41 Model A

First time posting and new owner of a 41 model A hand
start only. This is my first tractor. Drove it for a couple rides
around the property for a couple days and drives fine.
(Temp gauge does not work but ordering one soon.) Out of
curiosity I checked the coolant level and noticed it to be
low. Added some 50/50next couple of days I noticed on
start up white smoke coming from here. After about 10-
15mins the smoke goes away. (This is the only area there is
smoke.) What exactly am I looking at going on here? Is this
normal or do I have a problem? Thanks for the help!

Too soon to tell. Let it sit a bit and take spark plugs and crank over and see if water comes out

Agree yo moonlight's suggestion, but also make sure the upper radiator hose isn't leaking down onto the manifold...

I agree leaking on the manifold is a good thing to check

Are you really sure the temp gauge it not working. They need to be worked pretty hard to move that gauge off the zero mark in cooler weather. They have the famous Deere thermo-cool system. That is the joint in the exhaust system, during cold starting and early run time you may see water vapor come from the joint.

Too soon to tell. Let it sit a bit and take spatk plugs and crank over and see if water comes out

They will overheat if the coolant is low so keep it full. If you're referring to the white ring on the pipe it looks to be a drip. Looks like there is no exhaust leak so probably not water in the cylinders. You will seldom see the temperature rise with light driving. Check your radiator shutter to make sure they are working properly and keep them closed.

Don't know where you are at, if your temps are in the 80*+ area or in the freezing area. Makes a big difference in warming up enough to make temp gage rise. Even in the hot area what you were doing is even if it has shutters that work and chanses are very good they do not work will not keep any heat in radiator to even warm it up enough to start raising the temp guage. And in winter doing heavy field work would put a burlap feed sack over the radiator to help it warm up. Now in hot weather even doing heavy field work and I an talking about a load like a plow all day then make sure shutters are open if not completely off and radiator uncovered. Tell us the air temp you had while you were driving and trying to see temp guage raising. I had a 38 A, 46 B, 49 B, 50 AR, and a 51 A and they all were field workers with all but the 46 B being the big tractors on the farm at different times. And the 46 B did its share of plowing as well with the 49 B being the big tractor at the time. Your 41 has same horsepower as the 49 B. Only if you see steam comming from radiator cap is it over heating. So unless the guage is busted out glass then I dought if it is bad.

I would be concerned about the white smoke at start-up.. You are getting anti-freeze in the engine cylinder.. At start up you are burning the anti-freeze, the white smoke.. You have a cracked block or head or a bad head gasket letting anti-freeze into the engine.. Don't let the anti-freeze get into the engine oil and mix in, it will take out your bearings. A bad situation... Can try a coolant sealer as' Silver Seal' in the anti-freeze.. See if it seals your leak??? If not, take off the head and see what the problem is??

I've owned one JD, a 1947 slant dash A, electric start. From your pic it -appears- that the exhaust is leaking out of the joint(gasket?) that you circled and has over time burned the paint off the cover. As mentioned, white smoke, whether from the joint or the exhaust pipe indicates anti-freeze getting into the combustion chamber. Probably need to look for bubbles in the radiator and keep an eye on the color of the oil, milky brown or gray is not good. I hope it's something simple!

My John Deere H leaked water into the cylinder and would put out white smoke upon startup. It would smoke right at the joint between the manifold and the exhaust pipe, just as you described. It still ran well so I kept using it. There was never any water getting into the engine oil. One day it would not fire on that cylinder so I pulled out the spark plug. There was a drop of water fouling the plug. I decided to try some K SEAL coolant system sealer. It stopped the leak. That was about 8 years ago and its still holding. The tractor gets about 50 hours run time per year and it is always under heavy load as i run a 5 foot finish mower with that tractor.