Yanmar vio35 Winter Project - Rust & white smoke

Might as well start a thread on my new project. Went to Ritchie bros lot to look at a backhoe, lost it, but found and won this. 2016 Yanmar vio35, 7000 Hours, runs great but smokes white on startup. Compression was 430,450,430 so motor seems tight, no blowby. So I took out the injectors to get tested, shop replaced all nozzles. Said they were worn-out but new injectors and it still smokes. So now I'm thinking Injection pump, it doesn't appear to consume any oil?

After Paint

Every yanmar I've been around does that if not preheated. Mine all had "hold the key CCW for 10 seconds before starting". Does it smoke on a warm restart?

heymccall said: Every yanmar I've been around does that if not preheated. Mine all had "hold the key CCW for 10 seconds before starting". Does it smoke on a warm restart? Click to expand... If I worked it fully to temp and let it sit 15 minutes, it would startup and smoke white again. I made a video below on how much it smokes.

That looks blue to me. Valve guide seals? What grade oil in there?

Does it consume any antifreeze? Maybe a small leak in a head gasket until it warms up?

heymccall said: That looks blue to me. Valve guide seals? What grade oil in there? Click to expand... How would I be able to check for that? I ran it about 2 hours now and don’t see any movement on the stick but makes sense with the symptoms. I’ll try to do a pressure test on the coolant system and see if anything moves there

Coolant held pressure, now I can just think of pulling the valve cover

Seems like the way the head drains some leaking valve guides are my problem

Not so much the valve guides themselves, but, rather the valve guide seals.

For a Yanmar, that rocker rack looks exactly like a Kubota. Right down to the valve stem caps.

heymccall said: Not so much the valve guides themselves, but, rather the valve guide seals. View attachment 352429 Click to expand... So a rebuilt head is the best option I take it? Probably can’t mess with valve seals without removing the valve

Can't say foresure on your model, but have done Cat 3306 seals in place with air to hold the valves up. Simon C

I always use the stuff the rope into the cylinder through the injector hole to hold the valves to change the seal

jbernielh said: I always use the stuff the rope into the cylinder through the injector hole to hold the valves to change the seal Click to expand... That would work well also and is how I loosened a snowmachine clutch when I was a kid with rope on top of piston to prevent anymore up travel. You would want to stuff in a fair amount of rope to make sure the valve can't drop. Simon C

My Deere with Izuzu 4LE1 does this exact thing if you let it sit for a while . I've tracked it down to a fuel system that lets air get into the lines and it stutters and belches white/grey smoke for about 6-7 minutes while it gets the air out. It doesn't seem to matter the temperature - warm out or -10F, it's the same behavior, so it's air in the lines for me. yours makes me think the same thing - the big puffs of smoke, the slight stutter, then it quits or cleans up and runs fine the rest of the day. let it sit overnight, same thing again for 3-4 minutes. let it sit a week, you are better of letting the pump work a few times by turning the key on/off after each 'pre-pressure' cycle the pump does. this seems to help it a bit and reduce stutter-up to about 5 minutes rather than 10. I replaced all the copper washers on the banjo bolts and solved a LOT of issues that way, but.. this one still remains.

Have you done a leak-down test on all the cylinders? What does the smoke smell like? Oil, unburnt diesel, or coolant?

laidback01 said: My Deere with Izuzu 4LE1 does this exact thing if you let it sit for a while . I've tracked it down to a fuel system that lets air get into the lines and it stutters and belches white/grey smoke for about 6-7 minutes while it gets the air out. It doesn't seem to matter the temperature - warm out or -10F, it's the same behavior, so it's air in the lines for me. yours makes me think the same thing - the big puffs of smoke, the slight stutter, then it quits or cleans up and runs fine the rest of the day. let it sit overnight, same thing again for 3-4 minutes. let it sit a week, you are better of letting the pump work a few times by turning the key on/off after each 'pre-pressure' cycle the pump does. this seems to help it a bit and reduce stutter-up to about 5 minutes rather than 10. I replaced all the copper washers on the banjo bolts and solved a LOT of issues that way, but.. this one still remains. Click to expand... Have you ever put 1-2 psi on the fuel tank with an air blower into the tank with a rag ball over the top to hold back air somewhat controlled. Any leak will become evident, wipe every connection or fitting with toilet paper and Brakleen. Any joint after a minute or two that gets damp again on toilet paper is a leak that can suck air. Takes two people and a blow gun with a variable trigger. Fuel with 1 psi will leak through anytrhing. Worth checking. Simon C

laidback01 said: My Deere with Izuzu 4LE1 does this exact thing if you let it sit for a while . I've tracked it down to a fuel system that lets air get into the lines and it stutters and belches white/grey smoke for about 6-7 minutes while it gets the air out. It doesn't seem to matter the temperature - warm out or -10F, it's the same behavior, so it's air in the lines for me. yours makes me think the same thing - the big puffs of smoke, the slight stutter, then it quits or cleans up and runs fine the rest of the day. let it sit overnight, same thing again for 3-4 minutes. let it sit a week, you are better of letting the pump work a few times by turning the key on/off after each 'pre-pressure' cycle the pump does. this seems to help it a bit and reduce stutter-up to about 5 minutes rather than 10. I replaced all the copper washers on the banjo bolts and solved a LOT of issues that way, but.. this one still remains. Click to expand... I put a clear hose on the inlet today, no bubbles so now it just leaves the valve seals or the pump itself

Marry Christmas Yal! Update to the project, waiting on a couple more tools to put valve seals in for the smoke, but I added a showtimefab weld on thumb to her. Overall really happy with the quality