I purchased a long neglected L2550 in August. I was told that it was part of an estate, and the owner had stopped using it about 15 years ago. The tractor had clearly been sitting in a field as the panels were faded and vines were growing up into and around the engine. But, it was super cheap, and I really wanted to take this on as a fun project. I've never worked on a Diesel engine before, and I wanted to try it.
I've been working on it in my spare time for the past 3 months. Under the faded orange tins, the engine actually appeared to be in great shape - no rust, the engine blue was still fairly shiny and intact, etc. I have not gotten inside the engine, but I have had the radiator re-conditioned, replaced all of the coolant hoses and coolant; replaced all of the fuel lines and cleaned out the gas tank and filled it with fresh diesel; had the starter and alternator rebuilt; replaced the fan belt; and, other odds and ends.
Today, was the big day as I planned to attempt to start it for the first time in years. I bought a fresh battery, installed a bump starter (a button between the battery and starter solenoid as the wiring harness is a mess), and began the process of waking this machine up. Over the course of about 30 minutes of bleeding the fuel lines and attempting to start it, the engine finally caught.
It was belching white smoke from the muffler and the rubber line running from the top of the engine towards the ground (I believe this is some sort of blow by tube?). Once it caught, the engine idled great. I let it run for about 10 minutes in place to see if the white smoke would stop.
The white smoke stopped coming out of the muffler after about 10 minutes, but it kept rolling out of that blow by hose along with spitting black oil flecks. Oil wasn't running out of the tube, but a lot was being spit out, and it never really quit doing that. So, after 10 minutes, there was no white smoke coming from the exhaust, but it was till coming out of that rubber hose. Any ideas what may cause this? Or, is this just the symptoms of a long slumbering Diesel engine?
I've been working on it in my spare time for the past 3 months. Under the faded orange tins, the engine actually appeared to be in great shape - no rust, the engine blue was still fairly shiny and intact, etc. I have not gotten inside the engine, but I have had the radiator re-conditioned, replaced all of the coolant hoses and coolant; replaced all of the fuel lines and cleaned out the gas tank and filled it with fresh diesel; had the starter and alternator rebuilt; replaced the fan belt; and, other odds and ends.
Today, was the big day as I planned to attempt to start it for the first time in years. I bought a fresh battery, installed a bump starter (a button between the battery and starter solenoid as the wiring harness is a mess), and began the process of waking this machine up. Over the course of about 30 minutes of bleeding the fuel lines and attempting to start it, the engine finally caught.
It was belching white smoke from the muffler and the rubber line running from the top of the engine towards the ground (I believe this is some sort of blow by tube?). Once it caught, the engine idled great. I let it run for about 10 minutes in place to see if the white smoke would stop.
The white smoke stopped coming out of the muffler after about 10 minutes, but it kept rolling out of that blow by hose along with spitting black oil flecks. Oil wasn't running out of the tube, but a lot was being spit out, and it never really quit doing that. So, after 10 minutes, there was no white smoke coming from the exhaust, but it was till coming out of that rubber hose. Any ideas what may cause this? Or, is this just the symptoms of a long slumbering Diesel engine?