International 574 Hydraulic Problems

[blueacre]

I have a 574 International Tractor - my father bought it new so it has been in the family a long time. It has the TA (torque amplifier) option which gives you an on the go high low speed change with a hydraulic clutch. Last year the hydraulic low pressure light would flash on and off when the tractor was at low idle and hot from working but other than that no problems. For as long as I can remember the low pressure light has always come on for a little bit when the PTO lever is engaged but would go out when fully engaged. A month ago I was raking hay with a 3 point hitch rotary rake and sometimes when I lifting the hydraulics I noticed the low pressure light came on and power steering cut out. It gradually got worse until it was happening all the time and the tractor was hard to steer so I had to quit.

A week later I drained the oil, changed the filter and refilled with new hytran oil. The next time I used the tractor for raking for a couple of hours it worked fine. Low pressure light would flicker a little bit at low idle when hot but not as much as before so I thought the problem was fixed. The tractor sat for a month till this past Friday when I got it out to rake hay again. By the time I finished I noticed the low pressure light was on and it was hard to steer at low idle but worked OK when RPMs were increased. Yesterday I got the tractor out to move a wagon - had only used it for a few minutes so it wasn't even warmed up - the low pressure light was on and hard to steer at idle and sometimes stayed on and hard to steer even when I increased the RPM - first time I have had problems with steering at higher RPMs.

I primarily use this tractor during hay season for raking and pulling wagons. It is a lot more maneuverable for tight turns when raking and backing up wagons than my New Holland TL90 4WD that I use for most of my farm work. Probably don't use it any more than 30 hours a year.

I have read other posts about the MCV (multi control valve) sticking causing similar problems - just wondering if the problems I am having sound like they could be an MCV valve or other issues like pump wear or leaking seals on the PTO or TA clutch packs. I would appreciate any suggestions on where to start looking.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

It's probably a combination of things. Being a 50-ish year old tractor it can certainly use some love all over.

 

[JimB2]

Yes the Priority/Flow divider valve is sticking in the MCV, sometimes you can free it by dead heading the remote hydraulic valve.
The Hydraulic low pressure light is sensing the pressure on the return line from the oil cooler which is fed out from the power steering return from the MCV. The pressure sensors is under the seat with one wire on it.
See the two photos below, the first one shows Fwd/Rev pump but your 574 will not have that and this line feeds the oil cooler in front of the Rad.
There was a Poster on this site about a month ago with the same problem and he took the Priority/Flow Divider out of the MCV and polished it with fine emery cloth and that fixed the problem. The flashing low pressure light at low idle and hot is normal on these tractors as they age. My brother has a 684 that has been doing the same thing for 20+ years now. On the newer CIH 95, 32XX, 42XX series tractors CIH eliminated that sensor.
So search for previous Poster's post, it was either on this Forum or on the Tractor & arm Talk Forum.

 

[Teakettle]

Another possibility: the lube pump at the bottom of the transmission case has a sock-like filter on its intake and when that gets full of crud the hydraulics can misbehave (and the light will come on) when there's a lot of demand. Cleaning it is a pain but do-able, you have to remove the MCV and then reach through the hole with a brush.

 

[blueacre]

Yes the Priority/Flow divider valve is sticking in the MCV, sometimes you can free it by dead heading the remote hydraulic valve.
The Hydraulic low pressure light is sensing the pressure on the return line from the oil cooler which is fed out from the power steering return from the MCV. The pressure sensors is under the seat with one wire on it.
See the two photos below, the first one shows Fwd/Rev pump but your 574 will not have that and this line feeds the oil cooler in front of the Rad.
There was a Poster on this site about a month ago with the same problem and he took the Priority/Flow Divider out of the MCV and polished it with fine emery cloth and that fixed the problem. The flashing low pressure light at low idle and hot is normal on these tractors as they age. My brother has a 684 that has been doing the same thing for 20+ years now. On the newer CIH 95, 32XX, 42XX series tractors CIH eliminated that sensor.
So search for previous Poster's post, it was either on this Forum or on the Tractor & arm Talk Forum.

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View attachment 87195

Thanks for the info JimB2 - I will try what you suggest with the MCV.
Just for interest this afternoon I started it up - ran for a few minutes and no light at low idle. I partially engaged the Pto lever so the low pressure light comes on as it always does - I assume the valve is dumping some of the oil to give the Pto a soft start. While holding the Pto lever partly engaged with the low pressure light on I turned the steering wheel back and forth and ran the 3 pt hitch up and down at the same time - steering was smooth
and 3 pt lifted at normal speed. Seems like there is no shortage of pump oil flow so I will focus on the MCV. Thanks again.

 

[Mike Van]

I bought a 574 new back in '74 - Had the same issue you have now around '88 - Mine was the caused by the flow divider on the bottom of the MCV. sticking . The reason it was sticking was caused by me, too cheap at the time to change the hydraulic fluid & filter. Get it good & warm, pull the plug & drain it, change the filter, pull that valve & use some solvent on it. problem solved. About 9 gallons in there. I've used Tractor Supplies better hyd. oil for some time now, with no issues.