Hey all, I have a 1976 Deere 450c with a 4-219T in it. When I purchased this dozer it smoked blue pretty bad but ran fine. On cold start it would need a little shot of either to fire then would fire without it when warmed. In an attempt to clean up the smoke I: 1. Took the head in and had it leak tested. Tested Good. 2. Replaced the turbo with a new aftermarket from a reputable dealer in Oregon. 3. Installed new aftermarket injectors and had them pop tested prior to install. 4. Installed a Reliance in-frame kit and used John Deere Break in Oil. I did these 4 steps at separate times, each time putting the engine back together and testing to see if smoke cleared. Here is where I'm at after going through recommended break in and about 12 hours run time: The engine will fire cold now without either. It seems to have good power. It blows blue smoke at start up, revved up to around 2000 rpm's when cold and when idling warm. When the engine is warm and running at higher rpm's the blue smoke clears up but every one in awhile it will pop a couple times. (Like a miss) Cold or warm at low idle and you rev it up quickly engine will give a good puff of Grey/white smoke. I'm trying to determine if there is a problem I'm missing and I should pull it apart again or should I run it and not worry about it? I would like to sell it at some point. I also have a 1980 450c that burns pretty clean all the time. Any Thoughts? Thanks
Has the fuel pump been tested/rebuilt? That seems to be the only thing not done yet. Good that the rebuild makes it start better, at least that was a gain.
I haven’t messed with the fuel pump yet. I was thinking with the smoke being blue I was leaning towards my issue being oil.
How many hours since the inframe rebuild? I had rings that didn't seat in a Cat 3204 but there was no smoke at all. It was using a lot of oil but the shop that did the rebuild said to put about 500 hours on it and see if it improved. It didn't and they covered it on warranty but in your case it may just need to be worked fairly hard for 100 hours or more. Don't let it idle longer than necessary. Let it warm up for a few minutes and put it to work. Don't baby it but also don't lug it for extended periods. Let it idle for a couple minutes as well before shutting it off. Put some hours on it before condemning it. Check the oil level often. I have seen the exhaust blow blue smoke after a rebuild because the exhaust pipe and muffler still had oily residue from the previous engine being worn out.
Only about 12hrs on in frame. After break in procedure I ran it pretty hard for a couple hours up and down a long steep hill. I don’t have much work for it so it’s tough to do anything other than pull the hill. The oil level seems to be maintaining the same level.
What was the break in procedure? Put some more hours on it preferably digging and making it grunt some. 12 hours isn't long enough to get an accurate diagnosis if something is wrong unless it's really obvious like the oil pump gears getting stripped off. I had that happen at 16.5 hours but there was a bang when it happened. Is your thermostat good and letting it get up to proper temp.?
The only gauge not working is the water temp gauge. That’s on my list to fix. Thanks for the replys
You could use a temp. gun. Try to elimate the most basic elements of proper engine operation as the cause of blue smoke. I believe a cold engine could cause oil burning or new rings not to seat.
Copy that. I need to get the temp gauge replaced any way. I replaced it once already but never worked correctly.
Can you rig up a compression tester to eliminate that?
Ill bet the rings haven't completely seated yet. Its common for people with new builds being easy on the engine operation from a fresh rebuild. Ide give her some good coals for another 12 hours before id start considering other options
That's what I thought but still waiting to hear what the break in procedure was prior to driving up and down a hill.
Apologies, I didn’t see further responses. Of hand I do not remember what Reliance recommends for break in procedures but I know I followed it as suggested. After the recommended procedure I started doing hill climbs to get temps up and seat the rings. I got a new mechanical water temp gauge on order. Get that installed and see how warm I’m getting her.
That's odd you can't remember what you did for break in procedures. It could make a big difference in how fast the rings seat or don't seat. You really need to push some blade fulls of dirt and make it work. Was it hard to start the first time after the rebuild and what did you do to get it started?