Diesel Tractor Blows Blue Smoke

[Strjock81]

I have an old Oliver 1655 Diesel tractor that, particularly at startup, blows a fair amount of blue smoke at idle to 1200 rpms or so. At higher throttle speeds the exhaust is clear as a bell. Not really sure what to make of it--I have auto-rx'd it, and am past the rinse stage now. No help.
It does use a bit of oil, but isn't real bad. It was overheated by my brother once a few years back, and there is very slight oil seepage around the HG on the rearmost cylinder where the exhaust manifold attaches. Tractor doesn't run hot, OP is 30 at hot idle, and maxed out at 50psi at 1500rpms and above. Oil does not show obvious signs of water/coolant contamination, nor does antifreeze show signs of oil. I have noticed that the front of the radiator contantly gets oily and greasy and has to be cleaned periodically to keep tractor from running warm. I don't know if that's a warning sign or if it is just sucking blowby in since it is used stationarily on pto duty and as a loader tractor 99% of the time. Tractor doesn't have a ton of blowby, but some is evident. It runs very well.

Any suggestions on what is going on?

 

[RoadTrain]

Do you know what the static timing is set at? A diesel will smoke at start up with a water temp below 160 degrees, when the water temp comes up, the smoke will cease.

That blue smoke is fuel. Relax.

 

[Gary Allan]

You only say that this happens during start up and below 1200 rpms. Can we assume that it doesn't happen at idle when warm? ..or is it never idled warm and run continually until shut down until the next event??

I don't know too much about the oil burners. I only owned two poser diesels ..a VW and a Pukeout. The Peugeot would sometimes smoke when cold. I assume, as RT asserts, that it was due to cold cylinder conditions

 

[Strjock81]

It happens anytime at idle to 12-1300rpms...pretty good column of blue smoke. Warm, hot, or cold. It may not smoke immediately upon engine slowdown but will shortly after. Also when it idles for a fairly long period of time and then I get on it and rev it up a bit or take off in gear it tends to blow whitish to whitish-blue smoke momentarily.

I have no clue where the timing is set at, I inherited this beast when my dad passed away 3 years ago and I swapped all fluids and filters, etc. As far as that stuff goes, I don't know and can't ask him obviously.

I suspect the blue smoke is still there to some extent when it runs at higher throttle speeds, but it just more diluted within the exhaust stream.

It idles warm frequently, and when hooked to certain pto implements for stationary use it generally isn't revved much either. I also let it cool down for a bit after hard use even though it isn't a turbo.

 

[Mud]

Blue smoke usually indicates oil is being burned, black smoke is fuel. Most diesels will give a little puff of black smoke when revved up, as additional fuel is injected into the cylinders and not burned off completely since the engine revs have not caught up for a second. That's normal.

Constant blue smoke to me would indicate an oil control issue, possibly worn rings or a valve guide issue. I also agree that the smoke is probably there at higher rpms. just not as noticeable. I'll bet if you placed a cloth over the exhaust for a few minutes you'll find oil residue.