to be proactive.

Cal270 · Jan 22, 2015

At my dealership yesterday and owner mentioned the same.

No timetable on warranty fix yet.

If tractor is going in will check on installing hydraulics to the fel for snow plow. Plow came with a cylinder but have it off and working it by hand. ..Wonder what cost is....?

SheepFarmer plz post when your repair is made.

sheepfarmer · Jan 22, 2015

Will do. They have to order a kit to install. Hope it comes soon, we are not out of cold weather, and I would not like to risk damage to the engine.

sheepfarmer · Jan 23, 2015

Iron peddler, I am bumping this thread to get it next to the other two campaigns. It will be interesting to see what they do when the techs come out.

sheepfarmer · Jan 30, 2015

Cal270 said:
SheepFarmer plz post when your repair is made.

The tech came out today and replaced the "breather" and the "oil separator" and all the associated breather tubes. The names are from the parts diagrams which can be downloaded from Messick's website. I have labeled them as best I can from those diagrams and on a photo of my engine, which is taken of the left side. The new parts are covered with an aluminum foil insulation, and the breather has a diaphragm-like part that was susceptible to freezing replaced with a more open looking structure. The tech was on the clock, and it was cold out, so had to limit my questions, and so I am not actually sure how this is supposed to work? Gases come out the breather from engine, go to separator, then go to this other part on the input side???? Oil drains down to crankcase? or the other way around? Where is the water vapor coming from? Combustion by product? Seems like this would not be a new problem. If someone can help me understand this, that would be great. Thanks!

North Idaho Wolfman · Jan 30, 2015

Bypass gasses come out the breather, and they could have some water vapor to them, just from condensation.
The bypass gases go through a oil separator to clean the oil out of the gasses send the oil to the pan, and then it sends the gasses on to the intake to be recycled and re-burned.
Excess oil would be bad, gums up the motor combustion chamber.

If the breather got condensation or water in it and froze it could blow seals and gaskets right out of the motor.

Daren Todd · Jan 30, 2015

We've had to do something similar to green motors that are farther north. Temps get so low, that any condensation coming out of the engine through the crank case vent will freeze and plug the vent. This causes pressure to build in the motor. Pressure has to release some where

So it will either show up as a weird leak or something strange and bizarre. We had a 300hp motor that would make a loud bang and shoot a tar ball out the exhaust every twenty minutes like clock work

They ended up having to reroute the crank case vent back into the intake manifold to keep it from freezing. No more tar ball

sheepfarmer · Jan 30, 2015

North Idaho Wolfman said:
If the breather got condensation or water in it and froze it could blow seals and gaskets right out of the motor.

Thanks NIW!

That would account for why he was sent right out as soon as the kit came in...the kit itself apparently costs around $400.

How much pressure is the breather part of the circuit under? It was not a nice place to work on, and there was an uncooperative O ring because of the cold, and I can imagine it not staying perfectly in its groove as the new breather was stuffed back in there.

sheepfarmer · Jan 30, 2015

Daren, this is a stupid question, but is crank case vent the same thing as the breather?

Or is it a term for the whole shooting match? The mandatory campaign was labeled that, and I spent a long time looking through the diagrams for something labeled crankcase vent and didn't find it.

And I really hope my little orange friend never shoots tar balls out the exhaust!!!

Daren Todd · Jan 30, 2015

They are the same

Last one I had to deal with was on a deutz so their terminology popped into my head for it.

The breather doesn't have a lot of pressure normally, but if it's blocked then it will build up and increase. It's the same as cramming an apple in the end of a tail pipe on a car

Daren Todd · Jan 31, 2015

Sheepfarmer, if you have any strange oil leaks appear on your tractor there is a quick easy way to test if the breather is clogged.

Have someone stand next to where the dip stick is. Start the tractor, run the rpms up for about 10 seconds. Run your rpms back down real quick and shut it down. As soon as the engine is quiet, have the other person pull the dip stick. If you hear air escaping when the dip stick is pulled. Then the breather is plugged

Lil Foot · Jan 31, 2015

We had a 300hp motor that would make a loud bang and shoot a tar ball out the exhaust every twenty minutes like clock work

I'd pay a dollar to see that!

Daren Todd · Jan 31, 2015

Lil Foot said:
I'd pay a dollar to see that!

I missed that one too!! Coworker has been going to North Dakota to help with that location. He got to witness it in person. With the breather plugged, it was pushing out oil into the turbo, loading up the muffler, partially cooking it. once the ball in the exhaust got big enough to clog the muffler, it would blow

scared the living hell out of the tool pushers on the rig the first time it happened

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BAP · Jan 31, 2015

Daren Todd said:
I missed that one too!! Coworker has been going to North Dakota to help with that location. He got to witness it in person. With the breather plugged, it was pushing out oil into the turbo, loading up the muffler, partially cooking it. once the ball in the exhaust got big enough to clog the muffler, it would blow scared the living hell out of the tool pushers on the rig the first time it happened

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That would make for one funny video if they had recorded it.

sheepfarmer · Jan 31, 2015

Daren Todd said:
Sheepfarmer, if you have any strange oil leaks appear on your tractor there is a quick easy way to test if the breather is clogged.

Have someone stand next to where the dip stick is. Start the tractor, run the rpms up for about 10 seconds. Run your rpms back down real quick and shut it down. As soon as the engine is quiet, have the other person pull the dip stick. If you hear air escaping when the dip stick is pulled. Then the breather is plugged

Thanks Daren, makes sense, and it surprised me as to how snugly the dipstick seals into the tube, have to get a pair of plyers to get it out to check the oil.

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Another mandatory recall, for L3560, 4060 etc series

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