I have a Tb135 with About 4000 hours, a yanmar 3 cylinder diesel. About three years ago it started dripping oil from the valve cover vent hose. I was told the rings were bad by the dealership. Rather than spend $7000 at said dealership, A “friend”of mine suggested I take it to the local tech college and let the diesel mechanic class go through the engine. Since all of the students but one had projects going and it was nearing the end of the semester, the instructor called over the kid sitting in the corner playing games on his phone that nobody seem to want to talk to. He put him in charge of my engine rebuild. The way this works is you buy parts, shop rags oil etc. They do the labor for free. The day before The end of the semester I got a call from “jimmy” Telling me my excavator was all finished ready to be picked up. When I arrived at the shop, my hoe was sitting outside and no one was to be found. Much oil had leaked onto the parking lot from my machine. I figured I’d go ahead and load it, Cut my losses. unfortunately when I got on the machine none of the hydraulics worked. There was oil leaking from at least four different spots. I tracked “Jimmy” down. He told me I had a bad joystick controller, that I needed a new one in order to make the hydraulics work. Since the semester was over, I’d have to fix that part on my own. I knew for a fact this was definitely a bad sign. New joystick controller, $150. No that didn’t fix the problem LOL unfortunately Jimmy was done with the semester and his phone apparently disconnected The instructor at the tech college told me that my Takeuchi was not like anything he’s ever seen before, never worked on such a machine. Too complicated like the rest of those “jap machines”. He told me there’s nothing he can do at that point. He told me he signed off on everything, it all looked good to him. So I end up taking it to the local dealership, paid them $2000 to make my hydraulics work. Seems Jimmy had some hoses switched around at the valve bank. Must’ve been the last thing they checked?? I’m going to make this short. Since I got it back from the tech college I found. The crank pulley dowel pin was not lined up, he bolted the crank pulley on and the crank pulley wobbled until it took the seal out, one of the many oil leaks I found. The muffler fell off shortly after I got home, he forgot to tighten bolts... the travel pedals were in a grocery bag tied to the armrest. Somehow the bolts on both sides were broken off. The hydraulic safety lever next to the armrest was hot wired for some reason?? The hood wouldn’t close, hinges bent. The engine still dripped oil out of The valve cover vent hose. Update on that oil leak, now it’s a constant drip. Like a really bad oil leak. I will be taking my machine in to have it rebuilt a second time in two years. If I could find jimmy or that shop teacher, I would ring both of their necks. I paid $2000 in parts and a $50 Shop fee. I paid the dealership $2000 to track down the problem with no hydraulics, another $750 for a Fuel shut off solenoid that apparently went out while it was parked outside the shop at the dealership. Tomorrow I’m taking it to a different shop to have the engine rebuilt a second time in three years. + $3500
Wow, that is a horror story. I think if I ever needed work done in Iowa, I would make sure none of the mechanics had the name Jimmy. The shop instructor sounded like just as big of an idiot as his student. I feel for your situation.
Damn, that's a rough go. When the Boom hit North Dakota, diesel programs all over got flooded with kids that couldn't change their own oil and guidance counselors didn't know what to do with. They were told about the big bucks they'd make right out of school (which wasn't a lie) and their parents invested in brand new Snap-on boxes loaded with tools. The schools would take anyone and everyone, and the majority of the kids didn't want to leave their hometown and just went back to their minimum wage jobs or working for family, and either left their tools in the garage or flooded CL with $10k in a box and tools. You can tell who's actually going to stay in the field in the first week or two.
This proves that there 2 types of people. The ones who do and the rest become teachers. Jimmy will become a teacher and that is why everything is in a downward spiral.
Thanks for sharing! My own TB135 horror story started out with a used United Rental that I paid $18,000 for. A big red flag should have been the air filter housing clips had a hard time staying on. Two years later the engine had a hard time starting, and there was oil all over the engine. The dealer didn't want to pull it out and fix it. Cost for an engine to come from Japan was close to $12,000 or something. I ended up selling the machine for something like $10,000 and let some other person deal with it. If you own a Takeuchi, get a boat load of metric tools and keep the machine clean, covered, and use it regularly. I would let the dealer do the work (pull it, and install it, and have them send it out). Make sure the machine shop can get the parts. OEM's use the same Yanmar, but sometimes with slight variations.
Update...…... I just had the engine rebuilt because of blowby…. 5000 hrs. Disappointing to say the least. It is a good engine aside from this problem.. My issue.... I installed the engine after picking it up from the engine shop.... it runs great and smooth.. As soon as the motor warms to operating temp. something clicks and it starts smoking.... Not steam from antifreeze.... but strong diesel smoke white in color. I'm taking it back to the shop that rebuilt it (larger pistons and barrels). I just can't for the life of me figure out why this is happening... Warm engine it starts smokeless, runs for a minute or two, then starts smoking. Cold engine, it takes 5 or so minutes before it slows slightly (rpms) barely noticeable and starts the smoking... but the smoke is very noticeable!... could it be timing in the injector pump...? clogged injector? BTW the injectors were rebuilt at a machine shop.
I don’t know of ANY machines shops that rebuild fuel injectors. Fueling shops do that, they are the only ones that can calibrate them. If a machine shop screwed with the injectors you may as well pull them out and have them done professionally.
Could be an issue with your EGR system, timing advance for cold start, etc. Any codes?
I just got done with one that would run clean for part of a minute and then suck a flap of foam up against the air cleaner inlet pipe. Simple things first.
Update. As I was loading the machine to take it back to the Engine builder, it was not smoking so I thought I’d give it one more try. After 15 minutes still no smoke. I took it over and around ... ran it pretty hard for a half hour, no smoke. Must’ve been smoke getting by the rings before they got seated? Last night I ran it for three hours straight, everything worked as it should. One issue I’ve had since I’ve owned it, it runs hot, about 3/4 of the way up just down from the Red area. I’m thinking about an auxiliary electric fan on the radiator to help cool it down. I’ve flushed the radiator, made sure the coolant is at the correct level, but it still runs hot. I can only assume it’s a problem with the radiator since I’ve pretty much completely replace the engine....
Have you tried a different gauge or type of gauge? Have you actually measured the water temp? We had an old Deere loader that ran hot according to the gauge, but was around 175-185 when we put a mechanical gauge on it. Just a thought anyways, something to consider
Don't assume anything. After a saga like this, don't even think of assuming anything. You had the engine out, right? did you clean the radiator at that point? If you've run it that long just below the red, check the temps the next time you run it that hot. The thermostat outlet to the radiator, and the water pump inlet back from the radiator, and the head away from the exhaust. Those temps will give a pretty good idea of what's going on. If this was normal overheating, then cleaning the radiator would be the first thing to try, in this case it's as likely an internal shop rag.
You should measure about a 30F temp difference between the radiator in and out hoses. At least that's the rule of thumb for vehicles.