Hello guys and gals, I've recently been offered a Deere 326D with engine trouble... I know nothing about these machines so I'm turning to you guys for help. The machine has just a shade over 1300 original hours on it, the owner bought it new in 2012 for his acreage and it's only been lightly used. Just recently he was using it to clear snow when the engine started laboring, got low on power and blowing black smoke. He shut it down and had a mechanic come out... the mechanic took the engine oil filter off and cut it open to find metal particles in the oil filter. It had been serviced not long before with new filters and fluids. I couldn't start the machine to see what it's doing first hand so I'm just recounting what the owner told me...Does anyone know what could be causing this? How are these engines to work on? They look like a nightmare to dig out of the machine compared to my bobcat. I see Jensales has a rebuild kit for these engines at a reasonable price... Has anyone here ever had anything similar happen to theirs and if so what was it? I'm just wondering if it's worth bothering with. The owner has also proposed I fix it for him, I just want to make sure I don't get in over my head with this thing... Any help would be appreciated.
Not sure what engine you have but if it’s that b*****d 5030 or 4024……runnnnn!
Thanks Vetech, good to know! I think it is the E5030HT according to what I found online…
It is the E5030HT engine as I formerly owned a 2010 326D that had same power. I did not have any problem with mine , but only had 350 hours on it when I got rid of it. Simon C
So back to this thing, I’ve been asked if I can swap the engine out for the owner if he buys a replacement engine. It looks quite buried in there, does anyone know how much work it is to pull it out and reinstall? I don’t want to overpromise on how much time it will take… I wasn’t able to get a super close look either as when I went to look at it the owner wasn’t there and all the panels were on and locked other than the right hand side…
1300 hours is barely broken in. If this series of engines are that terrible JD should have recalled them. Not sure what HP but a Kubota or 4BT Cummins would be a good choice for a swap.
He won't be buying one from Deere. The best you can do there is a long block. Complete engines are no longer available.
So turns out this was already the second engine in this machine, found out that the first one blew up when he first got the machine and he got a new engine on warranty. Anyway, he ended up selling the machine a couple days ago so I don’t need to worry about it anymore but would like to thank all of y’all who replied to my questions. Cheers!