L3901 White Smoke

[dweeter]

Hi,

My work just bought a used L3901 tractor with only a couple of hundred hours on it and after a couple of minutes of running I got a large plume of white smoke from the front under the hood. I recognized this as probably something to do with the DPF system (which I don't have much experience with). The smoke was short but intense. I shut down due to uncertainty. I understand that the system can be turned off manually and run through manually, or it can be left to run on its own as needed (and defaults to that setting with each start up).

But my question is this: is that what it looks like when the system reaches a threshold for cleaning itself out automatically? Will a periodic plume of white smoke from the front indicate normal functioning of the system? Thanks.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Hi,

My work just bought a used L3901 tractor with only a couple of hundred hours on it and after a couple of minutes of running I got a large plume of white smoke from the front under the hood. I recognized this as probably something to do with the DPF system (which I don't have much experience with). The smoke was short but intense. I shut down due to uncertainty. I understand that the system can be turned off manually and run through manually, or it can be left to run on its own as needed (and defaults to that setting with each start up).

But my question is this: is that what it looks like when the system reaches a threshold for cleaning itself out automatically? Will a periodic plume of white smoke from the front indicate normal functioning of the system? Thanks.

No it's not normal or ordinary, you should never have smoke under the hood!

An emissions equipped tractor such as a L3901 should never smoke, from anywhere.

 

[Dchemphill1]

What Wolfman said....never should see smoke from under the hood. I own an L3901 HST and have never seen white smoke. If the tractor is running its emissions cycle, it will get really hot and you can smell it cooking off the particles captured in the chamber, but never any smoke. I would check to see if something had been spilled on the engine? May have been some fluid of some sort that got hot enough and burned off? If you bought it from a dealer, I would be calling them to inquire about it.

 

[troverman]

I'd check your coolant levels and look for a cracked DPF. You could have a head gasket problem couple with, or which has caused, a cracked DPF.

As others have said, no smoke is normal.