IH 706 with vapor in blowby/maybe compresson in radiator

[andy r]

I primarily use this IH 706 diesel as a chore type tractor. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a lot of seemingly water vapor coming from the blow - by tube after it got warmed up. Oil lever in the engine is high. Also I loosened the radiator cap and layed it aside and it looks like I might be getting pressure there also. Can just a head gasket cause this or am I typically looking at a more serious problem like a cracked head? I did replace the head gasket 5 or 6 years ago due to a bad spot between two cylinders. Was a compression leak and not a coolant leak. Engine runs fine without a miss. It ran an grain auger a good part of the summer. Thanks.

 

[used red MN]

Let it set a day or two and loosen the oil plug till it drips, see if it drips oil, water or coolant whatever color it may be. In the radiator did you see bubbles or what was the indicator of pressure. Once the engine is up to temp you can cap it with a pressure tester, if it pressures up fairly quick your diagnosis is correct. If it is leaking coolant into the oil or compression into the radiator you would be a fool to believe me if I told you there is no way your head could be cracked.

 

[Janicholson]

Go with Used Red's post. There are also test kits (Not expensive) to test for combustion gasses in coolant. Jim

 

[the tractor vet]

With them my first thoughts go to a head Gskt leak . when you replaced the last one did you get the head resurfaced or not ?? . Them and the gas version have a tendency to sorta warp the head as they are vary fussy about head torque . Over the years of working on many when ya do have to get into them you usually find that the center six bolts are looser then the rest . Even when you do a retorque after bring the engine up to operating temps and you go back over them it is vary wise to go back and re check the center six as you may THINK ya got them you may find that oh wait they will take and extra 1/8th to 1/4 turn to get them to specs Having the head planed / ground ya will see what you did not see by the eye . The head gskt can make up for say .003 but that is pushen it . I have also seen them get a crack that SOME TIMES will only show up when HOT As i have had a couple heads set out to be checked for crack and nothing showed up when checked COLD BUT you warm that head up to 190-210 Degrees then ya see the evils . I have also seen where the block will crack down in the bore and usually you will see that the sleeve is also cracked once you have the head off and looking down into the bores.
Yep ya can FIX that by removing the sleeve and having that hole bored and a repair sleeve installed then bored to take a stock sleeve . Done that a few times.

 

[dhermesc]

We learned the hard way on these.

We bought a 706 (D282) and used it for a summer and blew the head gasket just at the end of hay season. Started losing coolant but ran fine. Paid a guy that normally does pretty good work (did NOT get the head resurfaced) to replace the head gasket and it blew a second time after less than hour of use. My son replaced it the second time (this time the head was resurfaced) and failed to retorque the bolts (probably because I told him to) after a few hours of use and it blew a third time. That time it lasted a couple months but blew on a cold morning startup and my son thought it might have been partially hydro locked.

We took it apart - had the head resurfaced again, bought new head bolts from CAT, and had 5 of the 6 injectors rebuilt (2 seemed to be just open valves running fuel). We also looked at what we have - 4 of the injectors were Bosch and 2 were IH injectors, the pistons were different brands and it had two (possibly 3) different kinds of head bolts. So someone had been deep inside this tractor years ago and put it back together with parts on hand. We put it back together with the two different types of injectors and we never touched the pistons. It did get all new glow plugs and wiring (get the good glow plugs). This tractor seemed to run OK even with the leaky injectors and the blown head gaskets but last summer it ran great and had well over 400 hours put on it without issue - some of them worked it pretty hard and hot in the hills with a round baler. The head bolts were retorqued twice (once after 15 minutes of running while assembling and once after 4 hours of use). I was not able to find the good head gasket kit that some people here advise to buy but did order one off this site.

I have heard the d262 is prone to head cracks but that is why you send it off for resurfacing and have the machine shop check for cracks. The newest 706 is now 50+ years old so 50 years of heating stressing and cooling that huge chunk of steel that makes up the head could easily result in cracks. But more likely it is the head gasket as they are also prone to failure.