M3 Gleaner

[bill thurman]

Looked at a one owner M3 Gleaner today and have a question, it has 4100 hours on it. The oil pressure guage runs a little over 40lbs at full idle and the oil pressure warning light will flicker, Is the oil pressure low or is it a bad sending unit, I'am not sure what oil pressure these ran. Thanks in advance Bill T

 

[JMS/.MN]

Don"t want to scare you, but I think my M2 runs closer to 60psi. Flickering light- I"d put more value into a good gauge reading. Now, if it wasn"t January, I"d be glad to crank mine up- normally do that 1-2 times in the winter just to keep seals lubed, etc. Plus, next to planting, combining is my favorite job. Too bad I get to do each only once per year.

 

[bill thurman]

I'am not scared yet as NO money has changed hands, I was thinking the oil pressure was low also but wanted a second (and a third, fourth,) opioion ! Thanks Bill T

 

[PRAIRIE DOG]

we havea F3 i know different motor but ours depends alot on what brand and wt. we use. we use JT-8 mystick brand 15-50 diesel oil, it will run almost 15 more #s and seems to stay there . that little 4cyl runs very warm under load.

 

[Mike Aylward]

Bill, I'm not sure what the specs are supposed to be for that engine but it is commonly accepted that an engine should have approximately 10 lbs. of oil pressure for every 1000 rpm of engine speed. Mike

 

[JimIA]

I'd bet if you look at the engine you will see the oil pressure sender dripping lightly. Change the sender, the light will quit blinking.

Jim

 

[schriffs]

If the gauge reads down to zero with engine off and seems to move like any other gauge, I would guess the pressure is good and the switch for the light is acting up. If the flickering happens regardless of RPM, this would suggest the same. However if it's on more at idle than wide open, could be low pressure and the gauge is reading high. Best would be to put a mechanical gauge on to verify what's actually there and 40 PSI would probably be good, as long as it doesn't drop drastically when warm and at idle.

 

[Anonymous-0]

at 4100hrs. it ought to have rods and mains eventually, maybe the low op is why they got rid of it or are selling it whatever the case

 

[cadet trooper]

I would not be concerned with 40# of oil pressure as most mechanics would say something is better than nothing. That should be a 301ci engine, very stable AC engine I would be more concerned with oil consumption.

 

[bill thurman]

Thanks guys. We will see what happens!

 

[bill thurman]

Got up to 55 today so went and looked at it again, would not start unless used starting fluid, That was enough for me, told them wasn't interested. Thanks again for all the advice !! Bill T

 

[cadet trooper]

The M3 was a nice combine the 4100 engine hours is normally not scary for a 301 engine but if the engine oil/filter was not changed regularly that is a problem. I"ve seen it time and again where farmers don"t change oils and filters at reccommended intervals on combines. I"m guessing the seperator hours are around 2800 to 3500 and that scares me because there really a lot more things to look at than the engine like belts,chains,auger metal,rasp bars,tires and inner grain sheet metal,etc.