tractor caught on fire

[JMHayes]

I had been cutting my hay for about 45 min. when I smelled something burning. When I stopped the tractor I could see smoke start to rise from under the hood. Thankfully I had my fire extinguisher and was able to put it out quick. A bird had built a nest around the exaust manifold. The only thing it seems to of damaged was a hose leading from the engine to the exaust pipe. When I took the hose off there was oil inside the hose. What is this hose for? I'm not that great w/ engines so if anyone has any ideas please post them.

 

[Jake]

call the mechanic on this one... make sure nothing else had heat damage...

 

[jt]

cant think of a hose going to the exhaust pipe, but i dont claim to be an expert mechanic either... it would help if you could give the age and make of the tractor.

good luck

jt

 

[shorty]

Does your tractor have a turbo? It might be the hose that supplies oil to the turbo.

 

[JMHayes]

my tractor is a New Holland TL100a. It's a new model and engine does have a turbo. I was able to replace the hose w/ a piece of 3/4" heater hose and I ran the tractor for about 3.5 hours cutting hay.

 

[Bama]

Goes to show we all ortta be carring fire extinguishers on our tractors. How many of us actually does it. I have to admit I'm in the don't crowd, and I'm normally a safety fanatic.

 

[eric]

Good point Bama....a tractor on fire, in the middle of a hay field, probably a good ways from house/barn, even longer ways from water hose / faucet. Not a good scenario to think about! Imagine the cut grass would go up fairly quick once it got going.
Think I might throw one behind the seat next time I go out into the field.

 

[Bama]

Expecially a problem if a bearing goes out in a baler and catches the hay on fire. I don't bale my own hay, but I know of a guy that had a baler burn up because he wasn't able to dump the roll.

 

[ironpeddler]

Expecially a problem if a bearing goes out in a baler and catches the hay on fire. I don't bale my own hay, but I know of a guy that had a baler burn up because he wasn't able to dump the roll.

When a bearing goes out, which can happen on any make if the baler has and auto oiler or the owner has used oil then the hay that is oil-soaked residue on the baler will work as an accelerant. The fire burns hotter and possible igniting any rubber products or hydraulic hoses. If one uses a dry lubricant like a chain lube the fire if any does not burn hot enough to damage the baler. Of course you would need to dump the bale so the bale would not fuel the fire. We started changing most of our customers from oil to chain lube in 1990. The damaging baler fires have gone to nothing. When I say this it means something. We have sold 1000+ new round balers in the last 15 years and close to 700 used round balers.

 

[JMHayes]

Last year I didn't have a fire extingusher and my tractor burned up from the same thing, bird's nest. I've gotten into the habit of blowing the engine off with a air hose before and after I use the tractor. I had noticed some bird droppings on the hood and checked the engine real good for any nest. The next day I started the tractor and figured sinced the engine was fine the day before there was no need to check it again, WRONG. A bird can build a nest overnight.

 

[jerry27150]

you can throw that green cut hay on it to put it out

 

[Crowderfarms]

Last year I didn't have a fire extingusher and my tractor burned up from the same thing, bird's nest. I've gotten into the habit of blowing the engine off with a air hose before and after I use the tractor. I had noticed some bird droppings on the hood and checked the engine real good for any nest. The next day I started the tractor and figured sinced the engine was fine the day before there was no need to check it again, WRONG. A bird can build a nest overnight.

Glad you posted this. Went to get on the Tractor yesterday, and guess what? A birds nest. Never had em' make a nest in it til now. I checked it before cranking it beacuse I remembered your post. Thanks!

 

[myakka145]

Must be that time of year. I, too, checked before starting my tractor last night and I had one sitting on the exhaust manifold.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Triple D]

Rats and field mice are something to look out for too if its been sitting in the barn for awhile. A few months back I went to pull mine out of the barn. When I started to pull off four mice came running out from under the cowling up my legs and chest. I was kicking and swinging and fighting. Darn near drove thourgh the feed room. After I shut it down and regained my composure, I checked under the hood. They had built a rather large nest between my injector pump and intake along side the block. Got my attention. I always give it a good once over before I get on it now.

 

[jt]

Rats and field mice are something to look out for too if its been sitting in the barn for awhile. A few months back I went to pull mine out of the barn. When I started to pull off four mice came running out from under the cowling up my legs and chest. I was kicking and swinging and fighting. Darn near drove thourgh the feed room. After I shut it down and regained my composure, I checked under the hood. They had built a rather large nest between my injector pump and intake along side the block. Got my attention. I always give it a good once over before I get on it now.

:lol: yep... when those little critters start running up yore pants legs they can make you do all kinds of moves...
make you hurt yourself just reacting to em...

jt

 

[Bama]

Laughing with you triple D. I had a house cat do that to me the other day. I took me a while to regain my composure.

 

[JMHayes]

I've heard that rats/mice can chew through wires in the engine as well. In the past week I've destroyed 4 bird's nest.