1975 DB 885 Gas Engine

[Gtlars]

Does anyone know where I can find a cylinder head for my Gas powered 885?

 

[Gtlars]

Sorry. It’s a 3 cylinder, 2.4l gas engine. We had a valve seat drop out.

 

[Jim.ME]

Sorry. It’s a 3 cylinder, 2.4l gas engine. We had a valve seat drop out.

It might help if you give your general location.

Are you just looking online or calling salvage yards? In general, you are best to call salvage yards or use direct email if they offer that for parts searches.

Have you called one of the Parts ASAP salvage yards? They can check all their yards.

PartsASAP locations

Click on the marker for a location and the directory has a More info button which will give you phone numbers and more info that might help you.

 

[Gtlars]

Thanks Jim. We are in middle Tennessee. I plan on calling PartsASAP Today.

 

[Gtlars]

There was nothing available at PartsASAP. We found a local shop in Nashville which I hope will be able to repair our head. I'll know after Thanksgiving. Wish me luck!

New question: Does the gas and diesels engines use the same Head Gasket Set? I suspect both use the same block and head casting, but are machined differently in certain areas such as Spark Plug/Injector and Ignition Distributor/FI Pump areas. The gasket set sellers only reference the AD 3/55 engine...our engine is AG. AD for Agriculture Diesel. AG for Agriculture Gas.

I would love to hear from someone that has been down this road before. Thanks!

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Is there any other defects besides the valve seat? That is a pretty simple repair.

 

[Gtlars]

The seat fell out. The previous owner continued to run the engine and so the valve and the loose seat beat the heck out of the head. Here’s a picture.

 

[RGMartin]

Put an oversized seat in it. Not a big deal. Any decent machine shop should be able to do this. Very unlikely you will find a head, 885Gs are very low production.

Pretty sure the diesel heads started as the same casting. A creative machinist could likely modify a diesels injector holes for spark plugs. Issue is the diesels don't have inserted valve seats, so you have to do 6, instead of just repairing one.

I think the blocks are 100% the same.

Ii suspect the gaskets are the same. cheap enough to gamble on.

 

[Gtlars]

Thanks for your advice. We are hoping the oversized seat will solve the problem. We will find out next week. I will order the gasket set. I didn’t know the diesels don’t use the inserted valve seats.

Thank you for your help!

 

[RGMartin]

Thanks for your advice. We are hoping the oversized seat will solve the problem. We will find out next week. I will order the gasket set. I didn’t know the diesels don’t use the inserted valve seats.

Thank you for your help!

The turbo ones did have inserts, also had better valves, but they didn't build any factory 3 cylinder turbos.

 

[Gtlars]

We are getting ready to change all the fluids on this tractor. It appears that the engine and the hydraulics use the same grade of oil. The recommendations from the manuals I have are all very dated. Can anyone tell me which modern oil is recommended?

 

[Jim.ME]

It can help if you post the recommendations in your manuals, for those that don't have DB 885 manuals. That is the basis for figuring out the current product to use.

 

[RGMartin]

DB would have recommended 20W20 for both ends.

I'd use a 15W40 in the engine, about 7 quarts(make sure whatever you use has a spark ignition rating, even if a very old out of date one), and a Universal trans-hydraulic in the back end, about 6 gallons(don't use the crap in yellow buckets).

 

[Gtlars]

Thank you both very much. Yes, DB recommended 20W20 for both. I don’t recall ever seeing 20W20.

I’ll stay away from the yellow buckets.

 

[Gtlars]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Here's an update...just received the head back yesterday from the machine shop. The oversized seat and a new exhaust valve did the trick.

I noticed something unusual on the head, coincidentally with cylinder number two, same cylinder as the dropped seat. Please see the pictures below. There is a coolant passage just above cylinder number two covered by the intake manifold. When we took the head off, we noted that somebody plugged the hole with silicone.

Now that the head is done and the intake manifold has been cleaned we can clearly see that the passage should be open to allow the coolant to flow through the intake and into the head. I'll go out a limb and state that the failure of the seat in number two cylinder may have been caused by the overheating of cylinder number two. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts.

But, the new gasket covers up the hole and does not allow the coolant to flow. What do you think?

Here are the pictures...


Thanks,
Gregg

 

[RGMartin]

I suspect the hole is there to help get some heat into the manifold. Gas engines like heat in the intake manifold. Most have their intake and exhaust near each other or attached, the DB started life s a diesel design, so the manifolds are on opposite sides of the engine. Nothing to do with dropping the seat.

 

[Gtlars]

Thanks for your reply. So should I just cut a hole in the gasket and be done with it or should I worry about the recessed area on the manifold too?

Thanks,
Gregg

 

[RGMartin]

DB liked to crush rubber washers between parts like that for a seal. Like the one between your water pump and head. Whatever you do, make sure you know it is going to seal, if it leaks, you will get water in a cylinder and have a bent connecting rod.

 

[Gtlars]

Thank you! I’ll use a thick oring and glue it in place.

 

[Gtlars]

We were servicing the trans/hydraulic system yesterday and found the inner plate (By-pass valve) that fits inside the filter was completely missing. The filter is non-functional without it. It is available from OE, but I was hoping I could find it in the aftermarket (so far no luck) or used. Any ideas?

The fluid had a ton of water in it as well. After we get it back together we're going to run it for a while and then change it again and again if necessary.

We have not started the engine up since we put the head back on...