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Smoke from Gen

Nige

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Jun 22, 2011
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28,984
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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
I've been thinking about the missing thermostat and wondering if there was some sort of cooling system over-temperature issue that caused it to be removed in the first place..? Do you know anything about the history of the set before it came into your hands..? It may be a good idea to go over the cooling system with a fine-tooth comb looking for problems while the engine is disassembled.

Another thought - I hope they are planning to pull the pistons and replace the rings, because I'd guess that the piston ring grooves are going to be full of carbon as well.
 
Last edited:

jmatson

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Joined
May 4, 2016
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12
Location
Shreveport La
Ok guys going to wake this back up. the generator has been sitting at john deere getting worked on. $3600 later. it smokes on startup until it gets warm. well that was the case. im at a event now and its still smoking not as bad. The work they di. rebuild the head. found alot of carbon build up in head and on pistons. cylinders looked great can still see the marks. has excellent compression. Other than a injection pump thats cost 1200$ and other ideas
 

fast_st

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Dec 1, 2010
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1,468
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Mass
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IT systems admin
Ok guys going to wake this back up. the generator has been sitting at john deere getting worked on. $3600 later. it smokes on startup until it gets warm. well that was the case. im at a event now and its still smoking not as bad. The work they di. rebuild the head. found alot of carbon build up in head and on pistons. cylinders looked great can still see the marks. has excellent compression. Other than a injection pump thats cost 1200$ and other ideas

I'd have to suggest jump up one to the post from Nige.
 

Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Did they replace the piston rings..? If not then simply on the basis of the carbon buildup on the tops of the pistons they should be taken out the back and shot without the benefit of a last cigarette or a blindfold IMO.

Other than that has it been on a load bank and loaded up to 70-80% of rated output for an extended period..?
 

jmatson

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Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
12
Location
Shreveport La
load test yes. Was a 2hr load test.. And they noticed it didn't smoke under a load.. That's when they suggested injectors which i did that and same problem..

John deere felt the rings were good since the compression was within specs. on every cylinder and all were just about the same.. And they could still see the hone marks. They also found it didn't have a Thermostat. When running in my yard under no load it will smoke until it gets up to 170 than stop.. And once in while will smoke again for min and stop.. And that's basically2016-07-23 14.22.39.jpg what it did today.
 

Nige

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Jun 22, 2011
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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
load test yes. Was a 2hr load test.. And they noticed it didn't smoke under a load.. That's when they suggested injectors which i did that and same problem..

John deere felt the rings were good since the compression was within specs. on every cylinder and all were just about the same.. And they could still see the hone marks.
I'd have wanted it run under a good load for 24 hours at least, not 2. It's not a "load test" to look at the performance it's putting enough load on the engine to make it bark a bit over an extended period and get it hot enough burn off all the carbon that might be left.

I don't care what they say about the compression being within spec, for the amount of carbon that you say they found on the tops of the pistons IMO they were criminally negligent in not replacing the piston rings. The extra cost in parts and labour would have been minimal bearing in mind how far they'd gone into the engine already. I've seen hone marks still visible on engines that were pulled for overhaul at 20,000 hours so don't take that as any indication.

My feeling is that the rings are glazed and no matter how long that engine runs with them in it's going to smoke to a greater or lesser extent. How much it smokes will be enitrely dependent on the load that's put on it.
 

jmatson

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Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
12
Location
Shreveport La
I'd have wanted it run under a good load for 24 hours at least, not 2. It's not a "load test" to look at the performance it's putting enough load on the engine to make it bark a bit over an extended period and get it hot enough burn off all the carbon that might be left.

I don't care what they say about the compression being within spec, for the amount of carbon that you say they found on the tops of the pistons IMO they were criminally negligent in not replacing the piston rings. The extra cost in parts and labour would have been minimal bearing in mind how far they'd gone into the engine already. I've seen hone marks still visible on engines that were pulled for overhaul at 20,000 hours so don't take that as any indication.

My feeling is that the rings are glazed and no matter how long that engine runs with them in it's going to smoke to a greater or lesser extent. How much it smokes will be enitrely dependent on the load that's put on it.

I will talk to them monday again.. This unit has 20,000 hours on it.. What pissed me off when i picked it up. It was still smoking and i just paid them 3600$ Im at the point do i need it or sell it. I really don't need it now. It was to be used at my paintball field to run my lights and compressor. But since i am moving, back north i kinda don't need it. But im not sure is it worth what i have into it..
 

jmatson

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Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
12
Location
Shreveport La
So today i went out and played with the injection pump.. I noticed it wasn't sitting on the line that's marked on the block.. it was below it.. If i move anymore below it just gets whiter smoke. If i advance above the line. It clears up.. I have it all the way as i can above the line and the smoke is almost not visible.
 

partsandservice

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Feb 14, 2011
Messages
846
Location
Georgia
Which injection pump does it have? The white smoke appeared to me to be retarded timing. Was it like this when you got it ? If the injection pump was replaced, if the engine was bared in the opposite direction of rotation to find top center the gear lash would not have been accounted for thus making it out of time. Pictures of the injection pump would help to determine correct timing procedure.
 

jmatson

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Joined
May 4, 2016
Messages
12
Location
Shreveport La
Which injection pump does it have? The white smoke appeared to me to be retarded timing. Was it like this when you got it ? If the injection pump was replaced, if the engine was bared in the opposite direction of rotation to find top center the gear lash would not have been accounted for thus making it out of time. Pictures of the injection pump would help to determine correct timing procedure.

The Pump is a DB4.
 

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Looking at the load test you posted earlier it loos like they only ran it at over 90% for a bit over an hour. No where near long enough if this thing has run at a light load long enough to carbon things up.

Did the dealer not check the pump timing when they were rifling though you pockets for spare change?

To me that engine smokes worse than an old tired Detroit with broken rings! I I always like the old 71's and 53's!
 

partsandservice

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Feb 14, 2011
Messages
846
Location
Georgia
Put the pump on the mark on front cover, Time engine to tdc 1 . The timing hole is located on the same side of the engine as the injection pump. I use a Phillips screw driver to find the hole in the flywheel. Remove the small timing plate on the side of injection pump, you will see a small mark stationary mark in there, rotate the engine in normal rotation until the timing hole in flywheel is located. At this point the engine is either TDC 1 or TDC 6. If you are on TDC 1 you should be able to now see the other timing mark on the rotating part on the injection pump, it should be dead in line with the stationary mark, if it is not it is out of time. After the finding the timing hole in flywheel the mark on the rotating assembly in the pump is not visible you are on 6, Rotate it 360 and look for the marks in injection window for line up.
 

hmburner

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Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Messages
18
Location
Port Colborne Ont. CANADA
I have a 6068T in my Aljon baler that did the same thing. John Deere came and hooked it to their computer and declared the injector pump was on its way out. New pump and the problem was solved. Not saying that this is your problem just my engine did the same thing
 
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