kubota white smoke problem

[Texasjack]

I was hoping someone on here could help me figure out the white smoking problem on my Kubota 4 cylinder ( V2203B6) genset. I use it on my Eagle bus, it only has 85 hours and bought it new. Changed fuel filter, ran clean fuel through it for 2 hours with injector cleaner added. Starts up clean, then starts smoking. Enough to be a scene. It has been sitting for the last 4 years. Oil is clean. thanks for any help

[white-eagle]

i'd say take it back where you got it.  with that few hours, it's got to be warranty fixable, and you might screw that up if you mess with it too much.

[Texasjack]

Bought it 4 years ago, Has worked fine until 2 weeks ago..

[wg4t50]

I would start off using a new fresh can of diesel fuel, run on that and add as much load as you can, see if it clears up in a half hour.  I have seen bad diesel fuel act the same way, one case it would not run on the diesel fuel provided by the fuel company, ran perfect on my standard diesel fuel I brought with me on the service call, ran fine on my fuel, reconnect to the new fuel, it started acting uo within 2 miutes, switch back to my fuel, all cleared up.
Guess why I trust few diesel fuel brokers.
Good luck
Dave M

[bobofthenorth]

Does the rad pressure up immediately when you start the engine?  Is it using coolant?  When it starts clean & then smokes that sounds like coolant to me.  Especially so if it came on all of a sudden.

[Texasjack]

Pressure up immediately? I assume so.. Distilled water and coolent. You mean like a head gasket?

[bobofthenorth]

Assuming won't help with troubleshooting.   A cold engine should not have pressure in these rad.  Don't assume - check it.  Mike Lutestanski says "you get what you inspect, not what you expect". And the point of the coolant question was whether coolant is disappearing from the rad.

[Texasjack]

So there should be no pressure on the cooling system when cool? ok, just didnt understand the question. Ran her yesterday, will check. Seems crazy a water leak into the combustion. I hope not...

[johnjem]

I have run into that same problem,make sure the magnetic actuator fuel shut off is in the wide open postion not half way,If it is only half way open then I would clean and adjust ,I hope I helped.john 

[Geoff]

Remove the exhaust manifold and see which clyinder is the problem.  I dought it is all of them.  Then you have to remove the head and see what the problem is.  White smoke on a diesel engine with high compression means something broke and the white smoke is unburned diesel, not coolant.

Of course, you have to know what you are working on.  Otherwise, take your chances on a dealer.

I do this almost everyday.  That is, troubleshoot, not take my chances on a youngster woking at an RV repair shop.

--Geoff

[Texasjack]

Couldnt it just be a bad injector?

[eagle19952]

Couldnt it just be a bad injector?

Not likely,  crack an inj. line at the pump, (engine running), one at a time, if each crack makes it sound/run worse...the cylinder/injector are GOOD,  no change then you have found the bad hole....
my guess is a cracked head.

[luvrbus]

One should unload the generator and run it a few minutes before shutdown to prevent head cracks as good as the Kubota is they will crack heads and that can be prevented 

[Oonrahnjay]

  One should unload the generator and run it a few minutes before shutdown to prevent head cracks as good as the Kubota is they will crack heads and that can be prevented  

     I do that with my VW TDI and my bus engine if I've pulled directly off the highway but I never thought to do that with my generator.  Thanks for that info, Clifford.  Is just a smooth idle for a few minutes the right thing?    Thanks.

[opus]

What does the smoke smell like?  Raw fuel, coolant?