My Auction TL8 track steer - The saga continues...and what to do now?

[Cogniz]

For a little history, bought a TL8 from a cattle operation in SC via auction 4 months ago. Listing had 3 photos, said the hours were unreadable (screen not working), starts, runs and operates but smokes badly.
I got a good deal IMO, even if she needs a full rebuild.

Sure enough, she runs great for a time. Lots of white smoke (smells of diesel and maybe oil), under operation. Sometimes she overheats and shuts down. Wait a bit and she'll fire back up. I pulled the operator screen off, cleaned it carefully as well as the contacts on the board, plugged it all back together and the screen works great. 2200 hours on the clock. No codes, no demand to run a regeneration.

So, here we are. Spent the weekend pulling the air, oil separator, turbo and dpf off the machine. Cleaned it all. Major oily mess all around.
Oil Separator filter looked original so it got replaced.
Turbo got a good soak, then hot water and the pressure washer washer made it shiny again. It barely spun using my finger to push the inlet around. Exhaust turbo was caked with black tar like crud.
DPF, pulled it apart, soaked it overnight in hot water and dishwasher powder. Hot pressure washer clean. Clean as a whistle.

Put it all back together and it's the same issue. It sounds better overall but still getting some
Also, some pressure in the crankcase ( I hoped it was a breather hose or the filter clogged) when I open the Oil filler cap.

I should have run a compression check while I had the head exposed but I needed it back together and running for a few jobs around the farm.
I'm guessing it's rings.

QUESTIONS: What is the likely culprit? How critical is it to fix it asap VS. doing damage? Approximate cost for the rebuild?
What am I missing?

I'm thankful for the wealth of knowledge on this site. Thanks everyone.

 

[Simon C]

Is that a Kubota powered TL8 or different engine. 2200 hours is not lots but you have to have valve cover on to do accurate blow-bye test. Some of these engines have removable liners, but others if cylinder is grooved, it means the engine has to be completely disassembled and block bored and sleeved. Need to find out how much blow-bye you have. Good idea to send bore scope into cylinders with pistons at bottom to see what is going on. Maybe you have a head gasket problem.
Don't start throwing parts at it without doing proper troubleshooting.
Simon C

 

[Cogniz]

Thanks Simon. Yes, the Kubota 3307 is the power plant.
To properly borescope do I send it down the injector or the glow plug hole?
I'm unsure as to what to do next, honestly.

 

[Simon C]

Most likely will be going down the injector hole, but only after a very good cleaning all around the top of the valve cover.
Need to do a proper crankcase blowbye test first, probably with a load on the engine, whatever the manual says unless it is so heavy that it is obvious.
After the blowbye test move on. Get an experienced, many years in the field guy to help with the test, cause once it is apart can not test any more.
If Blow bye test comes out not the cause, then might want to have a good look at exhaust manifold ports as they can reveal alot about condition of cylinders.
A good Engine man can even start the unit with the turbo off and oil feed line plugged to watch exhaust smoke. Can tell you which cylinder is misfiring without pulling head.
These would be some good tests to start with.
Simon C

 

[thepumpguysc]

Did u get the turbo to spin FREELY.??
The exhaust is what spins the wheels to push air into the cylinders.. if it’s turning slower than expected, the engines gonna smoke..
And if the intake side (aluminum hsg) has oil in it, the oil ring in the center section is stuck..(turbine shaft)

 

[Cogniz]

TPG, yessir, the turbo spun perfectly after the soak and pressure wash.
Is there a way to test if the shaft oiler is stuck? A way to un stick it?
I think I may be dealing with multiple issues but this oil ring in the turbo is a new one.
Thanks for weighing in.

 

[thepumpguysc]

They only way I know of is, if there’s oil in the housing.
There may be a check but I’m not aware of any.

 

[thepumpguysc]

U wouldn’t go this far into an engine if u didn’t know what you were doing.. so this might sound redundant.. you HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT U HAVE OIL UP TO AND OUT OF THE TURBO BEFORE STARTING THE ENGINE..
Good luck

 

[Cogniz]

Thanks TPG. I've been wrenching on lots of things for 40 years but a turbo diesel is a new one for me. And I"m lazy so I am thankful for the wisdom shared on this site. Shortened my learning curve a lot, and saved my wallet from my stupidity...which is strong!

 

[Vetech63]

bought a TL8 from a cattle operation in SC via auction 4 months ago.

OMG

 

[crane operator]

OMG

Yeah, that's where all the great used equipment comes from. I personally look for equipment from the big dairy farms out west. You don't have to worry about the one problem that needs fixed, because everything is broken and needs fixed.

 

[TVA]

Those engines have problems with leaky injectors.
Eventually one injector start washing out liner and start misfiring.
And even when it misfires so much that everything in machine shakes - it will not set any misfire codes, eventually it’ll give you “DOC insufficient” or something like that code.
The lucky people who still had machines under warranty - got replacement engines quick and quite.

 

[Cogniz]

Crane, yes auctions can be a roll of the dice. It's just math. Even if I need to replace the motor, I'm still ahead based on what I paid for it.

TVA, not codes and it does not sound like it's misfiring. Yet? Thanks for this info.

 

[Cogniz]

I plan on a leak down test via the glow plug hole, hopefully. If that fails, I'll pull the valve cover and go in through the injector.
Thanks for all the constructive input. I'll report back.