Diagnoise L235

[coachgeo]

OK.... Got my L235 running. Purchased as a unknown damage tractor that suposedly ran when it was traded in for a new tractor. It was started at the farm..... dealer thought it sounded good enough to take in on trade. Somehow then dealer decided they didnt like it and one of their Salesmen took it home with intent to fix it. (yeah right... I dont trust salesmen)

When I listened to the engine get spun w/out firing there was a knock that sounded up high in the engine. Not HORRIBLE but a knock. Tractor was an hour away from home. Took gamble and bought it. On my way home I remembered I'm an idiot. I did not check the oil.

Tractor delivered by seller.. (part of sell price) NO OIL.

Today took another gamble. Put in some diesel lube oil that was on sell. Put water in the Radiator. Cleaned fuel filter and fixed the crack in the plastic Bowl. drained the tank since did not know how good the fuel was. Put some not to old good Kero in the fuel tank. Replaced content of the filter bowl with Lubramolly diesel purge. Replaced injector bleed/overflow lines. Jumped battery to spin the motor and bleed injector lines. Twas a PITA.
Spun engine with oil in it. hmmm.. knock there but less.

1. while trying to bleed injector lines noticed the injectors move some. They have some free play in both directions. Seems odd to me. Had to hold them still with one wrench while loosening injector line cap. Should they be loose?

2. Engine Runs... sounds like it is nailing some? video attached is sound at idol, half throttle and near full throttle. NO LOAD in neutral. Let me know what you think by the sound of it

3. Discovered no oil in tranny either. grrr. Its like the dealer started to service it and then decided to stop there. Anyway; with out shutting it down so not to have to fight to restart it.... we filled the tranny 1/2 to 3/4 full with Gear oil. Friend had about 3 gal of synthetic he had aquired so that is what went in there. Will try to get some more synthetic to match.

4. Gears ground some like clutch not adjusted well and with clutch in and Tractor in gear it would still move some. We adjusted it and got rid of that issue. Sound about right?

5. Broke apart the Decompression pull cable cause it was rust welded together. Somehow saved the pull and about 1/2 the width of the cable. A portion of the inside of the cable pulled out of the Kubota sheath. Replaced the Kubota sheath with a remains of a basardized new chock cable one. Slide the remainder of the Kubota cable and knob into it and whala.... once again have a Docompression pull knob.

http://youtu.be/UP9XZUuAHaE

Thanx in advance for any help/advice etc.

 

[Daren Todd]

Did you try tightening the injectors to see if they would snug up? And no, thats not normal to be loose like that.

Heard the knock, not sure if it's a lifter or valve out of adjustment. If you have access to a stethoscope it would help to listen to each cylinder and the valve cover to see which area the knock is coming from. My wifes a nurse and I've snagged her set before she gets a little cranky though
I would try it just cranking, not running first so you don't blow out your ear drums

Had to adjust the free play in the clutch when i got mine and it solved most of the shifting issue and the grinding going into gear. Changing the tranny fluid pretty much solve the rest of the shifting issue.

I replaced the decompression cable on mine with a cheap choke cable from the auto parts store. I don't ever use it though.

Here's another thought too. Someone may have started tearing it down and decided to slap it back together real fast to sell it. So that motor may need to be checked top to bottom. Pulling the valve cover, checking the head bolts to make sure they are torqued, and the oil pan to check the connecting rods, to make sure caps are properly torqued, valves that sort of thing. Looking for signs that someone went in there and dinked with something. It wouldn't be good to run it down the road and have a rod go thru the block.

 

[coachgeo]

........ Here's another thought too. Someone may have started tearing it down and decided to slap it back together real fast to sell it. So that motor may need to be checked top to bottom. Pulling the valve cover, checking the head bolts to make sure they are torqued, and the oil pan to check the connecting rods, to make sure caps are properly torqued, valves that sort of thing. Looking for signs that someone went in there and dinked with something. It wouldn't be good to run it down the road and have a rod go thru the block.

ahhhhhhh....... interesting thought. But no.. at least not at the top end. To have done that would have cracked and broke up the injector overflow lines. They disentigrated as I went about replacing them.

I'll maybe pull the injectors and soak them in carb cleaner. Do they have a copper washer that will have to be annealed or replaced?

 

[Daren Todd]

Sounds like you have a pretty good platform, and with it running your most of the way there i found with mine it's a little tank. When i got it, it had been run for about 10 years with low oil pressure. And pinged and popped on the top end before i fixed it. Fixed the oil pressure issue, added some lucas oil treatment for extra lubrication on the initial start up. Steamed pretty good for about 20 minutes while it burned off the moisture on the top end. Haven't lost a drop of coolant or oil in the 20 hours since. And running quieter too. I'm really happy with mine

 

[D2Cat]

When you take the injectors out take them to a diesel shop to have them pop tested. That noise could be a bad injector.

Injectors should be seated tight and torqued to spec., never loose!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The disintegrating rubber lines are just overflow lines, they don't really have anything to do with the way it runs.

#1 Tighten the injectors and check again for noise.
If still has same noise:
#2 Pull the valve cover and check valve clearances and adjustments, like a very loose valve.
If nothing or still making noise:
#3 Pull the head and check for piston slap, if it has that you need a complete rebuild.

 

[coachgeo]

Just found this on youtube for a comparision

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMip0GQnbOk

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yep different sound all together, I'm worried you have a spun bearing.

 

[coachgeo]

Yep different sound all together, I'm worried you have a spun bearing.

Crank or cam bearing?

Would it help to get a sound vid of the engine spinning with compression relase pulled?