No Compression On A 4 Cyl Gas Engine

[KCTractors]

I am trying to get this Ford 172 gas engine to run to see what all is in working condition as in SOS transmission , power-steering and hydraulics before I part it out. I bought the tractor dead in a pasture for twenty some years I was told.
I had the head off to free four valves out of eight. The valves look very bad as while as the pistons. The compression was 0, 10, 40 and 90.
This is on a Ford 4000 with the S.O.S. transmission so all I can do is jump it right to the starter, but it will not fire enough to start. Not enough compression to fire.
I was thinking that I would get the head worked on to get the valves to work right and hope that would be enough to get the engine fired up. Will this work or am I just wasting my time and money doing this?

 

[Janicholson]

If you have spark, and put a teaspoon full of gasoline in each cylinger it will make an attempt. If not, scrap it, or part it out. Jim

 

[rustred]

you are funny,... it has one cylinder that would fire but it sure will not start on one cylinder. no idea on your mechanical skills, but i sure would like to see them valves, or did you even pill the valves out of the guides?? how did you free them?? i usually can do wonders on old junk but pictures tell the story better than words. plus if there was a way to turn it over after soaking the pistons is another thing. meaning like a belt pully to let the engine turn over , or pulling it around the yard . it will never ever start by the starter.

 

[ss55]

I bought the tractor dead in a pasture for twenty some years I was told.

Miracles can happen, but you will probably need to overhaul that engine to get in into running condition. Why was the tractor originally parked, a bad SOS transmission or engine problems?

 

[used red MN]

Since one cylinder has 90 lbs of compression it should at least fire on that cylinder. Many one cylinder engines mow lawns weekly all over the place. Of course the one cylinder of those engines is not dragging along 3 others that are not firing. The one that has 40 lbs should hold its own. Now if the other two have leaking intake valves fouling up the fuel air mixture that adds a bit of difficulty. Pumping air in the cylinders when they are TDC will tell you whether they are leaking into the intake or exhaust. You have posted quite a bit on here about many various mechanical repair items, I can only deduce that you have made sure there is at least gas getting to the carb and spark to the plugs.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Since it sounds like you already have the head off pour some water in the ports on the head and see if it leaks at the valve this will help sort out vales or rings to your compression problem. I don't know why everybody says it will not start. Dad had a chevy truck with the old splasher in it. I checked compression with s tester back then and it had a pretty even 20-40 on the cylinders. It would not only run it would pull a load on it Hauled grain or gravel on it. Was not fast but would haul it. After pulling it down and putting rings, and reaming the ridge, honing the cylinders It ran better and would pull the same load faster though as usual the belt broke and got hot never was the same again. Same old story on a chevy makes a better wagon than truck. Never had one that would stay running. Old Dodges would give their all and never die just keep going. These were those old Siamese 6's with the flat head.

 

[560Dennis]

Added pressure of thight head sealing . Not doing the pistons for good sealing , get a lot of blow by , oil consumption. seems a waste of money.
But you do what you think is best , just saying youre opening it up to redo it . Factors for cost overruns. How much will that cost in time and effort.

 

[Hobo,NC]

With those numbers it never gonna run, you need to find where the lost is. Look up "Cylinder leak down test".

Are get the affected cylinder to TDC are remove the rocker shaft, blow compressed air into the cylinder and listen for the leak.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Will this work or am I just wasting my time and money doing this?

Ask Grandpa, any tractor can be brought back from the dead.

It's your money and it's your tractor.
Is it worth it depends on if you need the tractor. Not to mention how many gremlins you will find in the SOS, rusty gas tank, rusty carb, tires and the list goes on..
Wish you luck.

 

[tomturkey]

How many important or have to projects do you have going? If you are looking for a challenge and have the time to mess around with this, make your self happy and go for it. Pull the valves from the head clean them and the guides, soak the pistons/cylinders with atf while you work on the head. Reassemble and see what happens. Yu can always junk it at any point in the process. It is a thrill to bring one back from dead. gobble

 

[Fritz Maurer]

With the head off, you are only 1/2 hour away from having all 4 pistons out. If the cause of low compression is unknown, especially with the cylinders in poor shape, it would be a bad gamble to put the head back on without knowing if the rings are stuck.

 

[sotxbill]

IF the other cyl have stuck intake valves, they will blow back into the intake and stop the one cyl from getting fuel in many cases.

The cyl with zero compression, may simply have a valve stuck open, and the other low cyls could be leaky valves..

I would work the head over first and get all the valves loose, operating correctly and even lap the surfaces to knock off any rust so they seat correctly...

But I would also think hard about pulling the pan if it can be done with out splitting, and pop out the pistons, clean the ring lands and re-ring it... and new rod bearings.