Engine Smokes out of oil Breather

[farmergiffIV]

Hi there,

My '53 just started smoking out of the breather hole.

It used to smoke a little out of exhaust with no clear sign of oil or coolant burning beforehand.

I noticed the oil breather smoking right after I did 2 things:

I Did a "tune up" to double check timing: Which I may have caused some harm by improperly static timing the battery ignition unit to 16* BTDC. After I realized the engine wasn't running smoothly at this I changed the timing to the TDC.

I may have improperly swaped 2 and 3 spark plug.

I cleaned the breather for the first time by running Naptha solvent through the holes.



Not sure if anyone has any tips, besides adding Sea Foam. I could do a compression test. I think I'll get a thermostat and just run her as long as she doesn't overheat, any other tips or ideals to calm the smoke prevent further damage?

Also, maybe the smoke has been happening this whole time but since I just cleaned breather for first time ever since I've owned it, who knows...

[staninlowerAL]

If you're talking about a cub and someone has not done some modification you won't find a thermostat. It's a thermosiphon cooling system, no thermostat.

[inairam]

there are some recent "discussions" on oil to use multi-weight vs single weight. if you are not using a single weight you may want to give that a try.

I did recently use one of Lucas high mileage additives to one of my cubs and it has a big reduction in the smoke out the back.

[Matt Kirsch]

Neither of the things you describe, if corrected within a reasonable timeframe, would cause the engine to start smoking through the breather.

Some smoke can be expected depending on what you're doing, and how much smoke we're talking about. The smoke is from blowby past the piston rings, and is a function of how much the engine is worn and how hard it's being worked. Mowing heavy grass, would cause my Cub to puff smoke out the breather, for example.

[KETCHAM]

The Cub does not have a PVC system...So it is normal for some blow-by....No thermostat....mix the coolant and water before putting into tractor....it will not mix itself....Heavy work will cause more blowby.Kevin

[inairam]

The Cub does not have a PVC system..

It has a primitive PVC system in the tube from the valve area to the breather which is always clogged and difficult to clean.

As Matt said nothing you did would cause an increase in the short term. Is it possible you just noticed it and it was going on for a while?

Another thing to check is if the oil level is high and the hydraulic fluid is low indicating a possible leak out of the hydraulic pump seal. You will get more smoke from the hydraulic oil being in the motor oil than straight motor oil.

[farmergiffIV]

phwoo.. thanks for you thoughts. I am not as concerned about blowback now or the rings being terribly worn... but it could still be happening.

If you're talking about a cub and someone has not done some modification you won't find a thermostat. It's a thermosiphon cooling system, no thermostat.

I have been thinking of getting an infrared thermostat so I can keep an eye on engine operating temps. I am aware there is no thermostat.

there are some recent "discussions" on oil to use multi-weight vs single weight. if you are not using a single weight you may want to give that a try.

I did recently use one of Lucas high mileage additives to one of my cubs and it has a big reduction in the smoke out the back.

So would SAE-30 be single weight? I am pretty sure thats what I use. But I'll double check.

The Cub does not have a PVC system..

It has a primitive PVC system in the tube from the valve area to the breather which is always clogged and difficult to clean.

As Matt said nothing you did would cause an increase in the short term. Is it possible you just noticed it and it was going on for a while?

Another thing to check is if the oil level is high and the hydraulic fluid is low indicating a possible leak out of the hydraulic pump seal. You will get more smoke from the hydraulic oil being in the motor oil than straight motor oil.

I will keep an eye on the oil level. I already rebuilt the entire hydraulic pump so Im pretty sure its not that. The oil on the dip stick is dark grey (not black) right now so its not terrible. It's possible this smoke has been happening already, I was considering this a possibility and I wanted to rule out some possibilities of a complete engine total because of my rookie mistake... since I just cleaned the breather for the first time in probably at least 10-15 years or who knows! Engine has ran good just the exhaust has been a little smoky when running under load or high rpm, I noticed this breather smoking right after a tune-up ; I am going to try and check the timing again, still getting to know the battery ignition unit for timing.

[Glen]

Hi,
Below is a page from the Cub service manual showing the timing marks. Not all Cubs had 2 marks on the pulley, older Cubs had 1 mark.
The timing should be set to mark number 1 in the pic, when the engine is running at slow idle speed, 500 RPM.
They are talking about something else on the right side of the page.

http://www.farmallcub.info/manuals/gss- ... 001-43.jpg

The timing should advance about up to mark number 2 as you slowly speed up the engine. You can look at it with the timing light, and see if the advance mechanism is working right.
Full speed is 1800 RPM for a 1953 Cub.

Yes, SAE-30 motor oil is a single weight motor oil.

[Eugene]

The thermosyphon system runs hot, 200 degrees or so. Several of us did temperature checks on our Cubs.

So, I don't know what good a thermostat would do.

As long as the engine is running good, put some SeaFoam in the fuel and crank case.

[pickerandsinger]

Lucas is a good product ...If your sure its not the hydraulic pump, its more than likely blow by....IMHO...I check my oil every time I start my tractors ( before may be more accurate )....Just noticed one is " Making oil " , and it smoked a bit = Hydraulic pump...It would not be out of the question to rebuild or put a seal on the shaft of a hydraulic pump and have it fail for some reason, in a short period of time...If the dipstick isn't showing excess oil , lucas is what I use..( I use Traveller TSC 40w and lucas in my loader cub, as it gets used harder and runs hotter and its a 48 )...Good luck...Dave

[farmergiffIV]

Thanks for the feed back everyone. I havn't had a chance yet, but I am also going to check the vapor outlet that goes from block into air cleaner and make sure this is not clogged.

[farmergiffIV]

I've finally found some time to check out the tractor.... Now in the barn and I'm ready to rock n roll yet this appears to be more than Blow By at this time....


I went ahead and changed the engine oil with sae-30 with 20% marvels mystery, oil dip stick reads 3/4 full. I have sea foam on hand but I wanted to give Marvels a shot the local parts guy talked me into it)

[If I can get the tractor running normal I will drain and refill on the next oil change with some Lucas Oil product.]

Right now the tractor will start up fine and then after about a minute or two it will begin to smoke out of the oil breather, the tractor looses power during idling, so I will gently call for more throttle and the engine smokes and heats up a little more and after a brief time will slowly continue to loose power that is unless I increase throttle even more then the engine will sputter out and engine will stop. Once I get to full throttle the engine smokes more from oil breather and eventually looses power and sputters down. After I let the tractor cool down, starts back up fine..

I tried driving the tractor before it started smoking bad, and it would loose power right away and engine would stop running...


Well.. the detective work begins!

Since I recently did some hydraulics work and this caused me to be suspicious of my work. (I replaced a leaky manifold also the TC was sitting dormant on the tractor for who knows how long before I got it)

Today, I double checked that the hydraulics oil level is set according to the shop manual and all air is purged. I did a look over on the engine while it was running and there is no sign of external engine leakage or hydraulics TC leakage..

Could something be plugged in the hydraulics putting excess wear on the engine?

At this time I am going to refer to check the Vapor Outlet that goes to the air cleaner to make sure it is not clogged then I'll follow the Tune-up guide and go down the list.

I'll be sure to triple check static timing to T.D.C, (since the tractor starts up fine its hard for me to think its off timing) since this is the only other thing that I did besides the hydraulics work before this started happening and then take compression....

[Waif]

Well, get on with it! l.o.l..
After you check your timing ,maybe double check plug gap.
I need to get busy on my 53....It exhibits the same symptom after working it of a stutter ,then bog ,then stall. Then will idle fine till moved in gear to bog out again.
Fuel seems to not be the issue...But the symptom is as if it had the fuel shut off.
Acting like coil could ,but....Just a short minute sit and it fires right up. Again ,I'm watching the fuel to look for starvation before the carb.. Siphoned fuel out and replaced with fresh too. Cleaned main jet but it was clean to start.
Needs a tune up ,oil ect. but might get fresh and proper gapped plugs first.

Anyways.. Your hydraulics don't seem related. It can get confusing when considering your last actions on an engine when trying to diagnose issues that may or may not relate...
Smoke out the breather may not have anything to do with bogging...but if blow by is fouling plugs it might. Or it could be moisture cooking off too.
Steam cleans. If it is going through your valve train and or cylinders you could have wet carbon fouling a plug or plugs.
I blew gunk out the stack of the other tractor after running seafoam in fuel heavy. Wet nasty stuff....
When hard starting and puffing muck out the stack occurred in winter I pulled the plugs to replace them with properly gapped plugs to find...Plugs in it were gapped way to far open! (Yes ,I know who gapped them). Solved that problem. Reduced the blowing crud out the exhaust mostly too. Part of that wet was likely unburned fuel but was dieseling off enough with smoke puffs to not smell like a flooded engine.

If your tractors previous owner(s) ran non detergent ,and the engine was not cleaned before using detergent , you could be dealing with lots o sludge being loosened up...It has to go somewhere.

[farmergiffIV]

The vapor breather manifold tubing is completely clogged. My 150 psi air compressor sprayer won’t go through. I’m currently working on it by soaking naphtha through the line and prodding with a loose wire. Hmmm maybe heat next if I can get it free..

I was thinking of starting the tractor now to see if this is it. Is there any chance of damaging engine with this vapor breather hole exposed?

[staninlowerAL]

You will probably get some oil splash unless you close the hole. Later models did not have this type breather device. Someone posted that they capped the opening at the block.