lastcowboy32
Well-known Member
So we've worked this Ford 3000 that we've recently purchased for a few cycles of doing hay now. Haybine...rake...bale...haul loads.
It's been running fabulously since we took care of its initial ignition troubles.
But....it has acted up a couple of times.
Two days ago, running the baler, my father-in-law was finishing up a backswath along the woods. He didn't loosen the baler chamber clamps, and he was kicking out bales packed like concrete. Of course, he runs the tractor at the redline on the baler (despite my explanation that 540 PTO RPM is at about 3/4 throttle.
I was picking up bales with our recently rebuilt 2N and heard the 3000 start skipping about half way through the backswath. He just left it pegged and finished the row and went home.
Back at home, I immediately checked the plugs. Sure enough, plug wire for number 1 was blown right out of the bore. I put that back on and tested. Engine ran fine...but it spewed some coolant from the front corner of the head gasket, right above the fuel pump. That lasted about a minute and cleared up. Ran fine.
I went to town to pick up some Bar's sealant and fresh oil, just in case it had pushed some coolant into the oil.
Back home, I put in the sealant according to instructions, refilled the radiator to just above the core, which only took maybe a quart of antifreeze. I idled for 15 minutes according to the instructions with no issues. I changed the oil during the one hour cool down time. After we turned it back on, it was dry as a bone. My father-in-law went to bale the next field, again at full throttle with no issues.
He moved down to the next field and baled a couple of more hours with no issues. He then, again, went to do the backswath without loosening the baler. Again, as the baler started pushing out bales packed like concrete, the number one plug wire blew off, and coolant seeped from that same spot in the head gasket.
We had about five minutes of baling left and a rainstorm bearing down. I told him to let it cool, top off the radiator, loosen the baler to proper tension and finish up. Again no more leaks, ran fine.
We then hooked it up and ran it for a couple of hours pulling wagons while we loaded and unloaded. No problems.
Now, we have about four more days of hay to do. My father-in-law is going back to Florida. Maybe that's a blessing, and I'll be able to run this enough to finish haying, just as long as I don't overpressure the engine?
I've never seen a leak that seem to appear when the engine is maxed, but otherwise operates fine....or could all of this be another symptom of compression leaking around the plugs, or through the plugs, as evidenced by the plug wires (which ARE snapped on) getting blown right out of their bores...
It's been running fabulously since we took care of its initial ignition troubles.
But....it has acted up a couple of times.
Two days ago, running the baler, my father-in-law was finishing up a backswath along the woods. He didn't loosen the baler chamber clamps, and he was kicking out bales packed like concrete. Of course, he runs the tractor at the redline on the baler (despite my explanation that 540 PTO RPM is at about 3/4 throttle.
I was picking up bales with our recently rebuilt 2N and heard the 3000 start skipping about half way through the backswath. He just left it pegged and finished the row and went home.
Back at home, I immediately checked the plugs. Sure enough, plug wire for number 1 was blown right out of the bore. I put that back on and tested. Engine ran fine...but it spewed some coolant from the front corner of the head gasket, right above the fuel pump. That lasted about a minute and cleared up. Ran fine.
I went to town to pick up some Bar's sealant and fresh oil, just in case it had pushed some coolant into the oil.
Back home, I put in the sealant according to instructions, refilled the radiator to just above the core, which only took maybe a quart of antifreeze. I idled for 15 minutes according to the instructions with no issues. I changed the oil during the one hour cool down time. After we turned it back on, it was dry as a bone. My father-in-law went to bale the next field, again at full throttle with no issues.
He moved down to the next field and baled a couple of more hours with no issues. He then, again, went to do the backswath without loosening the baler. Again, as the baler started pushing out bales packed like concrete, the number one plug wire blew off, and coolant seeped from that same spot in the head gasket.
We had about five minutes of baling left and a rainstorm bearing down. I told him to let it cool, top off the radiator, loosen the baler to proper tension and finish up. Again no more leaks, ran fine.
We then hooked it up and ran it for a couple of hours pulling wagons while we loaded and unloaded. No problems.
Now, we have about four more days of hay to do. My father-in-law is going back to Florida. Maybe that's a blessing, and I'll be able to run this enough to finish haying, just as long as I don't overpressure the engine?
I've never seen a leak that seem to appear when the engine is maxed, but otherwise operates fine....or could all of this be another symptom of compression leaking around the plugs, or through the plugs, as evidenced by the plug wires (which ARE snapped on) getting blown right out of their bores...