Ok so I'm out here in AZ helping on the ranch for the week, finally getting a chance to look at this in person. The new water pump and thermostat that JD installed did not fix the problem. Same symptoms as before, runs great for a while, then starts running bad when warm, also temp gauge does not work. Seems to be burning coolant as well, level is dropping and it's not going in the oil, not leaking externally. Suspecting bad head gasket or cracked head. I'll dig in a little deeper this week, but I'm working with limited tools out here, don't have my cooling sys pressure test kit, IR thermometer, etc. Any other ideas to check?
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JD 5045e missing, low rpms, white smoke after 20min run time
- Thread starter MG84
- Start date
Truck Shop
Senior Member
And in this case that's the needed tool, this is where Harbor Freight comes in handy.
Install tester and see if it builds any unwanted pressure. White smoke can be coolant
also. The fact it runs 20 minutes or so then has issues could very well relate to a hair
line crack in head or leaking gasket from expansion-which you already know. But years
ago I rebuilt allot of JD heads, now these were from a earlier design and were high
engine hours, but we ran onto several that wouldn't pass a mag test. I'm sure you will
find it being there to lay your own eyes and ears on it. Good luck.
Got a pressure tester and IR gun at HF, I *think* we have a blown head gasket or crack somewhere, but I'm going to double check everything tomorrow.
-Tractor cold, pressure test held 14psi for 20min with no drop.
-worked tractor till it started missing/blowing smoke, radiator/block temp was around 160* according to IR gun, so it was not overheating.
-there didn't seem to be any pressure in the radiator when I removed cap when hot
-Tested cooling system when hot, dropped 3psi from 14-11psi in 25min
-seems to have used a quart of coolant over about 2 days of intermittent work
All points to internal leak/crack when hot, only thing that has me a bit perplexed is the white smoke has a definite diesel smell like unburned fuel, not sweet smell like antifreeze.
-Tractor cold, pressure test held 14psi for 20min with no drop.
-worked tractor till it started missing/blowing smoke, radiator/block temp was around 160* according to IR gun, so it was not overheating.
-there didn't seem to be any pressure in the radiator when I removed cap when hot
-Tested cooling system when hot, dropped 3psi from 14-11psi in 25min
-seems to have used a quart of coolant over about 2 days of intermittent work
All points to internal leak/crack when hot, only thing that has me a bit perplexed is the white smoke has a definite diesel smell like unburned fuel, not sweet smell like antifreeze.
Truck Shop
Senior Member
Do a test with {Block Tester 600 fluid.
I'm back in Va now, but Dad is going to pick up the combustion gas tester and BT600 fluid tomorrow and check it. Ran it a good bit, coolant hasn't dropped any more, and it definitely isn't overheating when it starts acting up, if anything it's running a bit cold (145-160*) despite the ambient air temperature being around 95*. The white smoke sure smells like unburned fuel, IDK might be multiple problems we are dealing with. Its a real head scratcher so far....
Also when it started acting up I cooled the injection pump down with a good amount of cool water, brought it down from 130* to 80*, no change in symptoms. If it is fuel related, might look towards the injectors next as vetech mentioned. Need to determine the status of the headgasket/head/block before anything else though.
RobertJ
Member
I don't know the fuel system on a 5045e so this might not be relevant. A few years ago I had a customer with a fleet of 5093en tractors that had similar symptoms. I never could reproduce them, but they claimed the tractors would randomly lose power and start smoking badly then it would go back to normal. According to JD's DTAC there was a low load timing advance system built into the pump and bad fuel had galled the actuator/piston/I cant remember exactly and it was sticking intermittently. A new injection pump fixed the problem. If I remember correctly these were Stanadyne DB2 pumps.
Ok thanks for that bit of info. If the cooling system checks out we're going to look at the fuel system again. It definitely had some bad fuel in it, so injector pump and/or injectors could still be the problem.
Tested the cooling system with a combustion gas tester, both hot and cold, and came back negative. Also tractor has not used any more coolant. I think we are going to assume the cooling system, head, head gasket are ok and turn our attention back to the fuel system. Cracked each injector open (well the first two, #3 is very hard to reach) when the tractor was acting up, #1 injector slowed the engine a little, #2 slowed it considerably. That tells me that the injectors aren't all acting the same. With almost 5000hrs on them and dirty fuel it might be time for a new set. Could still also be the advance in the pump, or both. I think we'll try the injectors first.
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Truck Shop
Senior Member
Dump a couple quarts of ATF in fuel tank, it just might clean out deposits in injectors
before removing them.
before removing them.
We'll give it a try. I might also try it on the LT9000, also although I'm pretty sure those are injectors are just worn out. On that what would you dose 80gal of fuel at? 2gal of ATF?
Truck Shop
Senior Member
Half gallon at a time, remember it will turn the fuel red. It doesn't hurt to fill a filter a third full
with atf then top it off with diesel.
Right, the thought of red fuel crossed my mind, might try the filter.