It was found that for monitoring operating performance of the tractors it is necessary to have tools and methods that, by using data provided by the manufacturer and controlled during tractor's operational time, would allow to directly determine fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, engine load modes and other indicators. Such problems are dealt with in this article. Possibilities for using data accumulated in database of tractors' engine control processors to explore engine load, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions are analyzed. This paper presents the results of engine load, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions' research for tractor models Massey Ferguson MF 6499 with different operational time records within their operational period. The research results show how much time during the operational period, averagely, tractor engines worked by producing the torque 30%, 30-50% and >50% and the potential maximum torque in that mode. It is also presented how long engines operated at each load at slow speed (up to 1100 rpm), medium speed (from 1100 to 1900 rpm) and high speed (more than 1900 rpm). The paper presents average fuel consumption and CO, CO2 and NOx emissions by the engines for every of these operation modes during operational period of the tractors. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.