2010 CaseIH Steiger 335 excessive oil use

Ok, boys. Quick rundown. The planter tractor has developed a rather concerning problem. Engine is a Cummins QSL, no after-treatment emissions controls. Started losing oil pressure the other day. Added 3 gallons to get to full, 145 hrs on oil change. Normal use is around half-gallon in 250 hours. After hooking up a manual gauge, discovered tractor was showing about 10 psi less than the gauge, so changed sensor. Now, tractor was showing less than 5 psi difference, but still throwing code. Decided to change oil filter. Temporarily solved oil pressure problem, 5 hours later the engine had used a little over 2 gallons, but some was taken up by the new filter. Topped off oil, planted for about 4 hours, started losing pressure again and oil level was down a little more than a gallon again. Oil is not leaking externally, and is not going into the coolant. Engine drives the trans via an external driveshaft, so oil isn't getting out thru rear main. Blow-by is a little more than I'd like to see (engine only has 3200 hrs), but with the filler cap removed it's not "pumping" which would signal a definite cylinder issue. Have pulled charge-air lines and exhaust off the turbo, all clean. Air filter elements were new last spring, but haven't pulled them yet. If they were plugged, the tractor has a restriction indicator that has worked in the past. Engine has no noticeable smoke, knock, or misfire, if I listen hard to the exhaust, there might be a faint indicator (I might be imagining it, LOL) of something going on, but can't be sure. We haven't pulled valve cover, with construction season heating up it looks like this one is headed to town for Case to tear it down.

I'm leaning towards a best case scenario that an intake valve guide has hammered itself out. Could maybe explain the consumption without a misfire or crazy smoke, and the increased blow-by might be caused by boost pressure leaking thru the bad guide. Worst case, a cracked/broken piston skirt or some other cylinder issue. Anybody have any horror stories on a QSL?

I wonder if they're like certain year 5.9's that were bad about busting the ring lands out of pistons. My Dodge did it all of the sudden about 175k miles. Went from no useage between changes to a quart every tank of fuel. Blowby was blatantly obvious though. It would blow the filler cap out of your hand if you weren't careful. Seems to be something like you said, if you had time to do a compression check it would narrow it down. My guess is rings or piston issue only because that's the most common thing I hear. Hope it's not too awful bad. Head issue would be nice, less repair and downtime in theory. Good luck.....

Junkyard

Thanks. I'm hoping it's just a head. Pretty stupid an engine with 3200 hrs should have this going on. It'll be interesting when we finally find out what happened.

Yes 3,200 hours isn't half way to needing anything major IMO. Maybe somebody will chime in with an epiphany on what it is. Never fails, when you gotta have it the mechanical gods say nope!

Some of the QSl appear to have had faulty injectors that put excess diesel in the engine oil.
Air filter changing is often a function of the conditions the machine is operating in, don't rely on automatic alerts, check no holes, perforations in filter etc that have allowed dirt into engine.
Check engine service bulletins - could the machine have had incorrect fuel or engine oil grade at some time?
As you suggest something in the top of the engine -valve area, breather etc

Any update?

Yes, as a matter of fact. The engine is toast. Discovered the clamp that holds the pipe onto the air cleaner housing was loose. It isn't the easiest thing to access, so we would have had to be lucky to notice it before now. Oil samples would have prevented this. Ashamed to admit it, but that is the end of this story.

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

Sucks, do you know if anyone ever had that apart? I've had two case combines come from the factory and make it through dealer pre-delivery with loose ducting between the precleaner thingy and the air filter proper. I started checking over the rest of the ducting pretty carefully after that. Bossman thought i was crazy as he was trading every year at the time.

Junkyard said:

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

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Yeah, it's a pisser. Thing that sucks the most is it'd be an easier pill to swallow if it would have stuck a rod thru the side. Going to cost the same, but something that should never have happened...I know I've never had piping come loose before now. Initial estimates are we're looking at around $35K for a reman. Sounds like it's a Case exclusive application, so Cummins can't even touch it.

hvy 1ton said:

Sucks, do you know if anyone ever had that apart? I've had two case combines come from the factory and make it through dealer pre-delivery with loose ducting between the precleaner thingy and the air filter proper. I started checking over the rest of the ducting pretty carefully after that. Bossman thought i was crazy as he was trading every year at the time.

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Not as far as we know. Tractor only has 3200 hrs on it. Only open the damn hood once a year (in the spring) to blow the outer filter out, and I didn't do the service this spring.